Slashdot Mirror
Jack Thompson vs Amazon?
Zorglub writes "Feeling his book page at Amazon has been harassed by bad reviews, nasty tags, and a user-submitted vomit pic, anti-game lawyer Jack Thompson threatens to sue Amazon if the offending material isn't removed."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1414304420/103-17 36564-3760662?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v =glance
"Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses." - Arthur C. Clarke.
Isn't all publicity good publicity? At least there's interest in his book. ;-))
I'm gonna sue you in England!!!
I'm sure Amazon & their team of lawyers has covered their backs. Shouldn't he be suing the people who posted the comments? But then he couldn't milk a mulit-million dollar cash cow then, could he?
Unity in Diversity
Does Amazon even own the comments? Like Slashdot, they probably have a disclaimer. Even then, isn't it considered free speech?
This guy is obviously an attention whore, so why indulge him?
This man needs to be shot... and normally I am a nice guy...
The list is amusing, heres the few on the page:
First tag: lies (6mullet on Nov 17, 2005)
Last tag: Propaganda
Lies (7),Propaganda (5),Childish Name Calling (4),Unfounded assertions (4),Slander (4),Unscientific (4),Defamation (3),Self-promoting with fake reviews (3),Biased (3),lies (3),Racist (2),Scaremonger (2),toilet-paper (2),Money grabbing lawyer (2),Ambulance Chaser (2)
The amazon page listing them is here.
liqbase
Short of slander, whatever nasty stuff someone says about you in a situation like that is fair game. If he doesn't like the attention, maybe he should shut the fuck up and stop making an ass out of himself publically.
Word is Amazon has just patented a mechanism for being sued by insane book authors.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
This is America where we have freedom of speech. This includes what other may call abuse, defamation, belittling etc.
1. Jerk writes book.
2. People who hate the jerk play underhanded amazon tricks to sabotage book on Amazon.com
3. Jerk complains to amazon that such tricks are clearly against amazon's rules and asks amazon to remove the offending material, which amazon does poorly or incompletently.
I expected the mesasgeboards there to be filled with "I disagree with what Jerk says, but I respect his right to say it in a fair way", instead it is full of Vigilante Logic such as pointing to Jerk's supposed jerk activities in a vein of "two wrongs make a right" logic criticizing the guy for asking for amazon to play by its own rules.
Sad.
Perhaps someone else has a sense of humor, but there were these three links to "Listmania!" below this book... all three were to how-to books for gay men. One was about handballing...
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
Now this was about 4 years ago, maybe they've changed since then, but we've found amazon to be pro-author.
"Nope. Having an opinion is officially a crime."
Grey Ninja! Please turn yourself into the police. Your opinion will be confiscated and used as evidence in your trial, of conspiring to overthrow the duely-elected "Lawyer of one" government.
He's sueing amazon to save the children from the evils of amazon comments and free speech?
//anonymous coward doesn't want to be sued for the children.
He is also teaching the children that they can write inane BS and if people don't like their inane BS they can go ahead and sue them.
What a great role model.
People seem to need an excuse to convince themselves that they aren't totally whacko looney (oh its to save the children.. oh it's to free a people of a country etc etc.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1414304420/104-92 75859-2849503 Jack Thompson's book
Of the 52 reviews 3 of them are rated two stars and the rest have been given one. Does he want all of these removing? Has he considered that his book is actually not very good?
One thing that seems to be in most of the more sensible reviews is that the writing is bad, maybe instead of having a fit he should consider that these people are right and his book is awfull.
I don't agree with Jack Thompson but I do not see a problem with him expressing his point of view in our culture of ideas. Posting a very gross picture of a kid vomiting and an absurd cartoon does the anti-Thompson no good. Winning a debate does not occur when call someone a "poopyhead" enough times. Though I don't know if Thompson will win this sort of case, but if I found my product page defased in such a manner, I might do the same thing if Amazon were unwilling to remove these sort of items when requested. It hurts Amazon as much as Thompson to have vomit pictures on their website.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
First I must agree with every rational person posting here that this guy is an idiot, and has no right to sue Amazon. So to him I say, fuck you! Sue Slashdot now :P
/ 1647245&tid=105)
But as we're on the subject of the supposed negative influence of games, I must post something original about Child's Play, a charity that provides games to children stuck in hospital. (previous Slashdot coverage http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/08
To quote founders Gabe and Tycho (pennyarcade.com)
"For two years now we've set up and organized a charity called Child's Play. We set it up because we were angry the media decided to blame all the world's problems on games and gamers. Basically they said that gamers were bad people, and we thought that wasn't right. Apparently, you guys agreed: through Child's Play you sent nearly a million dollars in toys, games, and cash to the sick kids in Children's Hospitals around the nation."
So at some good (he'd disagree) did actually come indirectly from this guy voicing his wrong opinion. Argh, he makes me angry. Now excuse so I can kill some stuff in HL2.
just wait until the slashdot crowd gets finished writing their reviews.
Meh.
The more Jack Thompson opens his mouth, the more of a joke he becomes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson
http://www.google.com/search?q="jack+thompson" blowhard
Here's an e-mail exchange between Jacko and a 14 yr. old boy.
http://croqaudile.com/?article_id=10299
The original e-mail is long, but if you keep reading you'll see how quickly Thompson's replies devolve into complete and utter asshattery.
Loud doesn't = right
lemme say that again for Jack's benefit
LOUD DOESN'T = RIGHT
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Post this on slashdot so the trolls have a target to post their goatse review!
If you look at the book for sale on Amazon, they'll tell you what other books people are buying if they've bought Jack's book.
Here's a sample:
How to Use DRM to Improve Your Profits
by Sony BMG
In The Line of Fire:
A Case for War
by Scooter Libby
Censorship for Dummies
by the Parents Television Council of America
[yes these are all made up titles]
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Personally, I think Amazon have got their arse covered on this one, especially given the legal might they could probably rustle up - from the site (emphasis mine):
The key word, there, Jack, is 'Customers' - not Amazon. That's the opinion of people being posted by people to advise other people what to buy - if it's slander, sue those people, subpoena Amazon.com for the IPs of the people that posted them, but don't sue Amazon, it just makes you look like a dingbat.
