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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 While previously he stated that he had withdrawn, details have now come out that the judge actually pulled his temporary license to practice law in Alabama.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.'"
Can anyone explain who this guy is?
--------- I have no signature
Hit the road, Jack.
Any chance we can, as Red from The Shawshank Redemption so eloquently put "have him do the airdance before the first May flowers push up out the ground?"
That would inspire the typical "Who the hell IS this guy?" response.
This isn't the same as him being barred from practicing law PERIOD, but I just couldn't help myself...
*plays Final Fantasy IV victory fanfare and dances*
"Apparently so, but suppose you throw a coin enough times. Suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
Oh, crap...
public class null extends java applet { System.out.print ("Tabula Rasa"); }
GM Judge Moore banned Jack Thompson from the Alabama realm of the controversial MMORPG "Reality" today. The game "Reality" allows players to engage in such controversial activities as genocide, murder, theft, and mis-representation.
Fighting day after day to defend impressionable children from inappropriate, uh, role models.
Leave it to Jack Thompson to get kicked out of Alabama for improper behavior.
Normality is now: overrated.
If video games about killing cause kids to go out and kill people, how long would it take someone to whip up an FPS where all the baddies are Jack Thompson?
about the south suffering from something other than the prevalance of fried food, here.
ugh, lawyers and their ways...
I love how while reading about this on the main page, there was a giant GTA banner beside this story.
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!
.......where the CSI team has to find the killer of a outspoken anti violent video game crusader who angered a group of geeks with his irational activities.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Do you:
a) Accept their judgement with good grace
b) Grudgingly accept the judgement but state that you believe it to be in error
c) Accuse the judge of breaking the law, of being biased against your clients and of generally being incompetant
If you're Jack Thompson you probably also do d) File a lawsuit against the judge for dismissing you.
..... a cup of hot coffee to help him calm down.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
System.out.print ("and don't you come back... no more... no more... no more... no more.");
public class null extends java applet { System.out.print ("Tabula Rasa"); }
So do we boycott the Reiser file system now?
Fran
:):):)
1st 1st Poster of the new Millennium!
Where is the Doom 3 "Jack Thompson" mod? I think Thompson would be perfectly cast as an evil Nazi zombie.
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.
Either way: Just desserts.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
...that Slashdot didn't jump on this when GameSpot covered it... 4 days ago.
People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
...any bad thing I may have ever said about Alabama.
And now Jack can go home, sulk, and concentrate on suing Amazon for all the mean things people said about him.
.GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
Jack Thompsons incorrigible behavior, his mumbling incoherence, his fishing hats, aviator frames and cigarette holders have cause him to be tossed out of court only to be replaced by Hunter S. Thompson
Different Moore. Ten Commandments was Roy Moore, this is James Moore.3 59.html/d ments/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/126
and
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/13/moore.tencomman
Jack Thompson Sues Alabama
remember CSI episode with the GTA-like videogame? I don't live in the US, so I wanted to know if any of you guys watched it. Was it good, bad?
Jack Thompson will soon issue a "prize" of $10,000 for somebody to code a game in which Judge Moore is flogged then killed violently. Then he'll tell Judge Moore it was meant as satire.
Captain: What you say!!
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
I thought Judge Roy might have quietly gotten reinstated as an ordinary judge in the meantime, after the media fuss had died down. My backup theory is that having two Judge Moores in Alabama can mean only one thing, the explanation for which can be found in the entry for Alabama on this page.
You Don't Know Jack?
--
Burn, karma, burn
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~
Funnily enough, last night's episode involved some gamers who were competing in a real-life game that involved them killing innocent people. No anti-gaming crusader dead, though.
We should probably lobby to make it a crime for Jack's church to preach to people under the age of 18, since it obviously causes deviant behavior in adulthood. This church's "social conditioning" seemingly teaches children that suing people you don't like, insulting judges, teaching religion in science class, and general ass-hattery are OK in the modern world. We need to "protect the children" from this sort of de-sensitization "abuse".Parents also need to be hold accountable when they volunterily relinquish control of their teenagers to this "inhumane" religious institution. The punishment bieng life "in Alabama".
