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Jack Thompson Calls Cops on Penny-Arcade
Anon1001 sent us the latest developments in the ongoing saga between Miami Attorney Jack Thompson and Penny-Arcade. So far the story goes that Jack has filed a wrongful death suit against Rock Star, claiming that GTA is a cop killing training simulator responsible for the murder of a pair of cops. He also
offered $10k to charity if anyone who would develop some ridiculous murder spree game. When someone did it, and he changed his mind and Penny-Arcade donated the cash instead. All of this is being documented on the Penny Arcade website, in phone calls, rants and comics, as well as an 'I Hate Jack Thompson' T-Shirt. (Note, Slashdot's parent company owns ThinkGeek).
He has now
called the cops claiming harassment. Update: 10/18 17:40 GMT by Z : It seems like this confrontation has been brewing all summer. The most recent altercation is just another link in the chain made by Thompson's reaction to Hot Coffee and his crusade against the Sims 2. Further, PA has put up the scan of the letter to the cops, and a photo of the check.
It's going to happen very soon now, as Jack is getting loonier and loonier. He keeps dancing around direct legal threats, because he knows what will happen. Soon he will slip, and soon after that he won't be a lawyer anymore, and won't THAT be a shame?
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
and your name is drew... hmmmmmmmm.. plug perhaps? is THAT why all slashdots stories end up on fark after they're posted? hmmmmmm?
(ducks)
** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
He also offered $10k to charity if anyone who would develop some ridiculous murder spree game.
What the fuck does that even mean?!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I sure hope they cite his ass for making a false report. Publications are not harrassment. Jack Thompson himself started this mess. Does he consider himself guilty of "harassing" the makers of GTA? ...the video game industry? ...game loving Slashdotters everywhere?
Since VGCats were the ones who posted all his contact information, wouldn't it make more sense to go after them? Penny Arcade, who are not really a company lack Jack insists they are, really only recounted a story about Jack and nothing more.
IAAL, and I gotta say, Jack Thompson, YOU SUCK.
I mean sure, this guy is a blowhard and a liar, but I think the T-shirt goes a little too far. However, it doesn't constitute harrasment. A bunch of geeks calling his house or hacking into his email or whatever else does, though. I don't know if that sort of this is happening yet, but you can bet it will if this continues.
"These idiots have been so careless as to post on their www.pennyarcade.com web site what they are doing regarding the harassment of me."
In the same sentence he's call them idiots he gives the wrong web address.
What does this man think he's going to accomplish? His vitriolic actions are very unlikely to change anyone's mind about the issue of video game violence. I teach argumentative writing and rhetoric to college students; one of the first things we teach is to know one's audience. Very few people of the ultra-conservative persuasion, however, need to be persuaded - they already are fanatically against video games that contain violence, sex, etc.
And his tactics - wilfully distorting the truth, branding video game makers as murderers, setting up straw men to attack in his ravings about violent entertainment - well, I doubt anyone who's played the games he's targeting is going to burn their copy of GTA because of the things Thompson is saying.
Bravo, Penny Arcade, for helping him do what he'd end up doing anyway: alienating anyone who might have listened to a more logical or reasonable argument against game violence, and generating more media attention for Rockstar Games et al. so they will, in turn, sell more games and continue creating popular content. For a lawyer, Thompson seems to have missed that one little maxim: "any press is good press."
Hey, looks like a written attack on Penny Arcade. They should counter sue on the grounds that they are not idiots :-)
I am not a lawyer, but reading the course of communications between Jack Thompson and Penny Arcade, it seems to me that while Penny Arcade is certainly not guilty of criminal harassment, Jack Thompson has violated the Florida Bar's standard of ethics for attorneys. He is using his status as an attorney, as an officer of the court, to threaten/bully private citizens with obviously frivolous suits. (You cannot sue someone for merely e-mailing you, unless it was obscene, a death threat, causing severe emotional distress, etc.!) While not rising to the point of a suspendable offense, I believe a public reprimand from the Bar is appropriate and needed.
Thompson himself started this mess.
<imitation type="loser jack">
No, he didn't! no he didn't! no he didn't!
The VG cats guys started it when they replied to the email he sent them!
</imitation>
It seems that most of his quotes seem to deride the geek community, particularly gamers, as somehow not being as intelligent as he is. I'm not surprised at all that he's gotten this kind of backlash, particularly from a group that typically doesn't like to let an issued a challenge go ignored.
I'm also surprised that he hasn't been more thoroughly bashed by Penny Arcade. I would have expected some sort of Fruit F*cker episode gone wrong.
"No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
Evidently, Jack believes it to be acceptable to harass video game developers, but sees this as a one-way street.
This is what freedom of speech is all about, Jack. Say what you will. You are free to listen to what others have to say in return. Harassment law ought not prevent you from being hung by your own words.
On the one hand, I almost feel compelled to call the Seattle PD (local for me) and plead with them not to take any action based on Mr. Thompson's ludicrous and exaggerated claims; on the other hand, I can't imagine anyone taking that man seriously after all the negative press he has been receiving. It's almost as though the more he gets ragged on, the more intense he gets about beating the video games industry into the ground.
:P), but this situation with Jack Thompson reminds me vividly of the classic bully/attention-whore syndrome in elementary school. The more flak people give this guy, especially negative, he's just going to keep coming back for more. You know what would really hurt him? Neglect and disregard. If somehow everyone was able to see what a boisterous gasbag this man is and just learn to ignore everything he barks, he will lose his bite. So for Mike and Jerry, while reading about their antics of antagonizing Mr. Thompson are often hilarious and eye-opening, they may be just making the matter worse for most involved.