Jeez, I've never seen something so childish from someone with the supposed intelligence to become a lawyer - maybe it's different in the UK, but every person in the legal profession I've come across has been intelligent, respectable and level-headed - not someone likely to go off on a sue-fest if someone calls them names, and even if they did, they'd sure aim it at the right target.
As it's customers tagging it, and Amazon point this out, they should be OK - sure, an 'Amazon.com is not responsible for' blah-blah would help matters, but I'm sure that disclaimer that customers did it alone will get them out of any trouble, especially with the army of lawyers far more qualified than Thompson that Amazon's millions could muster - perhaps this could be a chance for Amazon to recoup some good feeling after their recent patent-grabbings; I mean regardless of how you feel about patents and Amazon's behaviour in that field, who wouldn't like to see Thompson get laughed out of court for suing over something that stopped bothering me when I left kiddy school?
Dealing with lawyers would be a lot less tedious if they all looked like Casey Novak.
Gees, first Jack Thompson takes on Penny Arcade, and loses.
Then he takes on VG Cats, and loses.
He also took on a news reporting website, and lost (I forgot the name).
If history is any indicator on how successful he's going to be with this "lawsuit" (and I'll beleive it when I see it, this guy is a known liar after all) as he was with Penny Arcade.
He should just do what Anne Rice does, and beat people who say bad stuff about him to a pulp both online and offline. I'd also like to go on record as saying that if Anne Rice ever comes to Australia, I love her Jesus book. However if she doesn't ever come here, I wouldn't use it to wipe my ass.
Somebody call the Wambulance!
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I estimate 90% of reviewers have written just one review, for this book. So of the 53 reviews maybe 45 are from the one person/group.
Ah, the hubris of the defeated.
When is he NOT suing someone/some company?!?
"Congratulations, Boots. Your robot has become self-aware. You're a daddy now." -- Dr. Rho Bowman
Search for Jack Thompson on Amazon. The first result is his book, Out of Harm's Way. The second book is Advanced Sex : 101 Positions and Techniques, for the Sexually Adventurous by Randi Foxx. Interesting.
If you look under the pic of the cover, there are two extra "customer images" attached.
NOTE: I'm not sure how the first pic slipped by Amazon,
but don't click it if you're squeamish
From W. Jones "bookreviewer" (Clemson, SC USA)
This was my immediate reaction after reading Thompson's Book.
From Neil J. Miotto "Sponge-lueshi" (Menlo Park, CA, USA)
More images of JT.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Then don't be surpriced to get kicked in the face.
In other words, people as outspoken (disrespectfull) as Jack should not be surpriced to be called upon. He really think he can get away with saying thing that hurt people without retaliation?
Wake up to the world Jack!!
...the reviews on amazon make it sound terrible.
Itsn't this freedom of speech as long as it isn't directly libel?
Someone should write a book about how lawyers are a bad influence on our children.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I know that Livejournal is a completely trustworhty for news and good poetry. That's why I hope to see more Livejournals quoted here on Slashdot.
Seriously, lawyers should be treated like lepers - required to scream out a warning to anyone they come in contact with for any reason. "Lawyer, outcast, unclean! Beware lest I sue ye". Amazon attempted to treat this scum like a rational human being and he will use those efforts against them.
[Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
Amazon.com Legal Dept.
Amazon.com HQ
November 20, 2005
Jack Thompson
Dear Sir:
Per your request we have instructed our client to remove all of the materials you reqested. Please accept our sincerest apologies. To ensure that such an unfortunate incident does not occur, we have also instructed them to remove this book from their catalog. Furthermore, we are recommending they remove all works authored, co-authored, edited, forwarded, or otherwise contributed to by you.
Again, we regret these unfortunate events and we trust that you will see that we are serious about making sure that nobody ever makes another negative comment about any of your works on Amazon.com in the future.
Sincerely,
The Amazon.com Legal Team
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Most authors would probably like to get rid of all those pesky bad reviews but dont, perhaps in this case the lawyers should practice law and let the writers write the books because this guy obviously hasnt figured out theres a difference between the two.
I was crazy back when being crazy really meant something. (Charles Manson)
On the Amazon page it has this beneath the book details:
Better Together
Buy this book with The World Is Flat
Yup, I agree. Those who buy the Jack Thompson book would definitely like a book called "The World is Flat."
Never before have I been so proud of a domain name I purchased.
Now I just need to get off my ass and do something with it.
Without all the facts, I cannot be sure; but Amazon seems to be squarely covered by 47 USC 230 and has been covered in the past. "[P]laintiffs continue to bring these meritless cases that have no chance under 47 USC 230." from here.
He's bound to get good reviews now that the story has been slashdotted........
By the way, who do you think his one positive review (that was allegedly removed by amazon) came from?
"If you like murdering little puppies than you will love this book! Ax murderers and serial killers alike will take ques from this wonderfully deragned book. Enjoy the life and times of this anti-bill-of-rights author that showers his reader with psycopathic rhetoric. A must read if you plan on being a dictator or child abuser."
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
http://croqaudile.com/?article_id=10299
People who behave like he does (in general, not just in that one example) would get modded down as a troll or flamebait if they posted to
We don't tolerate behavior like his because, when it isn't lowering the level of discourse, it ruins it all together.
I don't hate him for his point of view, I hate him for refusing to participate in anything other than a 1-sided conversation.
If God is a Meta-Moderator,
he's asleep on the job.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
By this guy's logic I can make a post or journal entry here on /. and sue anybody who flames me! I ddin't know that. Hella cool! I'll be rich by this time next year!
I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.
The Amazon tags cracked me up.
Customers tagged this item with:
First tag: lies
Last tag: Propaganda
Lies (7),Propaganda (5),Childish Name Calling (4),Unfounded assertions (4),Slander
(4),Unscientific (4),Defamation (3),Self-promoting with fake reviews (3),Biased
(3),lies (3),Racist (2),Scaremonger (2),toilet-paper (2),Money grabbing lawyer
(2),Ambulance Chaser (2)
The part that struck a nerve with me was the book description. "Jack, an outraged father and activist lawyer, is on a mission..." IMHO, 'activist' and 'lawyer' is a conflict of interests.
Jack needs to call a WAAAHmbulance and get some professional help.
You talk about letting him express his point of view, but then you turn around and suggest that it is "defacement" when others express their opinion. Let's have some consistency, okay?