Making my own attempt at sarcastic ass-hattery
BBH
Nevermind. Here you go everyone: IGN link with no frigging ads
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
So they say they're replacing Thompson with Reiser. I thought they were trying to bring in someone who'd act like a professional...
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
(pointing) HA HA!
<baptist class="southern" politics="conservative">
Just so we're all clear on this, please do not infer that his chosen affiliation with various political or religious groups means those groups want anything to do with him.
I look forward to the upcoming religious holiday, visiting the church of my youth, and logging some serious GTA:SA time. And while we're at it, the Kansas School Board can kiss my evolved butt.
</baptist>
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
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.
Been searching all around and all I can find are the one-line summaries. I'd much prefer to hear the judge slapping Thompson around. Anybody have a link?
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."
for (x=0 xx+1;x++) - that's a tricky xploit in itself right there, a bit buggy though ;)
You can't handle the truth.
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!
Not only is Jack Thompson trying to ruin the name of the gaming industry. He is also ruining the name of a perfectly good artist who's name happens to rhyme with it.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success
I don't seem to be able to get to the article - something about their annoying advertising and my refusal to send referrers or accept cookies. Anybody have a mirror or another link to the court's filing?
www.eFax.com are spammers
Don't forget the CEO also was an arms smuggler for the kids. They jacked a shipment of Mac-10s to supply the kids with weapons. It really was a ridiculous storyline, even for CSI: Miami.
Wow, "Thompson has sent his own letter to the FBA, reminding the FBA that the last time he was investigated they had to pay him damages."
the mind boggles as to how he can get away with any of this.
Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
Now if only the judge could take care of Joseph Leiberman :)
Jack, Joe, the Catholic League, countless "family" organizations (religious fundementalist backed), and even Hillary Clinton...
Perhaps a small victory for the time being but there are certainly plenty of organized freedom hating people out there, willing to rid the world of whatever they find offensive and unholy.
Notice that they didn't blame the game for causing the violence though. It was the scummy game publisher who put the kids up to it as a publicity stunt.
...given the story title I was hoping for something a little bit more, well, ballistic.
And unfortunately it's not Rudy Ray Moore either. Else, he'd have been dismissed with "Man, move over and let me pass 'fore they have be to pullin' these Hush Puppies out your m-f-'in a**!"
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
I resent that remark! The Filet-O-Fish is my favorite sandwich at McDonalds and is made from real fish. If you buy one, it probably comes out of the a little factory in Gloucester, Ma that also processes Gorton's premium fishsticks. It's a real fish product made here in the USA.
Besides, you never know what the "church down the street" might be saying. There are quite a few churches which have sermons against violence in video game. One of the biggest churches here in the Chicago burbs had a televised sermon against violence in movies and TV. Ironically, a couple months later they organized a group ticket sale for kids to see "The Passion" which is arguably the bloodiest most violent "snuff" flick I've ever seen (even if it was done in the style of a beautiful Italian art film).
Anyhow, the funniest thing about this whole Jack Thompson affair from my viewpoint (I work in video games and read TRST reports) is that usually when a game gets a lot of bad press for "ultra-realistic violence", the sales of the game actually go up.
And even if nothing happens to hiim, at least we now know where another litigious lunatic gets his inspiration from.
someone who is going to discover that his license to practice in his home state is in danger Real Soon Now. Lawyers are supposed to know better than to piss off judges, especially when it appears that this lawyer is trying to profit from the grief of 3 families by filing a meritless lawsuit on their behalf.
Tech Public Policy stuff
If you're Jack Thompson you probably also do d) File a lawsuit against the judge for dismissing you.
Even Jack can't do that. Judges have unconditional immunity from prosecution for all acts arising from their judicial authority. Even if the judge was being malicious, he can't be sued, only overruled.
Lawyers can only be sued for intentional/malicious malfeasance.
Other officers of the court have pretty much no immunity, even if there wasn't any improper intent.
Don't forget that the filet-o-fish is a big seller on fridays due to the religious convictions of some. One of the major reasons that sandwich exists really...
-- it's ridiculous how many people misspell ridiculous... (damn, damn, damn...)
