Slashdot Mirror
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."
you used to hear these things on slashdot FIRST, sometimes several days ahead of the mainstream media, and now slashdot is at least a week behind. This is old, old news at this point.
But this is slashdot. A slashdoter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber!
As I recall, there was a group of people who contributed to buying him an iPod as a way of trying to show that not everyone who saw the video was laughing at him. Any idea whether he got it? TFA doesn't mention it.
He looks cute older.
There are millions of lawyers, but there is only one Star Wars Kid. Dare to be different!
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
I was worried that his negative experience would turn him into a ruthless, soulless shell of a human being. Thank god he became a lawyer instead.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Clearly this article was not submitted by a "true" Star Wars fan. Use the force dude, use the force.
Hope is the currency of fools
He was anonymous again. Took him 8 years. His 15 minutes of fame were finally forgotten. He could continue with his life.
Now Slashdot and that other website (rtfa) put up his picture, location, job/study... which will show up in every google search for the "Star Wars Kid", forever linking his new life to that old one.
It's quite disappointing to see that his address, email, phone number, and the name of his friends and girlfriend (if any) are missing. Can we all have that too please, so that it's easier to ruin the rest of his life too? :-)
... he’s putting his litigious experience to some use, getting his law degree at McGill University in Montreal.
So, he went to the Darkside.
See what happens when you bully kids?
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
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.
"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."
Mother of God no! We DONT need Boxxy at all. Let the the btards have her.
They're all evil until proven good. The problem with the reputation of lawyers as a class is that the majority of them have proven themselves willing to take frivolous or evil cases and pursue them to the best of their ability. If you stand in the service of evil, expect to be rightly derided and hated.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
I'm glad he's doing fine. I'm sure 99% of the nerdocracy wish him well. Especially from me since I made a SW kid video.
Good luck to him, but now we should leave him alone.
At this point, being where "Star Wars Kid" happened IS the cultural heritage of Trois-Rivières. I mean I'm sure other important cultural things have happened there, but all of them pale in comparison.
There should be a monument at the location, along with informative kiosks and a mini-theater playing the video. You should be able to buy replica golf sabers, pose for pictures with cardboard cutouts of Ghyslain, and get to film yourself in the same room...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Sure, he was a nerdy kid, but the reality is nerdy kids typically make the most money after they get older. After-all, most are relatively intelligent, and most are going to go on to college. The attributes that draw ire from your high school peers are what often translate very well into sucess in a career.
The high school girls are all swooning over that guy on the football team with a letter jacket. The 20-something girls though are swooning over the guy with the party-boat down at the marina.
Get laid more as a teenager or more when you're in you're 30's. Kind of a trade-off really.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
This guy is no different than Steve Bartman who made a mistake as a fan that could have been anybody. He was chastised, ridiculed and pretty much couldn't return to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs ever again. One ESPN writer did hunt him down a few years later.
What's sad is that in the day and age where Napoleon Dynamite is a big selling movie and cool, he's only ironically cool and for anyone who actually does do something in real life that's funny or etc. they get bullied forever and there appear to be no consequences for the bullies.
stuff |
The best was when The Venture Bros. did a take on The Star Wars kid in their episode "Tag Sale" in their first season; pretty much the all-around best episode ever to showcase the show concept, right next to the one with Race Bannon.
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.
Speaking as someone who got charged with a crime he didn't commit, my lawyer saved my ass.
There's also NewYorkCountryLawyer to consider. Not all lawyers are evil ambulance chasers you know.....
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
[Paul Harvey] ... and now you know... the rest of the story. [/Paul Harvey]
Who is the forty year old accountant in the picture? Is that what early 20-something men look like these days?
majority of them have proven themselves willing to take frivolous or evil cases
Citation???? "Majority" is a very specific word, with a specific meaning, which is not equal to "lots"
In short, this is utter bullshit. Most lawers never set foot in a courtroom and take "Cases" in the adversarial us vs them sense. They are the people who write contracts, advise clients on how to be compliant with truckloads of government regulations, etc.
"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.
Except that the reason you need a lawyer to navigate the law is because the law is written by and for lawyers. If it wasn't for evil lawyers, you wouldn't need lawyers to navigate the law or to fight for your rights.