Like it is often said, a picture is worth a thousand words. That one picture of the person vomiting very concisely shows what many apparently feel about him, and the views he expresses. He chooses to write a book to get his ideas out, they choose to use a single photo.
Indeed, any true American should consider censorship of any medium, be it computer games, books, radio, television or photos, to be absolutely sickening. Such a picture is an apt description of that feeling.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
At least three of the reviews include some form of the name LUEshi. A quick search of the web reveals several forums where either, someone using that name is banned or someone is complaining about getting flamed by a person using that name. I wonder how many more of those posts might be from the same person?
Someone save me from this sanity.
Why can't he just sue someone already? He'll get laughed out of court and maybe just maybe shut his mouth for a while.
I like muppets.
One of Jack's major assertions is that violent video games lowers inhibitions and leads to more violence, etc.
The general response to his claim is that "Violent crime in age group X has been dropping for years"
For the sake of intellectual honesty, I'd like to point out that such a response is meaningless as it represents the aggregate crime rate.
For either Jack or his critics to make a valid point, they would need specific numbers relating video games to violence. Just because the general crime rate has decreased, doesn't mean that viode-game violence has.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Jack Thompson also has a right to privacy. It is protected in the constitution. I recommend he exercises this right.
Thompson also just got kicked off the videogame violence case going on in Alabama because of his frequent press releases. His response? Accuse the judge of being unfit and biased. Gamepolitics said that the letter Thompson wrote was so inflamitory they were afraid that if they posted it they might get sued for libel. While that seems unlikely, that gives you an indication of how outrageous his claims are.
I've written a lot about Thompson on my blog and, because I find it funny, I've put an Amazon affiliate link for his book on the front page. I'm just waiting for Thompson to send a threatening letter to Amazon because they let people put ads for his book on sites that disagree with him.
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
The AI4U textbook of artificial intelligence was thoroughly trashed with vicious reviews by malevolent miscreants on Amazon.
Complaining by the textbook author to one of the reviewers accomplished nothing
Association for Computing Machinery publishes the truth, but Amazon won't.
A rebuttal to Amazon AI4U reviews had to be published prominently on-line.
Slashdot coverage of AI4U was fair and open-minded, but there is no official review of AI4U on Slashdot -- until some brave, truthful, AI-savvy soul submits one.
AGI Radar is the ultimate antidote to Amazon review treachery.
After all, you can't un-read a book. If the reviews are any indication, there was a lot of pain and suffering on the buyer's end.
First: yes, I really did read the book.
I decided to give this book a go after hearing that Thompson was actually suing Amazon over the reviews left here. Considering I already loathe Thompson for his consistent lies and self-serving press releases, and considering said lies and releases have him in ethical trouble, I was going in prejudiced. I really don't think that made a difference. The book is as rambling and nonsensical as many of Thompson's own statements. When obvious counterpoints to his zealous, frothing-at-the-mouth rage exist, he ignores them entirely (in the real world, he threatens legal action after committing slander. Gee, sounds familiar.)
Read this book over the hype, if you want. Yes, it will give Thompson some more money, and that's what he wants. It's worth it, though, because it exposes just how...well...insane he really is.
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.
The way "Holiness" gets used, (the pope, for example) I don't want anything to do with it...The "Holy Spirit" on the other hand, is a much more complex issue. It could be that people could each be experiencing a higher entity devoted to them, and they all get lumped together into one concept, the "Holy Spirit", along with other spiritual phenomena. There are Biblical references to there no longer being a distinction between holy and common, Zechariah 14:21 is one, but those who try to lay claim to holiness don't understand it. They are those (2 Tim 3:5) "having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof" and Jack Thompson is one of their number.
if the offending material isn't removed
Does that mean they're going to remove his book?
___
*insert sig here*
I spent some time reading these reviews and just walked away.
Most, not all, of the postings are just dumb. Just a bunch of drivel about the same old shit without anything specific to back it up. And the funny part is, they spend most of their time belly-aching about how Jack has no facts presented in his book. Well, neither do they.
It's just a bunch of wind on both sides.
They allege Jack has no facts and they provide no facts to back that up. The closest thing I did find to any truth is he probably has poor writing skills and a poorly backed case against gaming.
We have to be careful between the balance of violence and non-violence influences in society. If we never have any exposure of violence in any form then we become a society of Welfare Pussies who are incapable of responding to anything which might appear violent in nature. If we only have exposure to violence then we end up a society of synics who don't give a shit or one giant anger management class.
Unfortunately, most games these days that are considered Violent to not present conflict resolution in any terms but 9mm versus BFG9000. On the flip side students in school have all these touchy-feely classes on conflict resolution. And where in the mix do they learn that there comes a time when your best option is to meet someone in the playground after school?
I see a lot of people who are told that they can't get angry because anger is bad and in their games they just blow the shit out of anyone who crosses them. So much Therapy!!!
LUEshi is apparently an ASCII image of Mario riding on Yoshi. Some research suggests that it originated from posters at the "Life, the Universe, and Everything." forum at GameFAQs.com [1]. That particular forum itself was shut down or had its access limited by the administrators there, apparently due to excessive abuses by the members.
Considering GameFAQs' focus on gaming, it is quite plausible to see why people associated with GameFAQs might choose to post such reviews. It sounds like the users of that particular forum are known for intentionally causing trouble, as well.
The forums at GameFAQs widely known for having excessive rules, overzealous moderators, and what amounts to an extreme lack of freedom. It seems unusual that they wish to speak out against those who wish to limit free speech, while at the same time being members of a community that actively supports and practises censorship.
- Note:
I have been informed that there is a moderator at GameFAQs.com who also uses the name CyricZ. We are not the same person. I am Cyric Zndovzny, while his name is Scott, if I'm not mistaken. I repeat, I am not the CyricZ at GameFAQs. We are different people.[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameFAQs_message_boa
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
I do not see a problem with him expressing his point of view
So.. suing people is "expressing his point of view", while people actually *POSTING* their point of view is not?
You're essentially saying "the only real expression is legal action."
Whatever it is you're on, you either need to up or cut the dose.
He attacks everybodys fun and games and expects people to like him. Why does he expect a perfect world. What ever happened to not listening to show you don't like and what happened to parental responsibilty in choosing things for their kids. Trying to regulate everbody's lifestyle choices is futile anyway.
