Jack Thompson Off Of Alabama Case

Game Politics reports that Jack Thompson has removed himself from the Alabama court case against members of the games industry. From the post: "Thompson's flamboyant profile, take-no-prisoners style of communication, and frequent press releases and media appearances were the subject of a defense motion on behalf of video game industry clients to revoke his Pro Hac Vice (visiting) admission to the Alabama bar. The motion to remove Thompson from the case occupied much of last Thursday's hearing before Judge Moore in Fayette County. By day's end the judge asked both sides to submit opinions on the Pro Hac Vice revocation motion as well as another defense motion to dismiss the case on a summary judgment for lack of merit." Gamespot has commentary as well.

Comments

Everything2 gets it right.

[Xenex]

E2 is close to the hearts of many people here, so:

"Jack Thompson Off Of Alabama Case"

Here's the 'off of' node.

Re:Everything2 gets it right.

[Anne_Nonymous]

Yeah. "Jack off."

Everybody does it.

Here's to hoping

[WormholeFiend]

that Rockstar parodies him as a character into the next GTA game.

say what?

[Red Flayer]

FTA: "'If we won one motion or the other, we wanted to win [the summary judgment] by a factor of a million to one,' Thompson said."

Yes, because that's how the Alabama court system issues judgements.

JUDGE: I (and my 700 other personalities) find in favor of the plaintiff, by a factor of 700 to one. As soon as we figure out which one of me dissents, I will have that personality removed from the bench.

He figured he was going to be removed...

[sesshomaru]

That's why he took himself off of the case. He's not really a lawyer, though he has the credentials. His main goal is to keep his lawyering credentials and I imagine that being removed from a case for violating legal ethics would be a step toward getting him disbarred. He's basically an unsuccessful politician (I honestly don't know what his income stream is, I assume he does not work on contingency.)

He made an interesting comment according to the article, which was a tactical error on his part:

"Certain regional governments in Japan have banned the sale of the Grand Theft Auto games to minors, but Japan's Sony has no problem whatsoever dumping this garbage into American kids' brains. Looks like Pearl Harbor 2 by Sony/Take-Two..."

and followed it up with:

"Insensitive? What the Japanese are doing to our kids is insensitive and racist. The Japanese have for a very long time dumped pornography into this country in a fashion they would not tolerate in their own country. It is another version of Pearl Harbor."

Now, a reference to Pearl Harbor in this way is inteneded to have an effect on other members of Thompson's generation. That's when the "dirty Japs" launched their "cowardly" "sneak attack." Pearl Harbor led to some extremely racist imagery in American cartoons and films of the time.

It's very crude, and he probably could have got his intended effect in the minds of his audience, that "the evil Japanese are trying to destroy America's youth" without being so blatant. Especially considering that Pearl Harbor doesn't have the kind of visceral resonance with people who don't remember it as it does with people of his generation. Subtlety is not his strong point.

I remember that one of the articles I read, had the line "Jack seems to be intent on looking like a narrow-minded bigot in the eyes of all as he continues to dig a deeper and deeper proverbial grave for his own career." News - Miami's Corrupt Counsel Adds Racism to his List of Idiocies This makes me sigh, as the man has built his extremely odd career on race-baiting, starting with his attacks on rap stars and the following it up with gay baiting against Janet Reno. So this isn't anything new.

Personally, if I were trying to profit from a moral panic, I wouldn't have opened myself up to the charge that I was a racist, unless I was sure that I could get away with it. This isn't the 40's after all.

Sony or Parents

[queenb**ch]

How is it that Sony is at fault for this? Is the game not labled "M"? I know I've posted this before, but I think that the video games should follow the same ratings as movies (G, PG, PG-13, PG-17, R, X, etc.) as well as the same ratings standards. Since parents already "grok" the rating system for movies, they don't by an R rated DVD for an 8 year old. However, these same parents will gladly buy an "M" rated game for the same kid.

Honestly, they should have let him stay on as their council. It's always easier to fight an id10T.

Frankly, I find it offensive that these two nitwits are even being allowed to bring this suit. If they are so easy to influence that a video game can make them commit murder, I certainly don't want them living in my neighborhood. They really ought not to be allowed out by themselves and should, for the protection of everyone else in society who behaves responsibly, be kept in padded cells and forced to watch Barney videos.

Even funnier...

[Alizarin Erythrosin]

I noticed an article on Ars Technica about the same thing... went to read it, and the ad on the page was for GTA: Liberty City Stories for the PSP.

Sweeeeet...

Re:Chlorinating the genepool

[Sj0]

There's a third option, you know.

Maybe the kids who go out and kill their classmates are just batshit insane?

Seriously. You can try all day to point out how it should have been perfectly obvious that kids would go out and do this, and it's all just a case of "hindsight is 20/20". Yeah, if you knew your kids were going to be mass murderers, you'd probably keep an eye open to make sure they don't do it on your watch. On the other hand, 99% of people aren't, which makes this a difficult thing to watch for.

Re:Chlorinating the genepool

[Sj0]

Yeah yeah, your life is so horrible and nobody loves you.

I don't recall YOU going on a killing rampage.

Shit happens. Normal people don't go on killing rampage when it does.