Slashdot Mirror
Jack Thompson Tossed Out Of Court
dmouritsendk writes "According to a story at IGN, Jack Thompson has been removed from the lawsuit filed by the families of two murdered police officers vs. Rockstar, Sony and game retailers. While previously he stated that he had withdrawn, details have now come out that the judge actually pulled his temporary license to practice law in Alabama. The reason for all this? Thompson's behavior." From the article: "The removal of Thompson from the case does not necessarily represent the end of the trial as his long-time associate Ray Reiser will assume the role of lead counsel for the case's plaintiffs. Not one to take such things lying down, Thompson fired back at Judge Moore by claiming the the judge has 'has violated... The Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics by his unfortunate, improper, and prejudicial acts in this case, at the expense of three bereaved Alabama families.'"
The article mentions Judge Moore, and this is Alabama. Is this the same Judge Moore that was removed from office for refusing to get rid of his statue of the ten commandments? If so, I say his sanction of Jack Thompson is obviously correct. It takes one (wacko) to know one.
In a prime example of karma, the defense submitted some of Thompson's own press releases to the Court as evidence of why he was unfit.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Can anyone explain who this guy is?
I don't think that the parent post is necessarily a troll. If you haven't been following the gaming press or reading Slashdot every day, he's not that hard to be unaware of. My mother certainly doesn't know who he is.
Jack Thompson is a lawyer who, for one reason or another, has attempted to attack violent games in the media.
It's actually getting to be very hard to obtain any accurate, netural information on him at all -- so many of the people online play video games and are scared of what they think that he might push through that almost all information is biased -- the Wikipedia article on him is definitely not particularly neutral, and the gaming press dislikes him for obvious reasons.
Combine that with the fact that the man is a political conservative and a Christian (pretty obvious from his website) and given to rather inaccurate rhetoric, and you basically wind up with every article or online writing about him becoming a flamefest.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
get a link that DOESN'T include frigging flash ads as part of the deal? My system as set up will not continue on to the article itself and, yeah, some of us actually RTFA ;-)
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
Even so, it is wrong to ridicule Christianity. Most Christians simply laugh off this guy, myself included, even down here in the 'Bible Belt'. Trust me, he is all politics and this has nothing to do with his Christianity.
I am Spartacus
I do apologize to all the Christians out there. Calling Jack Thompson Christian is a lot like calling Osama Bin Ladin Muslim... Many (in fact most) Christians are calm level headed people who would never knowingly lie about a videogame simply to prove a point, would not start a one-man crusade against immorality in the (supposedly) free United States, and would certainly not try to lay responsibility for hundreds of murders at the doorstep of videogame publishers, and not the people who, you know, pulled triggers to make bullets fly through the air at other people...
Most Christians would also not associate what is obivously a simple (and asinine) teenaged prank on a plaintiff in a multi-million dollar lawsuit...
(from wiki's jack article)
Upon returning home Jack Thompson discovered a tube of vaginal lubricant left at his front door. Thompson said he believes Rockstar may have been responsible for leaving it there.
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
You're right and I do want to make clear that when I talk about Jack Thompson, his brand of Christianity has as much to do with what they practice at the church down the street as McDonald's McFish sandwich does with the ocean...
To a man like this, his religion is a tool. It's one he brandies about and waves to get what he wants. Sure he likes to wave his Bible around and pretend that God is personally on his side. But if you were to show him some Biblical passages about freedom of choice and the ability of lawyers to turn darkness into light and so on... well I'm pretty sure he'd just rip those pages out and burn them on the courthouse steps...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
And it was probably the most contrived, ridiculous CSI episode I've ever seen, and thats saying a bit. The guy who "makes the game" - CEO of the company and apparently also the game designer - won't tell them the games storyline, because "it's proprietary"? There's no gamefaqs.com in whatever planet CSI is set on? And the "twist" that the game designer is actually the secret "Wizard" that all the "players" turn their "points" into? Please. And the justification is that it somehow drives sales of his game? Right.
Normally I don't reply to AC's, but I'll bite.
You're right. I don't like him at all, but did you notice I said "neo-con"? Surely you've noticed the theocratic tilt the Republican party has taken. Jack just fits in with this Bible-thumping, alarmist majority, and yes, that angers me. And no, I'm not a Democrat, either, though now even they are starting to pander to religious groups.
Lesson my ass.
"Apparently so, but suppose you throw a coin enough times. Suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
Seriously, its like a contest between Jack Thompson, Sony, and the RIAA to see who can bury themselves the fastest while at the same time sustaining the most bullet wounds to their feet.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I'm not disputing anything you say, except that "violent" is a relative term. Humans are no more violent than hawks, or bears, or rhinoceroses, or elephants, or even dolphins.
What is different about humans, apparently, is our sense of shame about our violence. Humans seem to be alone among all creatures in believing they are out of place in the evolved order. Humans alone seem to regret doing what all other animals do instinctively, without remorse.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
And even if nothing happens to hiim, at least we now know where another litigious lunatic gets his inspiration from.