Bad reviews! Did he ever consider the subject was unpopular.
Nobody forces Amazon to stock his book. They should just take it off the virtual shelves and be done with it. Don't sue the messanger when the messanger doesn't have to carry your message.
(Bad) reviews are a form of condensed information about the book that attests to it's quality, so here's a choice qoute from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri:
Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. (or close to that)
In my opinion this guys a fuckhead who thinks that whining and crying will always get him what he wants. That said - also in my opinion - he also seems to be on a puritanical crusade to ban everything that offends him. Fuck off Jack Thompson, you don't speak for me or probably anything resembling a majority either.
Shh.
Which is the strange thing. We are getting very worked up over him. What happens when somebody posts something inflammatory, trollish or vulgar here on Slashdot? We just ignore it and get on with our lives. However, it seems to me that this usually stable mindset goes right out of the window when it comes to Mr Thompson, and he's been feeding the furnace of publicity with all the hate emails, comments, and other statements made by the people who can't just see this guy for the common (albeit rich and infamous) troll he is.
I've even seen this behaviour normally level-headed people like Tim Buckley (who made a quite threatening message in comic form here, I'm sure that if Thompson had heard of it he'd be splattering it everywhere). He says (in essence) that he's got his right to do it if he wants (and yes he does), just like Jack Thompson can argue against video games, but I really don't know how this is going to shift him from the screen at all.
In any case, I don't suppose he'll be here any longer than New Year's, unless something spectacular happens (maybe something like the Whitehouse being invaded by people dressed up like Unreal Tournament bots - it's Real Tournament now, mofo!).
To prevent this day from getting worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD TH
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Kind of weird to search for a book of this nature and have it tied to a bunch of books on sex nd gay sex...
Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
Does Amazon adjust book prices according to reviews? If so, maybe they should counter-sue for his writing a sucky book and forcing them to slash prices to get it off their shelves.
He's a fool and can't write.
End of story.
Amazon is not a public venue. It is a place to sell stuff. There is a place for the sort of comments that found their way there, but Amazon doesn't do very well at fitting the bill. Slashdot is better, but one's own web page is even better.
Context:
The United States has done it's darnedest to make unavailable common areas with which to express views. (permits and what-not... when's the last time you've seen someone on the modern equivalent of a soap box who wasn't already in the public eye.
This is a very interesting post on this guy, how a 14 year old properly rebutted all he has been bs'ing about. This 14 year old is not me... just posting what he put here because i find it interesting...
I wrote:
I found a link to your site, www.stopkill.com, through an online forum. I looked over it, and although I think that there is some genuine concern over the effect of violent media on kids, many of your statements on that site were made in ignorance. What I plan to do in this email is to help you gain a better understanding of video games, and to show you that while your intentions are good, your current course of action is a mistake. I'm going to present my arguments calmly and logically, and you're welcome to write a rebuttal if you wish. First off, let me tell you a little about myself. I'm 14, and I've been playing video games avidly since I was 8. I'm pretty knowledgeable about the subject of video games as a whole, and I've played my fair share of Halo 2 and other shooters, including the Ghost Recon series, which is regarded as one of the most realistic FPSs (first-person shooters, in case you aren't familiar with the terminology). I also enjoy strategy games, in which the death toll is often far higher than what you'd encounter in a FPS. I'm an archer, a martial artist (Tae Kwon Do), and I was taught how to operate a gun by my grandfather, who's an experienced hunter. And, oddly enough, I've never felt the urge to kill, or even seriously injure, anyone. I imagine that killing in self-defence would be extremely difficult for me, despite my alleged desensitization. Now I'd like to dismiss a misonception (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and not assuming that you're twisting the truth) you have about games like Halo, which are called FPSs. These are not "sniper games." They are games presented in first person, in which you shoot enemies, manage ammunition, and explore levels. You may fail to see the distinction between "sniper" and "first person" based on that description alone, but if you ever take the time to play any of these games, you'll understand that there is no comparison between playing a FPS and operating a rifle. Which brings me to my next point- games can't accurately "train" you to commit violent acts, despite your claims. First off, games are innacurate by their very nature, and they give you less practical knowledge on operating firearms than watching a few hours of History Channel would. Secondly, I'm going to walk you through a typical scenario of me playing Halo 2, which is probably the best FPS available right now1) I rotate the right control stick slightly, then hold down the right trigger. There is no violent intent towards my enemy, wether it's an AI-controlled bot or a human opponent I'm facing online- it's a simple challenge in the case of the former and a friendly competition in the case of the latter.(2) On screen, a series of polygons which emulate bullet trails appear. Those polygons collide with the polygons rendered to represent my enemy, and those same polygons then emulate my opponent dying.The important distinction here is that there is no gun, no bullets, and no enemy. There is a rotation of the control stick and a pull of the controller's trigger, resulting in a change of the onscreen display. Anyone who can't see the difference between this and the act of firing a gun at a human being is clearly unfit to be playing these games and, frankly, is an idiot. Which, once again, leads me to the next point I'm going to make. No one in their right mind would ever do the things that you blame on video games. A quick glance at such actions shows that there are far bigger, far more serious causes than violent media behind them. Now, you may wonder, "Why would someone kill a person in a video game if they think it's wrong to do in real life?" Well, the truth is, no one gets hurt when you kill a video game character. There are corporeal consequences to commiting acts of violence on rea
Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
Social accountability.
Don't think the first amendment protects you from it. If you get up in front of a British crowd and say shit like, "We didn't vote for him," don't be fucking surprised if your monkey-ass gets boycotted. Keep your fucking hole shut, or suffer the consequences*.
(* The consequences back in the old days was getting your monkey-ass "drawn and quartered", which involved a bit of pain. Nowadays, thanks to the First Amendment of the Constitution f the United States of America and perhaps to the detriment of our society, it involves social stigmatizing and boycotts. Jack will learn to keep his fucking cake-hole shut, or he will lose money. This is known as social accountability, and it's considered more "humane" than Iran and Saudia Arabia's accountability program [which involves ball-bats and the Moral Police])
At this point, Amazon has three options:
1) Do nothing and get sued.
2) Remove the offending comments and get a reputation for censorship.
3) Remove the book entirely from the Amazon website and don't sell it anymore.