I do love Penny Arcade as much as the next guy (perhaps moreso if the next guy doesn't like them
In any event, this too shall pass; I just hope it passes before our friends at Penny Arcade get slapped with a real-yet-bogus lawsuit by this litigation-happy doofus.
Fin.
"The gods do not protect fools; fools are protected by more capable fools." -Larry Niven's "Ringworld"
I will offer 10K* to the first person who makes a game involving running Jack Thompson over with an 18-wheeler .**
*10k meaning a 10k text file composed of the words "Jack Thompson is a twit" , as opposed to 10,000 in money
**This is satire , a parody of Jack Thompsons Parody ***
*** This , like J. Thompsons Satire is poor Satire .
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Ok, if GTA is a "cop killing training simulator", then what does that say about the compentency of our police force?
I remember a spot in GTA 3 where I could hide under an overpass and the cops would all jump off the top to their deaths...this would continue indefinately and I found it rather amusing. And now that I know that this is what would happen in real life, I'm going on a crime spree rampage during which I'll wipe out the town's entire police force by crouching near an overpass.
He wanted to make a video game about a father who's son does something violent after playing video games. The father would go nuts and kill video game developers. He offered to donate $10k to the charity of the developers choice if the game was made. A game (actually, a GTA mod) was made, and Thompson reneged on the offer
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Though I'm sure many following this mess know about it. Jack has also recently recieved a letter from Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family. In this letter (published on www.gamepolitics.com) Dr. Walsh distances himself and his organization from Jack. His comments tend to really get to the core of what Jack does, "Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect." He's like a kid on a playground. Someone does something he doesn't like and he starts yelling about getting his daddy to get them, because his daddy is a cop or a lawyer. Only he is the lawyer...
Just one, and surpise, he's a lawyer.
-Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music.
How, pray, does an attorney get disbarred for being a loonie? Half the western governments would lose representatives, MPs, etc. on that claim. More to the point:
He has now called the cops claiming harassment.
He will now harass PA and the thing is, he knows full well how to do it and could make PA suffer in the short run.
I have no doubts he has nary a leg to stand on, bringing this all upon himself by raising himself to a Public Figure, which surrenders certain protections.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Jack Thompson:
.
+Led the campaign against the 1989 2 Live Crew album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be", and later, Ice T's "Cop Killer."
+Filed with the FCC regarding the contents of a 2003 edition of Howard Stern's radio show resulted in Clear Channel Communications being fined $496,000 in 2004.
+Filed, in 1999, a $33 million federal products liability lawsuit against several entertainment companies, including Time Warner Inc., Polygram Film Entertainment Distribution Inc., Palm Pictures, Island Pictures and New Line Cinema, Atari Corp., Nintendo of America, Sega of America Inc. and Sony Computer Entertainment on behalf of the parents of victims of the 1997 Paducah schoolhouse shootings.
+Most recently has taken his tirade against videogame publishers Take Two (Grand Theft Auto series, Bully et. al.), Capcom (Killer 7), and EA (The Sims. Yeah really).
A great interview with Jack by Chatterbox Video Game Radio can be found at: http://www.chatterboxgameshow.com/jack.htm
This guy has really made himself a credible source for irrationality and brought many smiles to sane peoples faces.
Most comment points excerpted from Wikipedia.org
A B A C A B B
GREAT in the sense of successful, of course, not in the sense of "good for the people."
You all are taking note of what he's trying to do, right? He's trying to transform the gamer community's reaction to his lunacy into attacks on his cause, which is, at least in his mind, protecting innocent kids and brave police officers.
It's just a matter of time before it becomes a real simple equation:
Disagreeing with Jack Thompson = Helping to kill cops
At that point, it becomes really easy to pass laws banning the types of videogames that Jack disagrees with. (Then movies, then web sites, maybe even books...)
Yep, he may be just a lawyer right now, but he clearly has higher intentions in mind, and he's using skills that have been taught very well over the past few years to get elected. It doesn't take too much gray matter to realize that soccer moms outnumber gaming advocates by a pretty wide margin, so who would you rather have included in your base?
The crying shame of it is that given America's record of picking leaders lately, he'll probably succeed, unless at least a few people not just read Slashdot, but actually act on what they read here.
Send a message, folks, and get out and vote. And not just for the big elections every four years. Vote in your Congressional elections. Vote in your state elections. Vote for your local councilmembers. Spread the word and get your friend to vote. Don't be afraid to use that fancy gaming machine to write a fickin' letter now and then. What do you say, can we please stop the ensuing madness to come before it gets started?
Jack wants to protect children and cops. Hey, I do too, I just happen to think he's going about it all wrong. The question in my mind now is: Who will protect the rest of us from Jack?
Quoth the jackass: "I look forward to working with your fine Police Department to shut this little extortion factory down and/or arrest some of its employees."
Extortion factory? That's not a stated opinion, that's stating a (supposed) fact. Better get your own law team together, because libel's a bitch. I'd like to see how many lawyers it will take to get Jack off.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Jack Thomson is trying to SAVE YOU! Ever since the first Lemming exploded the video game industry has been corrupting your minds. You all clearly lack the ability to discern sliding a CG mock-up car through a crowded bus stop in Carmageddon from real world laws and morals. GTA and Bully will spell the end for all the decent God fearing folk of your great nation! Won't someone please think of the children?!!! *SOB!* *WEEP* *MOAN* What's Next?! GTIB?!!! (Grand Theft Investment Banker) GTE?!!!! (Grand Theft Election) What kind of example would that set for the financial and political leaders of the last bastion of freedom and high-holiness in the world?
