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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.
Just so everyone's on the same page, that Ars article doesn't get the story 100% correct. There was a second round of phone calls and emails after the initial one mentioned, and the check is from both Gabe AND Tycho. Also, the inclusion of his phone number in the email sig wasn't "unfortunate," as stated by Tycho in the PA blog - Gabe knew full well it was there.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
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.
As far as I can see, nowhere in the article does it state that the man is 'under investigation'. All that's happened to date is that, 'according to a spokesperson, the letters and faxes have been received and forwarded to the disciplinary committee.' I have no idea how this body works, but I'd imagine that forwarding a complaint about someone to the committee does not automatically mean the person in question is 'under investigation'.
It's not quite the "Jack Thompson committed" headline I was hoping for, but this made my day.
On the PA forums it seems the focus has shifted to contacting mainstream media outlets in hopes this story will get widespread coverage.
Something like this could certainly hinder Jacks political agenda. We can only hope the rest of the world will see he's nothing more than an ambulance chaser, and networks like CNN will stop classifying him as an 'Expert' of any kind.
Looks like we are in the midst of seeing a legal-troll get metamodded to oblivion. Lets see if he'll end up getting the (-1 DISBARRED) moderation...
"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.
To quote the shirt, "I HATE Jack Thompson" as much as anyone, but keep in mind that an investigation alone won't get him disbarred. I'd love to have that kind of P.R. weapon on the side of the games industry, but premature gloating isn't going to win any hearts on the Florida bar. In fact, it may have the opposite effect.
A better strategy would be to send correspondence to the bar alerting them to other infractions Jack has made besides those against Penny Arcade. For instance, his use of these same tactics on Lou Kerner of Bolt Media is my personal favorite.
Or you could cite his threats against the author of VGCats.
Or even the latest vague legal threats against Dave Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family.
One of these can be overlooked, but if the Bar knows about all of these, perhaps Jack will be out of the game for good.
I have to say I was shocked by the lack of professionalism Jack displayed in his communications, and even given the 'selective quote' syndrome, and suprised how poorly he represents himself.
/. has been brought to bear in a responsible way, as have the fans of PA, many of whom hang out here too. I was afraid there would be a bunch of childish hacking attempts that would hit the national media furthering his hyperbole, which may in fact have been his intent -- we'll never know.
/.ers don't 'always get it wrong' and or over-compensate for our passion.
I am thankful that
I think this shows that PA and
It's good to be a nerd today;)
-[joke removed for your safety]-
What would a disbarred and disgraced Jak Thompson be likely to do? He appears to be exactly the kind of dysfunctional person who might take revenge with a big gun.
Let's hope he doesn't realise that this would actually prove his theory that video games can drive unstable people to commit murder!
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
Who mentioned rape? He was just talking about some complimentary and amicable fellow called Bubba, who was so kind as to say that he had an aesthetically pleasing mouth. Are you insinuating something about people called Bubba?
Kind regards,
Bubba
This is weird, but in a good way, I think.... Penny Arcade has, almost certainly by accident, formed a type of political action group, like all those concerned mothers groups, religious groups, etc. And it's a group that seems to be actually accomplishing things (maybe unlike Slashdot and some political communities). It's kind of funny to think that part of the reason this group is actually doing things is both because it is very passionate, and a larger percentage of it has lots of free time (i.e. no job, part time job, still living with parents, in college, etc.).
It's realy interesting, and I'm not trying to imply anything negative about the Penny Arcade audience, as I'm certainly one of them (although not a very active one, unfortunately). In fact, I think it could be a very positive thing if they can get the media, politicians (could they be considered a constituency?), and just plain other people to listen to them. Heck, now might be a good time to introduce some of these people to the EFF, or get them otherwise politically involved. *shrug*
hackshop.com - My tech hobby project hub
This is a link to the letter that was originally sent to the FBA (which was then followed by an absolute flood of letters, faxes, calls and e-mails requesting a formal investigation):
p =17101843#17101843
http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/viewtopic.php?
Student Manager - Take control of your education!
Mind-numbing as it is, you can find his response at http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000427064233/ Comment #10.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Nothing! Absolutely Nothing!!