I guess 3) would be the least painful version, and it would also show Thompson that he cannot do business with Amazon AND tell them how to run their website. Good riddance.
C - the footgun of programming languages
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The right-wing conservatives aren't engaged in public dialog. They have God Himself on their side, and you are just another victim to be steamrolled on their crusade. Permitting them their piece is like negotiating with terrorists--it just gives them time to do their evil. No, the solution, just like terrorists, is to cut them off at the source. We must ban all intolerant people. Anyone who opposes us must die. If you don't like it, you are on the list. Get with the program!
I don't mind Amazon removing the book reviews. Just as long as they remove the book too. :P
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
...I've done it before and I'll do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Jack Thompson.
your book sucks dick. no use sueing people over it. people will just think you a dick too.
If you believe that the product you are reviewing is unsafe, please report this information to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) http://www.cpsc.gov/incident.html or contact Amazon.com directly at product-safety@amazon.com.
The government needs to be informed that Thompson is unsafe for children ages -3 to 962.
Honestly, I'm shocked that someone who makes attempts to be so intellectually sound and morally based hasn't picked up on the fact that he's coming from a position of complete ignorance. Tragedies like Columbine are scary, to be certain, but violent media - video games and music, primarily - are not the sole catalyst. Anybody with two brain cells to rub together and even the most rudimentary Internet connection for research can figure that one out. Why can't a high-profile attorney? I have to wonder, what is wrong with the poor man? Maybe we should get him some help. Seriously. Have a little plastic box for change at the gas station right next to the Special Olympics. "Educate Jack Thompson - The One Less Moron Foundation" or something like that. And here I thought California was a laidback bastion of free speech and Bohemian lifestyles... looks like Mr. Thompson and the Governator are out to change that.
I know, deep inside me, there's a Linux nut just waiting to be let out.
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Jack Thompson eats giants for breakfast.
Funny, I never took him for someone into the fantasy genre.
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Amazon are refusing to take down the fake ones because they dont explicitly break their rules, and instead pull the ones complaining about the fake reviews.
To make matters worse, when someone adds a 1* review to the self-published book, they copy that negative review to either my book or the o'reilly alternative. So we are getting our ranking pulled down by real reviews written about a different book.
This has been ongoing for months and amazon are doing nothing about it, even though it shows that you can't trust amazon reviews at all. What interested parties can do is go to this page and leave 1* comments to balance off the fake ones.
Personally I believe that Amazon.com should have the right to put what they want on their website as long as it isn't illegal (warez, copyright infringement, etc..) To sue a company just because bad remarks were given by reviewers is dumb in my opinion. What ever happened to a company being able to do what they like? I believe it is THEIR right to be able to do what they want with their site and should even have the right to remove books from their database totally. I mean, there are tons of websites out there that bash and criticize things but do you see THEM being sued for hurting the reputation of the person being criticized? I know if I owned a company I would feel like I have the right to do what I'd like with it.
Tell us more about this "Live Journal" news organization and its insightful media coverage.
I agree that #3 would be the least painful & most fitting, but it wouldn't be the best idea.
If Amazon dropped his listing, authors may or may not start worrying that if they complain about bad reviews (something lots of authors have to deal with) then Amazon might drop them instead of solving their issues.
Realistically, Amazon does have a policy in place to deal with reviews that violate the T.O.S. and since Jack's book is listed on Amazon, it means he (or his publisher) agreed to Amazon's terms*.
In other words, Amazon can tell him to shove his Sunday deadline1 (like Amazon has people working on Sunday) and that the issue will be dealt with according to their pre-existing contract.
*I'd actually be surprised if Amazon's agreement with authors didn't include an arbitration clause, which would render Thompson's threat meaningless.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Stop giving this guy press!! Bad press is still good press for him. Lets forget about him, he will then go away.
That one picture of the person vomiting very concisely shows what many apparently feel about him, and the views he expresses. He chooses to write a book to get his ideas out, they choose to use a single photo.
Oh come on. Free speech and all that... but there is still something called good manners, and posting that pic was not a good-mannered act. Besides, we all know it was posted in a hurry by a teenager who heard that J.T. was an 3v1l 4nt1-54m3r, screamed "OMGZ!!!!!111one!!!" and fired the pic away.
Global warming is a cube.
david murphy :
I liek jack tomson alot so i got this book but then i forgot that i cant red!!!!" but then my mom red a bit too me and it was very funny but then the bit where his dog dies is sad so i cant red anymore so i sold mine to my frend jerry
i gives it too stars becos i dont have it now i give it too jerry but i kept teh covar and i put it on my wall
and anyways everay1 who says jack tomson is a bad man is just stoupid because they nevar got too level 50 on tretis and they smash theyr gamboy!!! lol
David? I know you're in here... come clean!
Would someone please throw a fucking bomb through this guys window?
A concept like "good manners" is irrelevant when discussing freedom. Freedom is one of the few things that is absolute: either you have true freedom, or you do not. If you want to limit what people can express based on some subjective concept like "good manners", then you do not support freedom. It's as simple as that.
It doesn't matter who posted it, or why they posted it. Any true American, who truly does believe in freedom of expression, will support such expression.
And did you bother to read the comments? They were rather well written. They included decent capitalization, spelling, grammar and punctuation. You label them as "31337 speakers", but in reality those reviews are of a far higher quality than most postings here.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
AIDS fights Ebola in the battle to bring health to intellectual property's body of law. May the best plague win.
If Amazon dropped his listing, authors may or may not start worrying that if they complain about bad reviews (something lots of authors have to deal with) then Amazon might drop them instead of solving their issues.
I don't think that'll be an issue. The difference in this case is Jack is threatening Amazon. Most of your average authors won't. They'll just send a kind letter to Amazon asking for some reviews to be removed. If their point is valid, I'm sure Amazon would comply. However, in Jack's case, he's using a big bully tactic in attempts to get bad, even though well written, reviews removed.
What's the best way to deal with a bully? Ignore them and drop all support for them
If he sues the should just stop selling the book. They can choose which products they want to sell and if they stop selling the book all of those related comments will disappear. Lawsuit settled.
Buy this book with The World Is Flat : A Brief History of the...