One is a scum-sucking bottom-dweller, and the other is a fish.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
---------- compile java ----------
Chickenofbristol55.java:5: ';' expected
for (x=0 xx+1;x++){
^
Chickenofbristol55.java:5: ';' expected
for (x=0 xx+1;x++){
^
Chickenofbristol55.java:8: illegal start of expression
}
^
3 errors
Normal Termination
Output completed (0 sec consumed).
I can not read your comment because it does not compile properly.
So he's a liar too?
*gasp*
www.qsopht.com ~q
#!/usr/bin/perl
print "And don't you come back", '... no more' x 4, ".\n";
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
Seems like Jack's the kind of person that needs the instructions read to him and interrupts you every 10 seconds to reiterate his own mistaken understanding of what you just said.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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."
Read the quotes aloud with an Alabama accent and a mouth full of chewing tobacco, and it'll be more like being there!
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
I find it highly amusing that anyone who says anything publically negative about Jack is, according to Jack, doing something illegal. It's usually the same soundbyte over and over. This time it's a judge, so there's some judicial thing that he's breaking.
Behold the glorious bragging rights
I hear liberals all talking about the Religious - Republican alignment, but all I've ever seen is circular references.
BC
Is there someone who can go down to the courthouse, pick up a copy, and post the contents somewhere?
thanks,
-dB
"It if was easy to do, we'd find someone cheaper than you to do it."
To be fair, last night's episode wasn't any more contrived or ridiculous than any other episode they've made.
And the "twist" that the game designer is actually the secret "Wizard" that all the "players" turn their "points" into? Please.
No, the "Wizard" was a college kid who played himself to death. The game designer hired another goon to sell the weapons to the kids. Did you actually pay any attention to the episode?
Did you notice that the episode was NOT full of moralizing, "These kinds of games are ruining America," etc? The closest it got was one of the characters saying "This is why I stopped playing this game at home." It was just another plot device. The writers of CSI are not out to "get" the video game industry. They are doing what they always do, which is to take current events and spin them into a crappy story line.
In fact, I think the episode did a slight service to the cause, by portraying the kids as junked-out psychos who took something too far, instead of poor innocents who were corrupted by evil video games. Geez, people get so worked up.
That's pretty broad. Most people fit #3, and I think you could count on a single hand the number of people in the world who don't fit #4. Who is never irritable??
With those two hit by most of the population, I would think the number of people that grab a random one of the rest are pretty high, especially with #1 being as vague as it is.
I think the "worst" of those are probably #5 and #7. Then again, you might not have explained the criteria to meet one, such as how irratable someone is, etc...
Meh.
-stefan
//FIXME: Bad
Some people prefer the definition of fact that goes as follows:
A concept whose truth can be proved
I know of restraint and I know of sacrifice, and find I want nothing to do with either of them.
The thing about enlightenment is that things that are valuable at certain levels of enlightenment, become worthless at others and vice-versa. Hence, I am become Shiva, destroyer of worlds.
I do not "become" angry, anger is always a part of who I am. I do not "become" millitaristic, I am always millitaristic, I do not "become" involved because I am always involved.
The http://www.falundafa.org/ website, (and the first book) explains a lot of the things you don't seem to understand.
You are a constant source of amusement.
Please stop hurting America -- Jon Stewart
The Bible says:
Revelation 3:15-16
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would that you were cold or hot.
16 So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth.
Which, of course, is misinterpreted like the rest of the Bible by most Christians.
You are correct. The DSM only exists to function as a standard. As an analogy, look at internet RFC's. If you read all the RFC's, that wouldn't make you qualified to design a computer system until you took some courses, or got some experience in the field with real networks.
The same is true of the DSM - it is a reference manual for psychologists, not a do-it-yourself workbook. Psychologists diagnose people by talking to them first, then giving them a battery of psychological tests and scoring them on multiple criteria to determine if the person qualifies on each of the diagnostic criteria, and then finally using their professional judgement which comes with a lot of training and experience, peer review, etc., before giving the person a real diagnosis.
And sometimes (gasp!) they change their diagnoses so that they fit better into a category that the person's insurance company will recognize and agree to pay for the diagnosis and treatment. Oh, did I say that out loud?
So don't take the DSM too seriously. According to that book, everyone has some kind of diagnosable disorder.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
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.