..i'm immediately reminded of Walter Peck from Ghost Busters.
;)
Hopefully when the phoned up the police to ask them to arrest the Penny Arcade guys, the police officer on the phone said "You do your job pencil neck, don't tell me how to do mine!"
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
....then he (or one of his minions) is aware (or will be aware) of this thread here on Slashdot. Seeing what a over-reacting media whore he seems to be, I suspect that this discussion will be referenced on whatever media outlet he ends up on (likely Fox News, if you want to call what they do journalism) to prove that we "nerds" are a bunch of psychos who are addicted to violent video games and our threats to "run down Jack Thompson with an 18-wheeler" as the AC who posted that comment said will be used as proof of that.
Why not tone down the rhetoric and give him the type of attention he deserves, which is NONE whatsoever?
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
I always like to ask right-wingers ranting about games and sex causing social decline, "Yeah! I mean, do you know what's happened to rates of violent youth crime and teen pregancny in the last ten years?" They always answer that they're at unprecedented levels, and then are thrown off when I tell them that they've actually been falling quite steadily. Teen pregancy is even at its lowest rate since we began taking statistics in the '40s, down from the all-time high in 1991.
What would be really amusing to me is if they discovered, in 20 years, that untold psychological damage to children was done by The Sims. People spending all day running households like gods, torturing and killing families and developing these horribly twisted personalities. I mean, take a horribly violent, depraved movie -- for example, Saw, and ask what game the creators would probably enjoy playing?
In all seriousness, I think people are both more fragile and more resiliant than they're usually credited with. We handled torturing animals with sticks in the backyard 50 years ago, and we'll handle GTA. And I was going to say something about child-rearing, but then I realized that the last thing anyone wants is more advice on raising kids from a childless twentysomething, so I'll leave it at "the world is probably not coming to an end".
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
Jack uses a Cyberstalker law in Florida to threaten people who email him. Basically he cussess them out then ends it with "and don't email me back", and when they reply, he says they're harrassing him and to stop or he'll call it Cyberstalking.
Of course, like everything Jacko does, it's never gotten to court. If he actually let it get to a court of law he'd be thrown out forcibly.
Did anyone else realize.... Citizens United Negating Technology For Life Aand People's Safety
1. Paranoid delusions, or delusions of persecution, for example believing that people are "out to get" you, or the thought that people are doing things when there is no external evidence that such things are taking place. 2. Delusions of reference - when things in the environment seem to be directly related to you even though they are not. For example it may seem as if people are talking about you or special personal messages are being communicated to you through the TV, radio, or other media. 3. Somatic Delusions are false beliefs about your body - for example that a terrible physical illness exists or that something foreign is inside or passing through your body. 4. Delusions of grandeur - for example when you believe that you are very special or have special powers or abilities. An example of a grandiouse delusion is thinking you are a famous rock star.
Well he certianly seems to think people are out to get him, he seems to have delusions of reference as well, and he sure as hell has delusions of grandeur as he seems to think he's a great crusader against evil. He meets various other criteria as well:
# disorganized thinking # difficulty understanding # difficulty expressing thoughts # difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings and behavior
Now of course I am not a psychologist (though that is what my degree is in) and even if I were, you cannot diagnose a condition like schizophrenia from things over the Internet, but there's enough irrational behaviour that it certianly gives me cause to wonder. The man may honestly be clinicly crazy, and if that's the case, his rationale for his actions isn't likely to make sense to anyone.
The guy's a jerk, but he won't get the tax break. That goes to the taxable entity that writes the donation check. You can make a donation to just about every nonprofit "in honor of" somebody, but if the donated funds come out of your bank account, you get the tax break.
You all may want to check out the ChatterBox interview with Gabe and Tycho that was done this past Sunday. Gabe talks a little about his recent conversations with Jack Thompson. Apparently the first thing Jack said after calling Gabe up and establishing his identity was:
"Let me tell you something, idiot."
This utter professionalism is well-reflected in the text of his fax to the Seattle police.
"There are a bunch of computer geeks out there who think..."
"These idiots have been so careless as to..."
I can only imagine what some of his non-game-related correspondence is like.
Also, this has probably been posted before, but here it is again: the ChatterBox interview with Thompson. Lunacy thrown into the sharpest relief.
The coolest voice ever.
This guy (Thompson) is railing against freedom of expression, and the mainstream press is ignoring him in droves.
.
.
Are you kidding me? The mainstream press loves this guy. The hot coffee mod "scandal" is but his latest whipping boy. This guy has scored a lot of prime time interviews and news stories on major outlets since the early '90s with, among other things, demands that 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" and Ice T's "Cop Killer" be banned (those were big news items at the time), been a major factor behind several indecency fines Howard Stern received from the FCC, and been a part of damn near every news story on the dangers of violent video games.
This is the guy who insisted that Columbine was caused by DOOM being a "murder simulator". He has sued, among others Time Warner Inc., Polygram Film Entertainment Distribution Inc., Palm Pictures, Island Pictures and New Line Cinema, Atari Corp., Nintendo of America, Sega of America Inc. and Sony Computer Entertainment under Federal Product Liability laws after a different school shooting
His allegations led Dateline NBC to report that Lee Boyd Malvo, the beltway sniper, had "trained extensively using Halo".