Yes. Unfortunately, I was not talking about the reviewers, but this specific one. Also, I was not supporting censorship in the name of some Greater Good; I was criticizing YOUR apparently high opinion of an angry teen who posts disgusting (OK not to me, but surely someone has to be disgusted) stuff in a totally knee-jerk reaction to things he probably doesn't know anything about. You implied it was a clever thing to do. Unfortunately, it's not.
All these things regarding true americans, freedom and whatnot have nothing to do with my post.
Global warming is a cube.
Jack Thompson is *not* a personal injury lawyer!
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
I don't even know why I'm bothering to write something in support of this guy on slashdot, it'll never be modded high enough to even see ...
There are bad reviews, and then harrasment. I don't agree with what this guy says either, but the great majority of tags and reviews go beyond simple disagreement. The truth of the matter is, a bunch of immature gamer boys decided they didn't like what he had to say and said "Hey, let's take advantage of Amazon's system and embarrass him". He's completely right to ask for the truly harrassing things to be taken down.
If Richard Stallman's book had tags like "Richy small dicky" and "faggot" and had reviews calling him a communist and the like, the Slashdot community would be up in arms about Microsoft's secret memos commanding every employee to deface the review, and how the world is so slanted against the poor slashdot community.
Grow up - we are in the big-boy world and everyone has a right to express their opinion in an appropriate manner. Call him a dick on your website, insult him in your blog but what was done to his amazon review is just as bad as any other abuse of the system on the 'net.
Again, it does not matter if somebody is "disgusted" by such an image. Disgust felt by a small group of people, or perhaps even an individual, is no reason for freedom of expression to be withheld.
Americanism, at least before it was perverted to the form it is today, stood for freedom for all. Thus anyone who considers themselves a true American (and I don't mean "American" in today's sense of invading foreign nations, killing civilians and torturing innocent people) should be against all forms of censorship.
What you're aiming for would be the equivalent of Christianity without any focus on the teachings of Christ!
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
WTF?! What I am "aiming for"? Dude, what are you talking about? I am not aiming for anything at all. Let me repeat parts of my post so you can understand.
I was not supporting censorship [...] I was criticizing YOUR apparently high opinion [...] You implied it was a clever thing to do
Do you understand now? I can't care less about censorship/freedom/america, whatever, in the context of this post. I am simply saying that appreciating what this guy has done is stupid and immature. There, now I've dumbed it down enough. Sorry for trying to be more polite.
Now if you can derive some pro-censorship anti-true-americanism from this, you're free to try again.
Global warming is a cube.
... for defamation of character, since he's such an asshole that he's destroying the reputation of anyone named Jack?
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
You're confusing my position with the position of the prior poster. I have made no statement on actionability or liability. I was merely attempting to illustrate some of the unique aspects of this situation that would make the previous poster's viewpoint not as contradictary as it might
My position is that the venue is not public in the largest sense of the word, because Amazon has the right to decide what gets said where, and furthermore, Amazon's intent for having people state their opinions about a book on the Amazon site is to help others make a purchasing determination. The speech in question goes beyond stating an opinion of the book and into acting out a reaction to it.
Slashdot is a venue in which a greater range of behavior is acceptable than at Amazon. Slashdot also offers journals, where the journalist's statements are never off-topic. However, there are impingements upon a person's freedom even here.
A person's own web page is generally more free from imposition of the rights of others than either Slashdot or Amazon, and is just as public in the "eye of the public" sense.
You want Amazon to get rid of all those reviews? There's a very easy way to do so: Amazon can stop selling your book. See how easy that was, and everybody wins!
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
This is Jack Thompson we're talking about. He doesn't sue people *nearly* as often as he *threatens* to sue them (for some slight--real or imagined).
Remember the recent spat between him and the Penny Arcade guys? He tried to get the police to arrest them for the slight of donating $10,000 to charity when Jack reneged on his offer of $10,000 to whoever made that video game he wanted. Then hundreds of Penny Arcade readers complained to the Florida Bar Association, and Jack Thompson threatened to sue the Florida Bar Association.
This guy threatens to sue people all day long, its a favorite pasttime of his. Amazon should remove the most heinous comments, then politely brush Jack off and ignore him. The guy is a professional complainer. He won't actually sue (and if he did, he won't actually win).
"fix" Jack as well please?
Some of us are willing to pay good money to see Jack put back into a box!!
But what's even worse than the fact that Jack Thompson is flat-out wrong, is the fact that he, and those like him, end up hiding the real issues. Lets take the Columbine shootings as an example. There were plenty of people ready to blame music, tv, and video games for the shootings. Michael Moore examined the absurdity of these claims in Bowling for Columbine by observing that the shooters were bowling the morning of the shooting -- so why not blame bowling? The real issue was that these kids who committed the murders were the target of ongoing emotional torment and bullying from a lot of their classmates. Rather than say, hey wait a second, maybe we have to do something to prevent bullying and to teach kids to respect one another as human beings, Jack and his ilk blame all the wrong things. But then again, it's probably easier for Jack to attack these things than reach a 17-yr old highschool jock and try to get him to actually respect people who don't fit in.
... when his name was Josef and he was General Secretary of the Soviet Union.
A block of code, sufficiently well-written, is indistinguishable from magick.
Did you have any luck getting amazon to pull the reviews that mention the Oprah episode where your wife is exposed about lying with regards to being an Ivy League graduate? How do you feel about her lying to sell more books and never recanting on that fact?
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Such subjective terms as "stupid" and "immature" are irrelevant when it comes to this matter. The fact remains that it is a very effective way of getting across the point that censorship is, to any true American, a very disgusting and unpalatable thing. Any true American should want to vomit violently when they read the works of someone who is in favor of censorship. After all, freedom of expression is what true Americanism is all about.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
I'm an Amazon employee working on Sunday you insensitive clod!
Check out the customer images on the Amazon page. They're funny.
Now that the book has been on Slashdot, the new customer reviews will be objective and positive.
Seriously, I dont mean to sound retarded or anything....but jack thompson needs to DIE.... He just threatens to sue anything that doesnt go with his view. Its lucky for us not that many people take him seriously....God he just needs to die...
Jack's book is still being sold on Amazon, and for those interested in the book, they can read and/or ignore the opinions posted by people.
...and all of that is just B.S. to my main point: His platform is there for him to express and sell his thoughts. But "free speech" in this context means that people will ridicule him for his views. That's free speech at it's finest and I don't see how that inhibits his right to speak even a little.