This is not to say that lawyers are not a necessary part of society. Unfortunately, we have allowed lawyers to write our laws, interpret our laws and determine who is allowed to make money from assisting others in navigating the law.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I absolutely agree. You can't whitewash all lawyers as blood suckers just because most of them are. After all, like the joke goes, 99 percent of the lawyers give 1 percent of the lawyers a bad name. But let's look at this a bit more realistically.
The worst of the worst of the lawyers are the ones WE elect to make the laws and run the legal system that is their life blood. Does anyone really believe that lawyers are primarily concerned with the common good as opposed to what is good for their profession/friends/contributors? Your NEED for lawyers would be dramatically reduced if lawyers were not running things. So why do we keep electing these bozos?
Lastly, plaintiffs might be the ones that sue, but it is the lawyers by far and large that take home the booty. If they are the primary beneficiaries of a system they as a profession construct, maintain, run, and profit by, then why blame the plaintiffs? The plaintiffs often suffer nearly as much at the hands of the system as the defendants.
At 14, it was long past the time to grow the fuck up.
Only children are concerned about such things. When do you plan on growing up?
The worst thing about lawyers is that some eventually become politicians, creating unnecessarily complex laws that require yet more lawyers to navigate (no conflict-of-interest there).
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
When non-lawyers write the law, they frequently do a lousy job. Laws are written in a very formalized, precise way on purpose.
Right, they participate in maintaining the overly complex legal system which is a drain on business and productivity for all of our society. We all make our own choices about how we contribute to the world, and we're responsible for those choices.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
majority of them have proven themselves willing to take frivolous or evil cases
Citation???? "Majority" is a very specific word, with a specific meaning, which is not equal to "lots"
In short, this is utter bullshit. Most lawers never set foot in a courtroom and take "Cases" in the adversarial us vs them sense. They are the people who write contracts, advise clients on how to be compliant with truckloads of government regulations, etc.
Mis-quote for the flipping win!
If you stand in the service of evil, expect to be rightly derided and hated.
Compared to...
They are the people who write contracts, advise clients on how to be compliant with truckloads of government regulations, etc.
Newsflash, these types can be COMPLETELY evil as well. Have you READ a contract lately? In fact, I'd challenge you to locate a completely fair contract, toward both parties, in under 24 hours. Go for it, let me know what you find. Further, how many of these attorneys would 'be compliant' in technicality only rather than with the actual intent of the law.
Evil happens. Attorneys are generally in a group with more examples both in quantity and in bastardly-ness. This is why the good ones stand out as stars burning brightly.
If this hits close to home, good. Be one of the good guys. Fight the bad guys and convince them all to retire early. Go you!
The Jedi are bound to a code of morality and justice and are trained in the use of the light side of the force but not the Dark side.
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no death, there is the Force.
Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.
Jedi use their powers to defend and to protect.
Jedi respect all life, in any form.
Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy.
Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.
If all of that doesn't describe a Lawyer I am not sure what does. Try to keep in mind people that not all (in fact only a very small but highly visible) lawyers are ambulance chasing souless bastards, or greedy corporate shills. Most try to uphold the law as best they can and protect people. I have a bias in that my Dads a lawyer I suppose. However just like Jedi, there are both the dark and the light side of the force. I suppose some lawyers are very Sith like to be sure.
they're all evil until YOU need one to help you navigate the law
Of course--after all, their kind created the sort of law which needs the assistance of a lawyer, in order to avoid becoming a criminal--even for the most mundane of transgressions. If you ask me, *that* is where the evil lies. It's basically the case of the fox guarding the hen house.
"The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." - Ayn Rand
Unfortunately Mrs. Rand left out the part where the lawyers get to extort these myriad victims of the law. The law as it stands today is little more than a professionalized protection racket. The only thing the lawyers have over the mobsters is they're in a position to make it legal.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
Most of us are brain-whores for some company or other but only lawyers specialize in S&M.
"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.
And if I've got a project running behind schedule I won't say "no" to a Sith Lord offering to find new ways to motivate my men. I wouldn't want to have a beer with him, though.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
So why do we keep electing these bozos?
Douglas Adams explains it much better than I ever could.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Says who? I'm in my 40s and I still love to do that crap. Hell, last Christmas my daughter and I had a "sword" fight with card board tubes from wrapping paper. So, no he didn't need to grow up. He was fine. It was wankers like you, who hate their own crappy lives, who tried to ruin his. You just can't stand it when someone has some fun, can you loser?
