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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 While previously he stated that he had withdrawn, details have now come out that the judge actually pulled his temporary license to practice law in Alabama.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.'"
Hit the road, Jack.
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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_thompson
Leave it to Jack Thompson to get kicked out of Alabama for improper behavior.
Normality is now: overrated.
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.
The short version is that he's a guy on a crusade against video games. One longer version can be found Here.
--
The universe is a figment of its own imagination.
The universe is a figment of its own imagination.
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!
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.
An asshole Christian fundemental lawyer who acts as if he believes that violence in videogames is solely responsible for violence in America. Because he states these facts so loudly, he is commonly interviewed on sunday morning talk shows and the like whenever some violent act occurs.
;)
The funny part being that the things he claims happens in these games, many times is false; whether lie by ignorance or intent I'll leave an excercise to the reader.
He also appears to believe that his internal thought process is the one most likely for the US government to follow, and displays genuine surprise (and shock) when this is not the case, as in recently when he tried to get Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade locked up. Because they posted a blog indicating what a dick he was being to them and their loyal readers took affront to this mistreatment and wrote to tell him so; some of them not so politely, as I understand it.
One may also speculate that the massive traffic from Penny Arcade shut down his web server. But you can hardly blame that on PA can you?
The funny part is, it was all because Jack promised $10,000 to the charity of choice of the first game development team that made a video game with a certain (particularly twisted) plotline, I guess to prove some sort of point (its my understanding that Jack is given to hyperbole)... when someone came through and made a (pretty extensive) mod to GTA putting Jack in the gunman's shoes raiding and shooting the employees of game stores, he refused to pay up.
So Penny Arcade went ahead and paid up. That, apparently, is what started all of this.
I recommend going through Penny Arcade's recent news archive for more details...
Oh and thinkgeek DOES sell an "I hate Jack Thompson" T-shirt if you're interested...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
..... 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"); }
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.
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.
An asshole Christian fundemental lawyer
Please don't use the term "Christian" to refer to Jack Thompson, for the same reason that you shouldn't use the term "monkey" to refer to George W. Bush.
The great part is... I don't need to take the moral high ground!
Morality in the context of Jack Thompson must refer specfically to religious morality. As a Zen Buddhist I care nothing for his Christian morality. Neither, incidentally, does the justice system of the United States of America.
Yes, I truly hate the man; both for purposefully deceiving America about what is involved in my favorite hobby with the intent of attaching a social stigma to the practice of such, for striving to make the practice of this hobby impossible for me and many others through barring and outlawing the content, and for trying to hold responsible the makers of videogames for acts which should be laid firmly at the foot of the persons doing these heinous deeds, or in some cases, partially at the feet of their parents.
Yes. I can hate a man that does those things. And I don't feel any need to pander to some so called moral high ground... I'm not trying to convince anyone I'm right. I know I'm right. If other people want to believe me, great. If not, well that's their choice. I'm pretty sure that if you stood me and Jack Thompson in a room together for five minutes on national television, and I said the most inflammatory hateful things that is in my soul to say, that I would STILL come out of the debate looking far more credible.
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
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
Was it good, bad?
Dude. It was CSI. It was bad.
My spoon is too big.
(Score:5, Informative)
"This is considered plagiarism."
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?!
<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?
I still don't fully comprehend this whole Karma Whore concept.
What is the advantage to trying to rack up a whole lot of karma, when from what I understand it's already capped? My karma read "excellent" quite some time back, and since then I've gotten high karma on most of my points (it must be my trim Buddha-ish physique)... but other than having two initial points instead of one when my posts are submitted, I don't see how things are any different, nor have I seen anything change since then.
If we rack up massive karma points, do we cross some threshhold? Do we suddenly start seeing articles before they're actually written, or do women start showing up at our door? I'd whore my karma all over the place if the chicks dig it.
Do not confuse "Freedom of Choice" with "Free Will".
Yes. Yes to all of that.
"This is considered plagiarism."
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!
A: He's the guy who's going to sue you for not having heard of him, thereby damaging his reputation by implying that he isn't famous.
A: He's the guy who's going to sue the judge who threw him out of court for damaging his reputation and hurting his chances of winning his case.
A: He's the guy who's going to sue Slashdot for mentioning his name in a forum that is strongly biasted against stupidity.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
...given the story title I was hoping for something a little bit more, well, ballistic.
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.
To a man like this, his religion is a tool.
Whoa. Question: I thought that Jack Thompson was the tool.
"Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke
No, there's no further effect - the karma bonus for comments is pretty much the only goodie you get. You might still try to get as many +5 comments as possible, for example, but that's sportiness rather than anything else. (Slashdot golf?)
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.