I looked through about half the reviews of the book and for the most part, I thought the reviews that were posted as of 3:15 EST were not "unfair" in the sense that were people's opinions of people that were expressed in a more or less lucid was.
I'm of two minds about these comments... it sounds like a lot of people don't think much of him so I'd be wary of his book. At the same time, a person who can garner so much negative attention might be worth reading if only to understand him better.
I don't see that he has much to complain about; given his history, this might just be a way of garnering publicity; perhaps he makes money that way.
I noticed a general trend.
There is an extreme amount of hatred towards Jack Thompson. Having read through some of the correspondence (already listed as links on other posts) it is very clear how this came about.
It is fine to have people of different persuasion or a different ideological bent. If you treat people you disagree with in a courteous & professional manner, they will most often respond in a civil manner.
However, if you take a juvenile approach towards your opponents, belittle them, and insult them, they will respond in kind.
Mr Thompson is only receiving what he has sown.
GG
I live in Birmingham, Alabama. Thompson has been on the local talk radio station at least twice in the last year or so. I will say this, he is a good orator when he is on his monologue and pretty good when a caller who agreed with him was waving the "We love Jack" flag. As soon as a differing opinion came across, however, Jack got unhinged, screaming and acting like we killed his puppy.
He had one guy who said he liked to play Halo. As soon as he mentioned Halo, Jack ranted about the game being a killing simulator used to train mass murderers (kind of fuzzy on exact wording). After that tirade he asked the caller if he liked the GTA series, the caller said he wasn't impressed with the game, but he had played it. Thompson went into a rant about the evils of society and had the hosts drop the call. The caller was given no chance to present his views. I can't stand a coward who resorts to yelling when presented with a conflicting view.
I am thankful that we had a level head like Judge Moore over that case. He is campaigning for governor now. I think it will be an interesting year.
Beware the fury of a patient man
- John Dryden
Actually..
Customers who bought items in your Recent History
Holy crap! Jack Thompson buys sex books from Amazon!
He's luck that Amazon censors the obsenities in the reviews. At this point, I think Amazon.com should start selling "I hate Jack Thompson!" T-shirts. (KMFJT : Kein Mitleid für Jack Thompson! : No pity for Jack Thompson!)
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
I just wanted to enjoy my 2 minutes in the fame. I love all the new pictures that have sprouted up there! After I posted the girl vomiting image (which has been deleted) followed closely by the great ctrl-alt-del picture of thompson, and am glad to see I started a wave of kickass user submitted pictures! I talked about more of this at my blog corbeledg.blogspot.com (sorry for the shameless plug)
Is it just me, or was the threatening review pulled off the page? I saw it earlier today, but I can't find it anymore.
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
You're probably right, but it doesn't matter because Jack Thompson doesn't actually files lawsuits he only threatens to. The guy is a scumbag, all he does is invoke the stereotypical "do what I want or I'll sue you".
I suspect that if this guy is really going to sue over the bad reviews, he would be equally likely to sue if Amazon dropped his book.
When Sheryl Crow criticized them in one of her songs, they stopped selling the album.
Amazon should just stop selling his book(s).
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
He decided to go on a legal rampage to promote his new book, thinking that by the time it hit the shelves, the nation would be so full of anti-videogame paranoia and bile that they would buy the book on its position rather than its merits. This has worked for politico authors in the past, so it seemed like a sure shot. Jack's publisher probably supported or even helped him draft his "modest proposal."
Unfortunately, in a classic Thompson mistake, he chose to run his publicity stunt in a way that invited people to respond. The response was overwhelming, and those who opposed Jack's particular flavor of moral outrage were able to make his stunt fall flat while being gracious and generous themselves. In the meantime, the legal actions which might have helped sales of the book were being challenged. The intended political pot stirring barely reached beyond the smaller audience of gamers themselves, for whom the message was a non-starter.
In the end, the book only served to damage Thompson more, because it was beamed toward a highly sympathetic audience. Had he managed to create that audience, the book would have done well. (Imagine if he had stayed on the Alabama case and made it into the OJ Simpson Trial of video games.) As it stands, without wealth of pre-existing sympathy for his ideas, people are looking to the book for some justification of Jack Thompson's crusade - as is reasonable to expect from a 200 page book. They aren't finding that justification, because the book was never intended to have substance of its own. It is a symbolic book. People reading it undecided can only see that Jack is a very angry, egotistical, and unreasonable person.
So let this be a lesson to those who would ride the crest of public outrage to sell themselves - when you wipe out, you wipe out hard.
This just in: Jack Thompson Sues Slashdot!
So there is one review on amazon (user: Jesus (Heaven) ) that is actually a positive review giving it 5 stars. The only thing is it was created today and there was an obvioius attempt to create a history by posting another review, a negative review on a book that has been out for months. Just a thought that it by the odd chance could be good old Jack... maybe its hopeful thinking.
Do you really expect a lawyer like Jack Thompson to have any idea about such petty things as 'legal precedent?' He's too busy threatening little kids with legal action for playing games ;_;
I particularly liked this comment on Amazon's page:
Never read the book and I don't plan to. However, just like Jack-o, I have an uninformed opinion, but unfortunately for me I won't make as much money as him with it.
Also amusing: type "Jack Thompson" into the search box on amazon.com - the first hit is the book and page in question, but look at the rest of the page!
I have discovered a truly remarkable sig which this 120 chars is too small to contain.
Now he may come after /. to post this article !!!
Freedom of speech is freedom of speech. People will say things you don't like. Deal with it. These fine folks are dealing with it by making personal attacks and being vulgar. That is their way. If that offends you, well, tough. You don't have the right to not be offended.
Being disrespectful of a person's speech does not equate to disrespecting said person's right to speak it.
Furthermore, arguments such as this only serve to push the real issue out of the way. That is, in fact, how Jack operates. He publicly makes an ass of himself, and then proceeds in attempts to shut up all opposition by attacking the more vulgar responses. He is, in fact, far more offensive than those he seeks to silence, as his attacks often come from Jack Thompson the Lawyer, not Jack Thompson the concerned citizen/author/whiny fucking jerk.
But in the end, it's Amazon's site. They can do as they will.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Do you have an agreement with Amazon.com that prohibits them from allowing other people to express their opinion of you with pictures of puke? I doubt it. And unless you have complete control of distribution of your works, you also cannot prevent them from acquiring copies to sell... and possibly deface.