STUUUPIIIIDD! You're so STUUUPIIIID!
(reference from UHF, for the uninitiated)
Karnal
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
October 20, 2005
Alan B. Bookman
President
The Florida Bar
Tallahassee, Florida Via e-mail
Entire Board of Governors
The Florida Bar
C/o John Harkness and to Governors Directly
The Florida Bar
Tallahassee, Florida Via e-mails
Re: Targeting of Jack Thompson for Criminal Harassment by "Gamers"
Dear Mr. Bookman and All Governors of The Florida Bar:
As you know, eighteen years ago I commenced efforts against the entertainment industry's illegal distribution of adult entertainment to minors. That fledgling effort resulted in the first decency fines ever levied by the FCC.
The broadcasters struck back with Bar complaints. One happy result of that is that The Bar's insurance carrier had to pay me money damages for The Bar's having taken the bait offered by the SLAPP bar complainants. SLAPP is the acronym for "strategic litigation against public participation." Filing such a complaint violates certain federal civil rights statutes and state laws as well.
As you also know, the Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome, which is lead lawyer and chief lobbyist registered in the US House of Representatives and in the US Senate for Take-Two Interactive, has chosen to use the SLAPP approach in our wrongful death case in Alabama by asking the Alabama state judge to kick me off that case because 1) I have been so effective in telling the American people about the reckless activity of their clients, Take-Two and Sony, through 60 Minutes and Reader's Digest that they can't now get a "fair trial," and 2) I have a "colorful history" of pornographers filing SLAPP bar complaints against me, which indicates I am unfit to practice law.
Interesting logic, but remember: this is Blank Rome talking. Blank Rome has a very long history of "opposition research" through partners such as "Barbara Comstock," who was called by the Washington Post a "one-woman wrecking crew" for her brilliance in character assassination on behalf of her clients.
Blank Rome's Comstock is the US Congressman Dan Burton staffer who was doing his "work" for him when he was clandestinely keeping a mistress on his federal payroll staff in violation of federal law.
Blank Rome also has been recently caught up in the scandal of securing Department of Homeland Security contracts for its clients allegedly because of its massive campaign contributions to former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, Bush-Cheney, and the RNC. This has been covered in the mainstream media. Blank Rome is clearly the most powerful law firm, right now, in America, because of its tight personal and financial relationships with Jeb and George Bush. Blank Rome likes to make stuff up to run over people who are in the way of their clients. Pretty standard stuff, really. But don't you love the fact that a bunch of "family values" Republican loyalists to George Bush are representing Take-Two/Rockstar and fraudulently smearing a conservative Christian Republican who has got Rockstar on the run? But this is wha the GOP has become: the lap dog for corporate America, the parents who provide the party's base be damned.
I hear today, then, from the Internet-based "enthusiast video game press" that "gamers" are going to file or have filed new SLAPP Bar complaints against me. Here's why:
An outfit in Seattle called "Think Geek" is marketing a t-shirt emblazoned across the front of which are the words "I Hate Jack Thompson." That kind of tells us where they are on the subject of me.
The parent company is an outfit called Penny Arcade. In the last several days, the folks at Think Geek provided, improperly, Penny Arcade with my email address, which had not been widely circulated (I had to get rid of the last one because of death threats and the like). Some idiot at Penny Arcade foolishly emailed me and told me, in effect, of the amusement that comes from going after me, and then he foolishly explained on the Penn
That's a very good point. Video game ratings are highly visible on all new games, and they're quite accurate, according to independant polls of other peoples' opinions. Unfortuneately, there are still many groups that want to ban outright, violence or sexuality in games, whether they're meant for children or not.
With all the talk of "freedom" in this country, you'd think more people would have a grasp of what, exactly, it means for people to have it. Freedom means that people will do things that you do not approve of, but you will do nothing to curb said things, because they are adults, and it is their intrinsic right to pursue happiness in any way they please, assuming they don't step on your right to do the same.
So, I have this to say about Jack Thompson and his ilk: Jack Thompson, and those like him, *hate* freedom.
Cheers.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden