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The Star Wars Kid Is Back

An anonymous reader writes "It was eight years ago that Ghyslain Raza slashed his way into our hearts with his Star Wars Kid video. Sadly, Raza suffered from severe bullying and abuse for his video and eventually ended up in a psychiatric ward for children. However, his video was seen 1 billion times and multiple thousands of geeks came immediately to his defense. While those must have been the worst years of his life, things are now looking up."

12 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. Actually... by FlyByPC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are millions of lawyers, but there is only one Star Wars Kid. Dare to be different!

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  2. Re:Wow, how sad is it that by RabbitWho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's your fault for reading it somewhere else and not immediately posting it here. Ask not what Slashdot can do for you, ask what you can do for Slashdot!

  3. Re:Didn't he get an iPod? by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I laughed at him. I laugh my ass off. I laughed for the same reason most people laughed. We''ve all done something that turned out to be massively embarrassing.

    If you say you didn't laugh, I suspect you are impaired or a liar.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  4. Re:Didn't he get an iPod? by hedwards · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I didn't, I thought the video was awesome.

  5. High School Was the Worst Years for Me as Well by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't think he's alone when they say that the worst years of my life were, in fact, high school. Cliques full of assholes and status seeking social climbing butterflies pretty much achieved status by picking on people like me. I actually found the group of punks (smoking, piercings, tattoos, apathy, loud music, etc) to be the most welcoming group of people despite my lack of smoking, the fact that I listened to The Beatles and watched X-Files. The only people that seemed to really thrive in that crap were the popular kids and college was a welcomed change. I went from having four or five close friends in high school to entire crowds of people that I loved to talk to.

    Having been made fun of for reading Star Wars books in grade school, I sympathize with this kid though my pain was not on a global level like his. Still, I bet if you asked him now if he could go back and do things differently it would probably be better not to sue and instead milk that fifteen minutes by going on SNL or Conan O'Brien or even trying for a cameo in one of the Wayans Brothers' parody comedy flicks. Jesus, I bet he could make good money if he charged $5,000 per video and set up a site where he recorded himself doing his spiel and saying "Happy Birthday <insert your name here>" or "I only twirl around like a moron when I'm eating my <insert your food product here>!" And then just kept rerecording himself doing that. You might as well milk it and have fun with it ...

    Anybody know how Daniel Tosh gets around these potential lawsuits when he displays videos on Comedy Central in his show Tosh.0? I mean, I'm sure he gets permission first or it comes from a country with lax copyright laws but what kind of logic do they pitch to the guys that do just outrageously stupid things? "You did something stupid by starting a gasoline can on fire but you have the chance to do something smart and let me show it?"

    --
    My work here is dung.
  6. Re:Those who can DO by couchslug · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "I'm sorry to hear that the Star Wars kid decided to be a blood sucking lawyer."

    Yep, they're all evil until YOU need one to help you navigate the law, or until the EFF uses them to fight for your rights.
    Lawyers don't sue, PLAINTIFFS sue.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  7. Re:Glad things turned out well by cranky_chemist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Make all the lawyer jokes you want, but if this kid had picked up a gun and smoked 4 or 5 of his tormentors, we'd all be having a very different conversation right now. That he has managed to do anything productive with his life is a testament to his mental and moral fortitude.

  8. Re:Wow, how sad is it that by twistedsymphony · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's your fault for reading it somewhere else and not immediately posting it here. Ask not what Slashdot can do for you, ask what you can do for Slashdot!

    I used to do that all the time, but I got tired of my submissions getting passed over for days/(weeks) and then once the rest of the major online media outlets decided it was worthy to report someone else's late submission got pushed though.

    Why should I waste my time with submissions that never go though when making snarky comments is infinitely more entertaining and rewarding?

  9. Re:Didn't he get an iPod? by pete-classic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have an impairment called "empathy". That video made me sad, because I could imagine the position that kid was in.

    Sucks to be me, I guess.

  10. Re:Slashdot is NOT helping here... by Vahokif · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, shame on him for not wanting to relive his most painful childhood memory every day.

  11. Re:Glad things turned out well by FreonTrip · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But as someone who knows the ins and outs of the law, you are qualified to defend those who do produce value from those who would exploit or stop them.

  12. Re:Slashdot is NOT helping here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think that the guy sucks for not parlaying all that exposure into something.

    Spoken like a true marketing idiot. Not everyone is a fame whore and thinks that fame == $$. Think about it: if he wanted fame, he'd have uploaded the video himself. The kid is a nerd at heart and did something that he thought was cool -- and he had fun doing it. Yeah, I laughed when I saw the video, but I also thought it was pretty cool; there's nothing wrong with a kid indulging his sci-fi fantasy. He had fun making a tape then tossed it aside. How is it that he sucks just because he didn't react to his fame with dollar signs in his eyes? The "opportunities" you speak of are not necessarily opportunities to everyone. So he sucks because he doesn't have the greedy mindset that you have? Who the hell modded this "Insightful" ?!