That's the real price of freedom, BTW. You have it, but so does everyone else. You can say what you want, and so can they. Deal with it.
Really, you're like the folks who want to ban flag burning.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Oh surrrrrre, like Jack Thompson ever let facts stop him before.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
If an author threatened to sue me, then I'd just remove the book completely.
I have a question.
...I guess that's actually two questions.
Why are we still talking about Jack Thompson?
Shouldn't we know better than to feed trolls?
Jack Thompson vs. Amazon.com ?
Jack Thompson has a new book. Maybe you heard...
Out of Harm's Way is currently available on Amazon.com as well as other booksellers. GP can't comment on the tome's quality, since our copy hasn't yet arrived. It is pretty clear, however, that the book's early days have been plagued by bad Amazon reviews. It's possible - likely? - that many of the "reviewers" are reviewing the author, not his work. Most of the reviews have been of the one-star (out of five) variety, accompanied by negative, even nasty commentary about Thompson himself.
Out of Harm's Way has likewise been plagued with a slew of negative tags on Amazon, as well as linkage with books on gay erotica, presumably caused by mischevous back-and-forth clicking between Thompson's book and various sex manuals offered for sale by Amazon.
GP spoke with the controversial attorney about the book situation earlier in the week. At that time, Thompson blamed the bad write-ups on "pixelantes" (Thompson's term for gamers), and expressed the opinion that the reviews violated Amazon's terms of service. An exchange of e-mails that Thompson shared with GP today indicates how frustrating the situation has become for the outspoken Miami attorney.
First, there's this one from Amazon to Thompson:
"Thank you for writing to Amazon.com to bring these reviews to our attention. Please rest assured that these comments have been removed from our database and will disappear from the web site within 48 hours.
In the future, please report any review that you find inappropriate by clicking on the "report this" link.
We do exert some editorial control over our customer reviews and strive to block these kinds of reviews. Our intention is to make the customer review forum a place for constructive commentary and feedback, so reviews that fall outside these guidelines are either edited for compliance or are removed from the web site. Amazon.com does not tolerate profane or spurious customer reviews.
Again, I apologize for this situation and I'd like to thank you for taking the time to let us know. Feedback from conscientious individuals such as yourself helps us maintain the quality and integrity of our site... "
Thompson replied to Amazon as follows:
"I have found that the offending reviews are still up at your site, but I find, interestingly, that a review by someone calling himself "Bushsupporter" who gave my book, Out of Harm's Way, four stars and a favorable review, has been removed from the site. Curious.
I have just checked at approximately 1:30pm Saturday, November 19, and I find at least 33 negative reviews that violate your own rules. In fact, more of them have been posted AFTER you sent me the below email promising they would be blocked.
If these ALL of these reviews which violate your own "review rules" are not down from your Amazon.com site by 7:16 pm Sunday, November 20, then I shall have to proceed accordingly..."
Jack Thompson threatens to sue lots of people, but I've never actually seen him pull through. Isn't that barratry? Why hasn't this assclown been disbarred yet?
Jack Thompson wrote:
[...] I'm in the current Reader's Digest and working with US Senators.
BIG F**KING WOW. There are HUNDREDS of people in the current Reader's Digest prize draw, and he thinks it makes him special?
But, since it's Amazon's site, they are free to do as they will. They are under no obligation to anyone. If they don't mind that particular book listing being "deface" with pagefulls of bullshit, that's their right to leave it alone.
Jack "mouth spew" Thompson has no standing to sue.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
This sort of situation (not just mine) is one of the key reasons that Amazon started the "Real Name" system.
With this existing system, Amazon could eliminate or curtail fake review flames by:
(a) Restricting reviews only to those with Real Name badges, or
(b) Allowing reviews by all, but only allowing ratings by Real Name reviewers to count toward the star ratings.
Obviously this is no guarantee against bad reviews, but it does help assure that the reviewers are real people and not robo-trashes and people with a grudge and no life.
This is an Amazon ad campain so that gamers would buy more from Amazon this Christmas.
Thank god for people like Jack, November 21, 2005
Reviewer: Cletus Moroni (Utah) - See all my reviews
I have just finished this book and let me say that it has changed my life for the better. After leaving the Marines in 1992 I wanderederd aimlessly around America trying to fit in somewhere and I was failing miserably. I was living in St George Utah with a crazy Mormon girl who was hiding from her husband who was also her uncle when I discovered Doom. I played that game so much I dried my eyes out and couldn't wear contacts anymore. One day while Claire was out grocery shopping with the welfare check( That part of Utah gets more federal welfare dollars than any other area in the country) I found some extra cash tucked into the mattress of her bed along with a few wallets from men I did not know. I drove over the state line to get some beer and I stopped into a video store and there was a new game on the shelf-Redneck Rampage.
Of course I bought the darn thing. I played the heck out of that one also. A few months went buy and Claire got herself pregnant. Since she had been gaining weight for some time, I had not been tapping that particular tushie. In fact I had partitioned of the trailer and was coming in thorough a window. So I knew the kid wasn't mine. It still made me mad. I packed my things and left Utah. On the way out of Utah I robbed three gas stations, two mini marts and the only porn bookstore in utah.
My life of crime had begun. For the next few years I crisscrossed america robbing porn bookstores, liqour stores and bbq resturaunts. Whenever I found a temple I would wait in the parking lot and follow the nicest car home and I would rob them to. It was during one of thes robberies that I stole a laptop that had soldier of fortune on it. I sat in many a motel six and played that one so much Lupita my Honduran girlfreind left me. I was on a path to nowhere.
It was around that time I saw mr Thompson on CNN and something cliked. I new why my life was spiraling out of control it was because of the video games. The fact that I was uneducated, unskilled and boderline sociopethetic had nothing to do with it. The fact that I never knew my daddy and my mom was a three-dollar ride in Biloxi had nothing to do with my situation. It was those damn evil video games. Read mar Thompson book and it changed my life.
I am back in Utah and I now am a counselar at a home for unwed mothers. Claires oldest daughter is here and we are planning to get married next month when she turns 16. thank you Jack Thompson and God bless you for looking out for the children.
I love it. Hehehehehehehehe. (This was a 5-star rating comment, as you may guess)