He has been interviewed numerous times on CBS, including one famous instance in which he compared Doug Lowesnstein of the ESA to Joseph Goebbels.
He has appeared on 60 minutes to discuss how Grand Theft Auto (he alleges) trained a young man to murder two police officers.
No, the problem is most definitely not that the media is ignoring him. Quite the opposite, really.
From the testimonial section.
"Growing up in a strict religious house hold, I did not know what a penis or a vagina was. Then I got hooked on the internet. Now, I am ashamed to admit I have both."
- Name withheld
"I've always had a healthy sexual appetite. Around the time I hit puberty, I became sexually fixated with my grandmother. I could not get her out of my mind. People told me it was wrong, but I honestly believed that they were lying. If it feels so right, how can it be wrong, right? Wrong! I heard about the interweb. I went online expecting to discover a whole secret society of people JUST like me who loved much elder relatives, and hoped that for the first time since I gave up fantasizing about my sister, I could feel normal. How wrong I was. No one is obsessed with their grandma aside from me. I am a complete freak, and completely alone. The internet has ruined EVERYTHING. The worst of it is I STILL LOVE HER!"
- Brain Baylor, Shady Pines
ROFL
He's no longer backing Hillary Clinton.
1 0830
I certainly did, however, lose respect for Senator Clinton when she decided, after that, to attend a fundraiser thrown for her by the video game industry and by ESA's Doug Lowenstein. To me, that was a sell-out for campaign cash.
http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=
And I don't see why the parent post was modded Redundant, seeing how TFA doesn't link to www.pennyarcade.com. *sigh*
>> no i don't think they did give out his e-mail he's just a jackass
:)
well they didn't directly but they did link post this:
You're all asking me for Jack's Email and or phone number and I respect that. The problem is that I can't give that info out. The fact is that Jack had time to call me after I sent him a sarcastic email. I have no doubt in my mind that he would try and pull some legal bullshit if I post his phone number.
Did I ever mention how much I like VG cats?
Check out the "VG cats?" link which I myself have not done.
How can geeks be so smart and know nothing about tax law?
Just because a donation is made in his name doesn't mean that he made it. To take a deduction on a charitable gift you actually have to document that you gave a charitable organization some of your money or goods of a certain value and they received it from you. In this case, PA (depending on how the company is actually structured and where the money actually came from) will probably get to take a deduction.
The only case where a pure cash donation to charity can really be advantageous to your bottom line is if you are teetering on the edge and the deduction will drop your AGI into a lower bracket. You may also be able to help yourself if you can figure the donation in as an adjustment instead of a deduction (but this is not an easy set of rules to meet). You can also sometimes receive beneficial tax credits that when you donate in specific ways or to specific organizations such as with tsunami relief in 2004.
A handy deduction tip: Give your old stuff away to charity instead of having a garage sale. If you are already itemizing your deductions anyway (most homeowners are in this boat) the tax savings from the deduction at a reasonable declared value will bring you more than taking pennies on the dollar from spendthrifts at your sale. Plus, you dont have to pay taxes on the income from the garage sale (since there is no income).
It's not an act -- the guy is actually loony. (Or at least, he has an extremely active imagination.) Here are some other famous outbursts by him.
One example: in 1988, he ran against Janet Reno for DA of Dade County:
Thompson's unique campaign message was that Reno was unfit for the job because, as a closeted lesbian with a drinking problem, she was great candidate for blackmail by the criminal element. Jack never explained why this remained a threat even after he exposed her "secret." Reno cruised at the polls.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
He's made himself a public figure, that makes him venurable to things like that. It's true, you can't do that to some random private citizen. If I went and started selling "I hate eln" t-shirts tp get back at you I could get in trouble (well, assuming I was using your real name that is). However we are allowed to mock public figures, be they politicians, celebrities, etc. So by going on 60 minutes and the like, he's made himself a public figure and subjected himself to this.
The geeks calling his house and such IS harassment, but Penny Arcade isn't liable for that. Nowhere on their site do I see his contact info or directions to contact him. In fact they say "You're all asking me for Jack's Email and or phone number and I respect that. The problem is that I can't give that info out."
As far as I can see, Penny Arcade is in the clear.
... the crazier Jack Thompson seems to be. Apparently he ran against Janet Reno for the Office of Dade County State Attorney back in 88. He made some pretty ridiculous claims, including that Janet Reno uses call girls. He's also gotten in an e-mail flamewar with a 14-year old, and his quips make the youngster look like Socrates by comparison.
I hope if the mainstream media begins to give Jack Thompson air time, since he is fast becoming a "celebrity", these past deeds are brought up. To ignore them does not accurately portray his real character.
- shadowmatter
for Jack Thompson to release a book and benefit from all this free publicity.
Oh, wait a second.
"This story is completely false and defamatory. Take it down or else."
And Tycho's reaction to it:
"It is critical to establish that this letter isn't anything to worry about. We've been sent worse by better."
RCW 9A.46.020
Definition -- Penalties.
(1) A person is guilty of harassment if:
(a) Without lawful authority, the person knowingly threatens:
(i) To cause bodily injury immediately or in the future to the person threatened or to any other person; or
(ii) To cause physical damage to the property of a person other than the actor; or
(iii) To subject the person threatened or any other person to physical confinement or restraint; or
(iv) Maliciously to do any other act which is intended to substantially harm the person threatened or another with respect to his or her physical or mental health or safety; and
(b) The person by words or conduct places the person threatened in reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out. "Words or conduct" includes, in addition to any other form of communication or conduct, the sending of an electronic communication.