How about this? Or this? Or this? Or this?
"Apparently so, but suppose you throw a coin enough times. Suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
Your sig, reminds me of achewood.(love it!!)....did you grab it from there?
Wait, What?
Funny thing, that. You are a politician in a country where the vast majority of the people at least casually believe in some kind of God, and you find that you have to pretend that you represent their views if you want them to keep electing you. It's representative government, and it's the worst form of government on Earth, except all the others.
Technology is making direct democracy a lot more feasible these days. Might be a fun social experiment somewhere with an educated populace. ... Oh damn it! Where will I find one of those.
Stop intellectual property from infringing on me
Now do we get to eat his liver?
As another undergraduate psych major, I'd like to agree with the above post. Cut and pasting bits and pieces from DSM is a bad idea unless people understand what DSM is and how it works.
From the Wikipedia article: The DSM provides diagnostic categories and criteria for their diagnoses. The proper use of these requires clinical training, knowledge and skills to apply them. Their use by people without this background is likely to lead to an inappropriate application of diagnoses.
That about sums it up. It's not a layman's document.
Jack Thompson might well be completely batshit insane, but you can't make a diagnosis based on seeing him on the news and reading a couple of articles.
If *Alabama* judges are revoking your license to practice law, you are officially an asshat.
It's not like this happened in California or anything. Alabama. One of the most conservative states in the Union. Throwing out a conservative nutjob. Think about it.
or he may have shot and killed the defense attorneys.
Jack has only one (serious) problem...he just doesn't know when to shut the hell up. Sometimes saying LESS will get you a lot further.
But if violent video games are all someone ever plays, they'd better have a pretty solid grasp on reality, because most violent videogames would be a really fucked-up worldview if people really started thinking that way.
If saner heads prevail in getting the message that video games in moderation are great fun, but video game addiction is dangerous, will that mean that video games will start having to carry the same kinds of warnings that keyboards and cigarettes do?
Just so you know, those guys aren't a joke
s pecial_reports/wbc/default.asp
The anti-defamation league has a bit to say about them
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:www.adl.org/
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
The point of golf is to acheive the lowest score possible on each hole. +5 would mean that it took 5 more strokes to put the ball in the whole than par which is terrible. In slashdot golf we should also aim for the lowest score like me, I'm quite positive I'll get modded -1, offtopic or not at all which would give me a large stroke advantage over your score.
You can call me the Jack Nicklaus of Slashdot.
english is way to easy
I wonder, how does the BAR association view slander? I mean, Thompson has quite clearly accused this judge of violating the ethics code of judges, that would seem, to my non-lawyer eye, to have the appearnce of slanderig the judge; unless, of course, Thompson can actually prove that claim, or show that it was intended as an opinion and not ment to cause harm.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Laziness is the father.
-- Oscar Wilde
Sig: I stole this sig.
Just because someone claims to be in some tradtion or group doesn't mean the others agree.
The true Silent Majority.
The revolution will NOT be televised.
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.
I remember Signal 11. I never really got it, though.
Most of his comments were well-written, interesting, and reasonably thoughtful, if not terribly original. It seemed like a childish exercise, then, for him to claim that his lack of sincerity proved that he had suckered the entire system. I mean, if I told you that I don't really "mean it" when I go to work and do my job, does that make me some kind of a rebel who ought not be paid?
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
are gonna see it twice!
unzip ; strip ; touch ; grep ; find ; finger ; mount ; fsck ; more ; yes ; fsck ; umount ; sleep
when do you think the ripped from the headlines version will be out?
Judge Moore. Alabama. Is this the 10 Commandments judge? 10 commandments judge. Maybe that has already been established in prior /. forums on the case. Otherwise, it will be interesting to see where /.er's align - with Thompson or Moore?
No more Gnome or no Moore no more.
"OMFG! Jack Thompson was done!"
Be reasonable. Kids shouldn't be allowed to view Mature rated games with out permission from their parents, just as they shouldn't be allowed to watch R-Rated films without their parents permission.
Personally, I'd think it's more a sign that some lube company saw how uptight he was (it's amazing the guy's head hasn't exploded), figured that he probably hadn't gotten laid in a very long time, and decided to capitalize on the situation.