Oh please stop apologizing for lawyers. The only reason you ever need one is because someone else has one. If you get yourself into the position where you feel like you need to sue someone I suggest taking some personal responsibility. If you get sued, you're paying protection money because someone else can't accept personal responsibility. Lawyers create nothing.
I thought his acting was quite good once the special effects were added.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GJOVPjhXMY
Unless they're patent or copyright trolls whose business model revolves around suing major corporations or filesharers respectively in hopes of getting a decent settlement out of the lawsuit most of the time, in which case, yeah, lawyers do sue.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Finally, someone worthy of carrying on the torch of totally confusing the jury!
That's true too. And gun shops are not responsible for criminals robbing people at gun point.
So lawyers can make more money. QED
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
He didn't post it, his "friend" who recorded it did.
Nah, man, he'll go straight to busting out the lightsaber moves in the courtroom.
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
They may not create much, but they provide a professional service. Your plumber or air conditioning repair main doesn't create much, either. Everything they do, you could do too -- it's just that it will take you a long time to get the expertise to do it as well as they do.
You can do the same thing Lawyers do ... they're just trained to do it better. They're not inherently evil or selfish. When you need one, you're glad to find a skilled one. The laws are a bramble created by people (and some lawyers), and in order to navigate them well it is wise to have a guide. Think of a lawyer as a sherpa who guides you and saves your ass when you are forced to travel in a hostile landscape.
Loser Lawyer Litigates, Laughs Last!
Bulky Barrister Born By Bullies!
Saber-Swinging Super-Star Supervises Saving Society!
Crazy Counsel Courts Conservationists!
Activist Attorney Accepts Arguable Acclaim!
Famed Flabby Fanboy Fixes Fate, Flaunts Fellowship!
+0 Meh
Hopefully sooner than later. bye.
You think the Congressional staffer drafting a law cares about how much some other lawyer down the street in a large law firm will make interpreting that law? Stop thinking there's a conspiracy.
Of course--after all, their kind created the sort of law which needs the assistance of a lawyer, in order to avoid becoming a criminal--even for the most mundane of transgressions. If you ask me, *that* is where the evil lies. It's basically the case of the fox guarding the hen house.
Ahhh, if only there were some method for the hens to decide who would be the most appropriate to guard the hen house. Oh wait, I have an idea, they could choose one themselves? Of course that would mean the hens would have to turn their brains on for a couple of seconds...
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
to make him semi famous again. Maybe somebody will start making fun of him again.
Ultimate proof he's turned to the dark side.
=)
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Nah, evil always finds its way to the top. The bottom must be unwilling to comply. It's a case of do you blame Hitler, or blame millions of Germans who followed his direction. In reality, both are to blame, but the followers who carry out the actual acts of evil bear more responsibility (how many Jews did Hitler personally kill?)
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Man, I wish I could mod you up. I hope I never forget how to have fun like that.
-- Linux user #369862
When non-lawyers write the law, they frequently do a lousy job. Laws are written in a very formalized, precise way on purpose.
Yes, so that the average person doesn't understand what the legislature actually passed (reducing the odds that they will vote the bums out of office). It has gotten so bad that one of the reasons laws are written the way they are is so that the legislators won't truly understand what they are voting for.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
However, his video was seen 1 billion times and multiple thousands of geeks came immediately to his defense
Were they sporting fantasy armor and elaborate fake swords, or did they merely stand defiantly with arms crossed in what was supposed to be perceived as a menacing manner, armed with nothing but a shallow perspective and a narrow sense of humor?
Can you point to an example?
I thought that was a picture of Joachim Phoenix and that maybe he had gotten released from hip hop rehab.
How about the "Healthcare Reform Bill"?
Nancy Pelosi, "...we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it..." I can't find the reference to the Senator or Congressman who said he would need two lawyers in order to understand the bills he voted for, but one of them said it when asked to promise to read every bill before voting on it.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
he has now mastered the Chewbacca Defense
*DrugCheese rants*
What provision do you find complicated enough to require an attorney's help?
> Yep, they're all evil until YOU need one to help you navigate the law
They perpetuate a system in which justice costs $250/hour.