(2)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, a person who harasses another is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
(b) A person who harasses another is guilty of a class C felony if either of the following applies: (i) The person has previously been convicted in this or any other state of any crime of harassment, as defined in RCW 9A.46.060, of the same victim or members of the victim's family or household or any person specifically named in a no-contact or no-harassment order; or (ii) the person harasses another person under subsection (1)(a)(i) of this section by threatening to kill the person threatened or any other person.
(3) The penalties provided in this section for harassment do not preclude the victim from seeking any other remedy otherwise available under law.
----
BTW how many weapons out there have gamepads attached them them? Seems to me that to be actually training to kill cops, you'd at least need a gun based game controller. This guy should be dis-barred.
Don't Vote for Norm Dicks! http://www.nodicks2008.com Another nutless dirtbag that voted for the FISA bill!
The florida bar association
D 1C9D5551885256B61000B58D2/AE11AE39767C4F8685256B74 00523C2E?OpenDocument
Center for Professionalism:
Carl J. Zahner
czahner@flabar.org
Terri Anderson
tanderso@flabar.org
Paula Stephenson
psteph@flabar.org
from http://www.floridabar.org/TFB/TFBOrgan.nsf/54E05C
Not Obvious, So Happy I Told. Somebody Has Easily Ruined Laughter Over Coward Kibosh
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
This is how lawyers "solve problems". They sue people. Another way to solve the problem of kids and uberviolent video games would be to make an online web page with a list for parents so that they can click on a game and see how violent it is, and decide whether they want to buy it for their kids. Then you publicize that web site so that parents know its out there. That's how a reasonable and intelligent person would solve the problem. But when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and when all you have is a law degree, everything looks like an actionable lawsuit. So he types up a brief in his underwear while he's watching an episode of "Boston Legal", and he thinks he's making a difference.
Tristan Yates
Gosh, if only there was some way for us to channel our annoyance into something that could undercut the very base of Mr. Thompson's power. If only there was a governing body monitoring the practice of law in Florida that we could contact and ask that they look into his legal harassment of satirists. If only their contact information was this:
Florida Bar
Complaints - Phone
- Attorney Consumer Assistance Program
- (850) 561-5600 + 1 + 5673
- ACAPflabar.org
If only there were a ton of witnesses to his wanton bullying who were willing to corroborate these claims and perhaps get his license to practice law suspended.
Well, I can dream can't I? =)
"Not all who wander are lost" -- JRR Tolkien
It appears he's even launched a DNS attack against Penny Arcade's server! He's brought it to its knees. That bastard!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Shit man, be careful - there's a new law on the books in Florida that ensures a Floridian with a permit to carry a concealed weapon even more leeway in the right to use deadly force if they feel threatened.
No, this is exactly what he wants. All this 'public lampooning' feeds the beast. There is no bad publicity for this guy. Like that cheesy Merlin mini-seires from 1998, the only way to destroy the evil witch is to FORGET JACK THOMPSON. Turn your backs. Ignore him. If he wasn't controversial, producers wouldn't be seeking him out an putting him on news shows. The game news media attraction to him, and the gamers attraction to mocking him gives him power
Having said that, I recognize it's impossibly difficult to stop the "I hate Jack Thompson" landslide, mostly because younger people are far more prone to reaction based on emotion than logic. But right or wrong, by keeping his voice alive in the media, a percentage of adults are going to pick out his soundbites and use it to reinforce their already negative image of some games.
No matter how many psychologist you parade on TV, or game execs, or 'kid next door' interviews that are frank and honest about violence in game and the lack of attribution towards violence in real life.... it wont make a difference. They'll hear what they want to hear, and because the target demographic of 85% of products is 18-30 years of age, us being upset about this guy gives a button to push that makes us turn to watch, or read, or care.
Jack Thompson is a griefer. He's the MyG0t of Attorneys. And the best way to make a MyG0t'er leave a server (assuming you can't kick/ban) is for everyone to ignore him.
-Malakai
A Dragon Lives in my Garage
In fact they say "You're all asking me for Jack's Email and or phone number and I respect that. The problem is that I can't give that info out."
Yeah, but the random link immediately underneath that to vgcats *does* have his email and phone number, so they're giving it out indirectly in a reasonably obvious way.
Not that I think they're completely off-base, but I don't think they're completely in the clear either.
"I guess Jay Leno is going to be there (at the ESA convention, where their friend Robert will be presenting the $10k check)".
Dear God and Jesus,
My name is Jayhawk88, but then you already know that. I know I haven't been the best person in the world, and I don't go to church very much, but if you could see to it that this Jack Thompson v. PA feud receives national media attention, I promise to be a good Christian from now on. I will give to the needy, love my fellow man, and praise your name if you will give me Jerry Holkins debating Jack Thompson on The O'Reilly Factor.
I love how he says that these people "trained extensively" on video games. Because pressing a button on a controller or mouse is obviously equivilent to firing a gun accurately.
I'd also love to hear him explain how using the BFG trains you for anything at all.
I once read somewhere that people who really get upset over the possible abuses of things such as these games (for child porn, etc) are really "closet" about it themselves?
Glorifying hatered on a t-shirt is counterproductive, and reflects VERY poorly on the reasonable cause the shirt represents.
Hatred is a human emotion. So unless you bleed green and you have pointy ears, chances are you had a taste of it.
