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Jack Thompson Under Investigation
djflipstarx writes "Jack Thompson, famous anti-videogame lawyer, has found himself in the position of being investigated by the Florida Bar Association after trying to get Penny-Arcade writers Gabe and Tycho arrested. A bunch of people from the Penny-Arcade forums then went and sent letters to the FBA asking for them to check up on Thompson's current actions and review his license to practice law. The fact that even the National Institute on Media and the Family distance themselves from Thompson doesn't help his case either." The lesson here? There are many nerds in the world. Some of them have a posse. Be careful who you pick on.
Or is it what goes around comes around, I can never remember.
But anyway, there hasn't been a more deserving guy than this. The guy obviously has mental problems..and I'm not saying this to say "man, dude is CRAZY". I mean mental problems as in "we the jury find Jack Thompson...".
Maybe he'll seek some help now.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
... that lesson being "Other people can write letters too, and they vastly outnumber you."
Of course, I imagine that poor, pathetic, insane Jack Thompson probably imagines that he's the noble martyr in some epic battle against the hordes of evildoers who want nothing more than to poison the minds of children, and will not, for a second, ponder the possibility that maybe he's wrong.
Jack, people you thought of as staunch allies have left you, are publically distancing themselves from you. Thousands of people are writing letters demanding that you be investigated while not a single solitary soul is writing the FBA saying you're a good guy. Most people might take that as a hint that their views are not actually meshing well with reality - hopefully you'll take this opportunity to take an assessment, get some help, and most importantly, shut the fuck up already.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
He so deserves a serious reprimand from the bar. He actively abuses his "power" as a lawyer. That much is obvious by hi rampant threats to sue anyone who breathes in his direction. If anyone brings "lawyers" into illrepute it is this man.
After all, geeks are the people who control telecommunications, energy distribution, "your computer," transportation, and most of the data in the world.
Do you really wanna open that box?
"Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
It's not quite the "Jack Thompson committed" headline I was hoping for, but this made my day.
"After all, geeks are the people who control telecommunications, energy distribution, "your computer," transportation, and most of the data in the world."
... most have close to zero communication skills when it comes to making their point to a non-geek. Or even to a geek who's not already a zealot on the same crusade. So for the most part, they're safe to ignore.
All that and
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Ha ha, prison rape is funny! I hope Jack Thompson experiences the worst form of abuse there is and he'll probably even get AIDS as a superfunny bonus! That'd be just hilarious!
I hate how every time prison is brought up, some dipshit makes a predictable prison rape joke. Jack Thompson is probably the biggest fucking douche that I can think of right now, but saying you hope he gets raped is immature and stupid.
Just like every sane person who's heard what Jack has to say, I'm glad this is happening to him and I think he deserves to be, at the very least, disbarred. However, I think that Gabe put it best on the PA website. To paraphrase, Jack is only playing a part that somebody always plays. We're lucky that the person trying to ban the "awful new evil corrupting our children" is an insane, ranting, name-calling lunatic. If he were articulate, intelligent, and capable of arguing his case with solid logic, we would be in trouble. Without him, there is a vacancy in that position, and it's entirely possible that the vacancy will be filled by someone with a brain this time. Ah hell, just go to http://www.penny-arcade.com/ and read what he has to say for yourself.
This sig has been stolen. Return it to its original user for a reward.
I strongly doubt it. Lawyers don't get disbarred lightly. He's basically just been a world-class asshole. That's not bad enough to merit such a harsh punishment.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Very important to note that Jack Thompson apparently did not actually fax Seattle PD. Quoth Gabe, "The fact is that Jack actually sent the fax to everyone but the intended recipient at the Seattle PD."
If that's true, then it is a pretty serious problem for Jack.
Q: What do all of these people have in common ,Jeffrey Dahmer , Charles Manson , Peter Sutcliffe , L Ron Hubbard , Pin head , Jack Thompson
... non of them played Violent computer|Console|video games ..
Stalin , Hitler
A: That's right
I think we can begin to see some correlation between not playing Violent games and evil .
Which is roughly the same argument they use to say Games cause violence and it's just as specious
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
The problem I have with that letter is that its far too casual for a suposed lawyer to have written, especially considering that there is a slim chance his legal license may be revoked(its very very slim and we all know it).
I'm in university(Political Science and Economics for anyone interested) and on letters to lecturers, tutors and even some students I'm at least moderately formal in my presentation and clear and concise in my meaning.
If he is meant to be a lawyer he should include case numbers, references to his examples for verification by the Bar Association, some details of the owners of the companies abusing him and his legal actions(claim notices and numbers, filings ect) in response.
As a lawyer he should have a clear cut break down of the relationship between himself and Penny Arcade from the first moment they encountered each other to the minute he wrote the letter.
He shouldn't have wasted a third of the letter on some unrelated law firm with connections to George Bush as well. That doesn't fit in the context of the letter and seems to be him just trying to paint himself as a victim of a wider conspiracy.
While it works on some people, it wouldn't work on anyone investigating the claims, his career and his future based on that contents of that letter.
Maybe lawyers in America are just more casual in their communications than in Australia.
Also, every letter he ever writes to the police includes the expression "Cop Killer Simulation/Simulator" when describing GTA, I think Cops know a bit more about cop killers than Jack Thompson.
Its not that I don't think he's an idiot, I'd just like someone I could at least respect on some level at least as an opponent to Computer games.
I still agree with the idea of stopping kids being able to play the more violent games out there, and I think most people here do as well.
But not at the cost of banning them all together.
Read Errant Story.
Including contact information in your sig isn't a crime.
Neither is baiting.
A number of people seem upset by the turn of phrase, but "baiting" does not have to mean internet-flamewar conventions, as everyone seems to assume. A striaghtforward interpretation of Tycho's post is that Gabe does not usually put his cell phone number in his email sig, but this time he did. That seems like dangling bait (a phone number) with the hopes of landing a bite (Jack's phone call).
No crime, no disparraging of Gabe, just "you think if I put my phone number in there he'll be so irate as to actually call?"
The salient point is this; whatever happens to Jack someone else will step up to take his place. The Center for the Media and Family, perhaps, or some other group. It really doesn't matter. What does matter is that those people will be unlikely to make the same mistakes Jack did.
What this means for gamers (and all friends of sanity and free speech) is that the fight hasn't ended with Jack, or with the Parents Television Council, or anyone else. This was a battle, not the war. As groups such as the ACLU and the EFF have shown the fight for free speech is purpetual.
This isn't a doom and gloom thing. This is a long-term point. The way to protect our freedoms is to a) be vigilant and b) be organized. We can't watch Jack dry up and blow away and then go back to sleep thinking everything is hunky dory. Indeed Jack was probably doing more harm for his side than good. We have to be organized, by supporting the existing groups, forming our own, reading the news, and having our reps on speed-dial so that when someone serious comes to the table they face serious opposition.
In my opinion Jack's 15 minutes of fame is almost over. But that doesn't mean the threat has passed.
WHile this looks legitimate, I would like to know the source of this. Where did you get this?
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players