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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.
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.
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.