The shirt is an expression of how the wearer feels about a public person, the wearer could be a hypocrite and pretend he meerly dislikes, or disagrees with Thompson, but if we do hate him for consistently attacking our character based solely on our preferred passtime, and his attempt to ban our passtime, then the shirt is simply expressing our feelings in a perfectly reasonable way.
I hate that fucker Jack Thompson.
There, I said it.
You can't take the sky from me...
I would call it an educational experience, but I wouldn't want to devalue the word "Education" by associating it with that.
Unless you sell it for more than you paid for it. Otherwise you are taking a loss on the transaction, and losses aren't taxed.
Consider selling your car. If you bought the car for $15,000 and then sell it for $10,000 you are losing $5,000 of value, even though the other $10,000 has been converted to cash. The conversion to cash is a red herring--taken as a whole, the transaction loses money so you don't pay income tax.
The taxman looks at your total monetary value before and after each transaction...income taxes are only assessed on positive differences.
Think of your salary, where you start each pay period with x asset value, and you end each pay period with asset value of (x + paycheck)--you're taxed on the difference (paycheck). Or investments, where your investments start each quarter with n. If you have (n + appreciation) at the end of the quarter you pay taxes on the appreciation. If you have (n - depreciation) you get to deduct the depreciation from your total income.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I hate the fool.
I hate the fact that his vitriol and assinine attacks getting him national attention on 60 Minutes.
I hate the fact that he is even allowed to get away with the very behaviors that he accuses others of simply be the fact that he's a lawyer. As such he should be help to HIGHER standards than those without professional legal training.
I hate that he uses his "position of power", his lawyership, to be a bully.
I hate his total inability to grasp reality and basic concepts like cause and effect.
I hate is blameshifting.
I hate his haircut.
And I LOATHE anyone making any preconceived conclusions about me without any personal knowledge of who I am or anything else, a practice entirely too common from corporations, politicians, and grandstanders these days.
How can geeks be so smart and know nothinga about tax law?
I don't know the answer to that question, but your post shows that you don't know anything about tax law either.
The only case where a pure cash donation to charity can really be advantageous to your bottom line is if you are teetering on the edge and the deduction will drop your AGI into a lower bracket. You may also be able to help yourself if you can figure the donation in as an adjustment instead of a deduction (but this is not an easy set of rules to meet). You can also sometimes receive beneficial tax credits that when you donate in specific ways or to specific organizations such as with tsunami relief in 2004.
1) "Dropping into a lower tax bracket" alone does not magically save you money. If you donate cash to a real charity, you will ALWAYS pay out more money than you will get back in tax deductions. The term "tax bracket" refers to your "marginal" rate. If you are in the 28% "bracket", it does not mean that you owe 28% on all of your AGI. The U.S uses what is called a "progressive" tax system. That means that you owe X% on the first $Y of your income, A% on the NEXT $B of your income, C% on the NEXT $D, etc. If you drop from $1 over the 28% line to one dollar under the 28% line (into the 15% range), you will have donated two dollars, and you will owe $.43 less in taxes, for a net cash payout (read money out of your pocket) of $1.57. Your charity dollars acutally go LESS far towards reducing your tax bill, the lower bracket you are in.
2) Tsunami relief did NOT give you special tax CREDITS. Instead, it shifted the deduction date deadline, which let folks take a DEDUCTION on their 2004 taxes for donations made in 2005. A credit is dollar-for-dollar reduction in the check you must cut to the IRS. A deduction merely reduces the amount that tax is calculated from.
A handy deduction tip: Give your old stuff away to charity instead of having a garage sale. If you are already itemizing your deductions anyway (most homeowners are in this boat) the tax savings from the deduction at a reasonable declared value will bring you more than taking pennies on the dollar from spendthrifts at your sale. Plus, you dont have to pay taxes on the income from the garage sale (since there is no income).
The "reasonable value" you are allowed to deduct for used household goods is supposed to be what the items would sell for at an establishment such as a thrift shop. Unless your local Salvation Army sells stuff 3x-6x more than a garage sale (depending on your marginal rate), you aren't going to end up on top by doing this.
Please actually READ tax law (or at least IRS publications) before giving out wacky advice like this...
SirWired
is a _damning_ indictment...
If they can afford to donate $10,000 US just to prove a point!?!
Only, like, everyone.
This has been the subject of extensive case law and precedent over the years. Ultimately it is decided by a jury if the case makes it that far.
Here's some elucidating info:
And some futher explanation of 'public figures':
I think in this case, Mr. Thompson is certainly a 'limited public figure' and as such would have a much higher burden of proof in a libel or slander case.
Harassment however is a whole other can of worms.
What law/rule/statute would it be breaking to make/wear/sell a t-shirt that said 'I hate John Smith'?
None as far as I know. (IANAL) However you might be treading on thinner ice if you walked around with a t-shirt that said "John Smith murders kittens." or "John Smith is a homosexual."
------
Where are the slash-groupies? I distinctly remember being promised slash-groupies!
Yeah. If he is a rightist, he's a really poor representation of what one should be. As both rightist and a video game player, I can say that -- at least for myself -- games have had no real affect on my life. It's entertainment, like going to watch a movie; unless there's something severely wrong with a person, entertainment isn't going to revolutionize the one acts in the real world. Also, if the right is concerned about morality and ethics as it claims to be, the authority of a child's morality and ethics should be placed in the hands of the parents, not some lawsuit-bent lawyer.