I still don't fully comprehend this whole Karma Whore concept.
/.'d sites), but you don't want to give the poster Karma. The harmless reason is that one shouldn't get the credit for someone else's content. The cynical reason is that it helps trolls rack up enough Karma to get the +1 credit, which in turn makes it much easier for them to add troll comments and/or noise to future threads.
Posting as AC to avoid Karma Whoring....
The problem with KW is that it takes about 5 seconds to cut & paste an article or provide a really obvious link. This action may be very useful (esp. in
Thus, if you see a non-AC posting posting of an article's text or a useful link, the correct mode is "Funny" so they won't receive any karma.
Have you even read any buddhist writings? It's called the center path - and is the only path to enlightenment. You say that you prefer a different translation to the Siddhuartha and believe that ignoring desire is the root of all evil. That's called being selfish and self centered. That is not enlightenment, that is a cop out.
Can you actually say you are a better person because you do whatever you want to do? Because that means you know nothing of restraint or sacrifice.
I don't believe that hatred and enlightenment are incompatible.
Let me appeal to your "Zen" more than the "Buddhism" with this quote:
If hatred and enlightenment are not incompatable to you, that is because you are not enlightened.
Perhaps you meant violence and enlightenment are not incompatable.
Well, there's a difference between thinking your kids shouldn't morally be playing violent video games, and thinking it will cause them to go on killing sprees.
Maybe the judge bounced his ass out of there so that the trial would be about the plaintiff's case, rather than Jack's agenda?
Just a thought...
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Who are "my people"? Interestingly, I'd never heard of Agape Press until you mentioned them.
Again, you have the unwarranted presumption that the words of one group speak for another group only tangentially related. Marilyn Manson is a professed atheist. He's said a lot of goofy things over the years, but I don't feel the need to use his song lyrics to "prove" that all atheists are drug-obsessed nihilists.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
GOLF IS NOT A SPORT!!!
Luckily, since my karma has been topped off at Excellent for a good year or two, I think I have enough slack to handle the -1 Trolls and -1 Flamebait moderations that are sure to follow
Are you a Zen Buddhist to prove to other people that you can masterbate in a temple with an Eastern interior decorator better than anyone else? Or to achieve enlightenment?
Where did I ever claim I was a buddhist? I claim that you sir are not a buddhist, and if you are - you're a really shitty one.
You claim to be a Zen Buddhist, yet you warp the teachings to coincide with what you believe them to be, that's not how it works my friend. If you want to go and behave in any way you want and then claim you subscribe to a well defined doctrine, you are no better than Jack claiming he's a christian.
Your interpretation is all well and good, you can create any splinter faction you want, but don't tarnish the reputation of those who truly strive for enlightenment by claiming your one of them. Your beliefs are in now way, shape, or form congruent with Zen Buddhist teachings. You have stated youu are a hedonist, that you hate, and have berated me for having an opposing opinion. That's real enlightened of you.
I see guys like you all day, variable definitions of things so they can never be wrong. Everything is up to interpretation because you actually understand nothing. You can't handle even the most simple of truths because it means you would have to change your approach to the world. Your complete lack of understanding of anything I have said proves that you know nothing of Zen or Buddhism. You may have cultivated your beliefs, but that lends them no credibility. You associate them with a an easily recognizable title so that others can marvel at your superiority. That fact is, you are not what you claim you are.
The tree is "The tree of the knowlege of Good and Evil", not just the tree of knowlege. Eating from that tree gave a "knowing" that certain things were good and bad. Suicide is not necessarily bad, but we got that knowledge from eating from that tree. Same with nudity, sex outside of marriage, and homosexuality. Fundamentalists keep eating from that tree.
He's part of the "no rules for us but strict rules for you" culture that in increasingly spreading - he thinks he should have a right to say anything but others shouldn't.
Seems that the grandparent poster there thinks he's the mode and the loud assholes waving the Conservative Southern Baptist flag are outliers. Very loud, mediagenic, and obnoxious outliers gaining a lot of attention. This would skew the mean opinion of others about conservative Southern Baptists when the quiet, polite, fun-to-be-around and sane ones don't get media attention because they're just folks and the loud assholes are news.
Remember those lists floated around after Columbine, warning parents and teachers what to look out for in potential school shooters? Things like depression, trouble with authority, stops hanging out with friends they had in grade school...things that every fucking teenager goes through at one point or another. This list is just like that.
You need to do more than just laugh him off. Jack Thompson and his ilk associate themselves with your religion. You need to proactively fight against the influences of such people. Otherwise people like myself and the OP will continue to associate them with Christianity.
Just look at how Islam has been progressively villainized in the past 50 years. Why is this? It is because of the lack of large-scale Muslim demonstrations against terroristic violence.
What are we supposed to think when a lunatic like this spews ridiculous garbage and there is no massive Christian outcry? To us, it looks an awful lot like you agree with him.