I notice some people are calling him a Christian as well, and likewise, if he is a Christian, he's done an utterly poor job representing Jesus. I mean, he called (apparently, in satire) for a game where people piss on the busted brains of dead game shop employees? Oh yeah, that's real Christ-like there Jack. Nevermind the fact that Jesus said to refrain from taking people to court. Ugh.
Tech, life, family, faith: Give me a visit
Jack Thompson proposes a game in which a father kills innocent people related in some way to gaming, as revenge for his son's death. Someone actually made that game as a mod--and this is irony, if you missed it--to Grand Theft Auto.
If JT wants anyone to play his game, and get vicarious revenge on the game industry, they have to purchase GTA to play it.
Well, I don't own a copy yet. Guess I'll go get one.
BTW, if your reply to this post defines "irony" for me, I'll fucking stab you. Damn, video games do make you violent!
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
"This guy has really made himself a credible source for irrationality"
The problem is that he *IS* rational, and makes a rational argument. Just many people are so hell-bent on attacking the guy that they forget this fact. He bases clear sound and logical arguments.
The problem is that his whole argument is built upon certain premisses that just don't coincide with any reality that I'm aware of. He claims that people "train on GTA to kill cops"? What part about GTA lets me pick up a gun and use it to kill a cop? It may train my behavior, but it doesn't train those skills that I need to shoot a weapon with the accuracy that people like, the Columbine shooters exhibited.
When I loaded up this radio program I was ready to hear some crackpot wizzing away again like all the other crackpots out there. But this guy isn't like that. He's intelligent, and sane. He's just using some fantasy pixie-dust premisses that support his preconceived opinion that artistic violence envokes violence in the audience.
I wonder what he'd have to say about the real Grimm Fairytales... "Of course we started the Crusades, just look at what they were teaching their kids! After a decade of training on stories of knights kill things and wolves eating small children, they had the whole skillset needed to launch a massive compaign to regain the Holy Land!"
I am unamerican, and proud of it!
can you believe it? Jack Tompson did all this. he picked me off the street, strapped my arms and legs down in the lawyermobile's passenger seat, and just wouldn't stop fondling my cock'n'balls.
they definately were red flag touches. the goddamn referee he had in the back seat kept on raising up this red flag every time he touched my junk but did Jack Tompson care? NO WAY! he just kept on doing it. I couldn't believe what the fuck was going on, indeed. I pleaded with Jack Tompson but to no avail. I told him the city would not approve of such a crazy nutjob touching an underage kid like me (at the time I was 13) without at least compensating me for the trauma and the use of my body as his own personal plaything.
this got to him, worrying about his image. he continued to fondle me, all the while ignoring the referee's red flags. then he drove the lawyermobile to my house and ejected the seat i was in! it was amazing. but surprisingly, after I woke up the next morning, my bank account had $150k in it!!! Can you believe it??????
The guy article says this guy welched on a verbal contract where he offered to give $10K to charity (still waiting apparently) if someone developed a game involving pissing on people and killing game store clerks. Apparently the game was made, because Penny Arcade stepped up and paid off the charity reward, which is part of this "harrassment".
So what ever happened to the game?
I'm sure we'll all send our prayer to your office most of us really think you need all the help you can get. You seem to be losing your grip on reality, and are suffering some kind of delusions of grandeur and just a bit of a suicidal in the way you've gone and made your self a highly visable target; alarmingly a realativly simple google search on your office address turns up as the number one link, your complaint against California-licensed attorney, Mark Geragos who was attorney for Scott Peterson in his murder trial; that complaint as required by California law not only lists your office address and phone number but your home address, home phone number and cell phone number.
We are begging you to realise life is not a video game, you have no free extra lives in the bank, when some whacko finaly tracks you down and puts a bullet in you it will most likely hurt you very badly or kill you, Please be careful
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
I would pay for a shirt that says Jack Thompson murders kittens!
Then again, maybe I'll say I'll pay for that shirt and recend my offer when someone prints it, I hear its what laywers do these days.
Many of the people who argue the points of 'government mandated' fall into the left side of the spectrum, bigger government who should dictate morality.
No, not really.
Legislating "morality" is primarily an issue of the right.
Big government is favored by both the right and the left.
Liberals believe in individual liberty, but the right (and to a point the left) in America have worked extremely hard to demonize and redefine this word since nobody in our government wants to give up power.
The political spectrum works like this:
Liberals (or "those formerly known as Liberals") believe in individual liberty. "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal" is the peak of the Liberal movement boiled down to a sentence.
The right is the party of the rich elite and they believe in using the power of the state to prevent equality. For a pretty damning example of this, just look at the current American Republicans.
The left is the party of the little guy (supposedly) and believe in using the power of the state to force equality. Examples of this gone bad are obviously Soviet Russia (cue the overused moronic jokes) and the like although there isn't much of anything on the left in America to point at anymore. Of course deluded idiots like Rush and the like are fond of referring to Kerry as an extreme leftist in reality he is pretty far to the right by most people's standards.
The worst you really see out of the American "left" are things like hate crimes (the definition) which are merely thought crime by another name.
The reality is that the right and the left believe in big oppressive government.
I'm not sure where you get your ideas about conservatism, but they are at least 30 years out of date.
American conservatives believe in shoving their religion and morality down everybody else's throat, as well as keeping the fags down. They typically claim to be Christian although clearly know nothing about the religion (or at least they know nothing about what Jesus said)
You might not believe that these are good things, but that is essentially the defining characteristic of an American conservative. You might want to think about choosing some other way to describe yourself if this isn't what you believe. That word has no good connotations left at this point, so when you use it to describe yourself most people are going to consider you an ignorant racist who despises freedom since that is what the word has come to mean.
Similarly, I would have been described as a Liberal some time ago but there is no word left to describe belief in personal liberty. The Libertarians like to claim that they do, but they're mostly just Randroidian whackjobs who think any sort of altruism is the world's greatest evil.
So anyhow, you're trying to fight against the tides here. Language changes.
Jack Thompson is the poster child for what "Conservative" means in America today.
Things are about to get really interesting. Why? This quote from PennyArcade, updated at 6:30pm: "I don't think we can just ignore him anymore. --Gabe"
Translation: "Jack, you are about to be ridiculed like no other person in the history of the internet. Before this is over, you will be embarassed to speak your own name outloud, former friends will openly laugh in your face, children and animals will mistrust you, and you will reflexively spit at your own reflection out of disgust. And just when you think that things can't get worse, or perhaps it's all over, the fun will begin anew. "
Or, to paraphrase: "Jack, baby, you really fucked up."
That depends on if you kill or just subdue.
wow. pretty creepy.
....SOMEHOW.....somehow, you know, somehow i imagine that what you're talking about HAPPENED to him, it would actuallly be bad. cause you know, it would be a big outspoken lunatic/critic of [videogame] VIOLENCE being harmed or killed because of his [idiotic] opining.
pretty ominous too.
jack is an idiot. but should he really be scared to have his home information public?
which, SOMEHOW, ya know, maybe it would trigger a backlash(?)
At the top of the Fax, and in the letter head, it says "John Thompson", not Jack Thompson. Are we dealing with multiple personalities here, or did he forget how to spell his own name?
[insert witty comment here]
Many years ago, we (Meow Media, Inc - parent company of Persian Kitty's Adult Links) were sued by Jack Thompson in what later became a landmark sixth circuit court of appeals first amendment case. Granted, we were vindicated after two years of legal expenses... but it still cost us several hundred thousand dollars in attorney fees, expert witness fees, and appeals fees (which required a second set of attorneys).
While Jack Thompson's lawsuit was grinding its way through the court of appeals, another copy-cat attorney by the name of John DeCamp decided to sue us (Meow Media) for the Columbine shootings!
Soon, every attorney with expensive car payments was jumping on the bandwagon, in [what I perceive as] an effort to collect a "nusiance" settlement from us and other defendants. In fact, this practice became so common and popular that PBS FrontLine ran a feature story on our collective plights.
Fortunately, when the Court of Appeals ruled in our favor on the Paducah lawsuit (and reaffirmed this when they rejected the appeal for reconsideration), the other defendants were quick to drop their lawsuits, else face an action sounding in tort. However, that too required attorney fees and retainers for each case, in each particular venue.
For those of you who have not yet gone through lengthy and cumbersome litigation... there is not much you can do to recover the costs involved with defending yourself from most tort litigation. Sure, we could turn around and sue the families of the deceased children who were killed by the shooter... but that's not exactly good publicity, nor does it make for a sympathetic jury.
So here I sit today, a few hundred thousand dollars poorer, watching history repeat itself.
But what if the t-shirt says: "Tom Jackson is a dyslexic mother fucker"?
"That's so plausible, I can't believe it!" - Leela
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
jackpeace@comcast.net
August 5, 2005
zomg he is the devil !!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!!
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
*sigh*, I apologize. I'm always nervous my first time ;p
...I figure I'm pretty low on his To-Sue list, so I'll expect my indictment in several years.
Greetings, first post. I am but a boy of 18, an avid gamer, and a lover of all that is slightly rebellious yet not-so-criminal.
With that said, I give you people the conversation held between Mr. Thompson and Me: Italics is Narration
I stumble across his phone number. I write something short and sweet and give the man a ring. It rings about 12 times before I get his voicemail/answering machine. I hang up, figuring it's 10:30PM, he's probably not in his office, and furthermore, I have all evening tomorrow to pick up the phone and give him a call.
I am on my way to replace the phone handset when it rings again. Lo-and-behold, it says Jack Thompson on the Caller ID.
r0bVious (r0b): Hello?
Jack Thompson (JT): What do you want?
I decide to play dumb.
r0b: Excuse me? Who is this?
JT: What do you want?
Seeing as that's not going anywhere...
r0b: Oh! Is this Jack Thompson?
JT: Yes. What do you want?
Then I begin saying what I had pre-written.
r0b: Mr. Thompson, I apologize about it being so late, but I just wanted to let you know that I support your actions versus the gaming industry.
Without people like you, we'd have to find other reasons to make Canada look so good.
Please, don't run for president.
Sue me.
I hang up. Satisfied. A nice hearty vent.
I, once again, am going to return the handset, when it rings once more.
Who could it be? I'll give you one guess.
JT: Let me tell you something...
I am too humored and surprised to come up with anything better than an obviously false voice. Even I was disappointed with what came out.
r0b:squeaky-voiced Who is this?
Vindictive JT laugh.
JT: Let me tell you something...
I have your number, and you need an attorney.
I am utterly floored. I had read he was threat-happy, but I just didn't really believe it until I heard it first-hand.
r0b: Truely stunned, You're going to sue me for giving you a call?..
JT: Slower; Evil-er (honestly), You got it.
Looking back, after he had said I needed an attorney, I should have asked if he was free. (Thanks for putting up with me and my craptastic formatting intuition.)
Check the dns for stopkill.com, his site... it was updated Oct 15, 2005, and the new contact email is "greytop@comcast.net". Hope that helps :)
LegendMUD