Jack Thompson

[anonymo]

So if you don't know who Jack Thompson is I can only assume you've been living under a rock for the past few years.

 

This guy out does himself every day.

 

He has now gone completely insane as you will clearly see in this letter he posted publicly online.

 

The part that clearly characterizes where he might find himself in the next few days is this:

 

the entire Take-Two management and board will be gone on March 23

Which normally wouldn't amount to much, however in this news report also from today you can clearly see what Jack is planning. Specifically in regards to

 

The publisher issued a press release announcing that it has postponed its annual meeting, originally scheduled for March 23, 2007, until March 29, 2007.

 

I think it's quite clear that Take-Two has moved the date of their annual meeting in fears that Jack Thompson is going to run in strapped to the gills with dynamite.

 

This guy never ceases to amaze me. My so-far favourite line of his comes from this same public announcement mentioned earlier:

 

but for those who don't own a Bible or who think their hands will catch on fire if they touch one

 

Gotta love it...for those who think their hands will catch on fire...something tells me that if you don't believe in God then you're more than likely not worried about burning for sins against this God you don't believe in...I guess that's a little deep for someone like Jack Thompson however...

[Allanon]

You're right... while I hated and thought Jack Thompson was an arrogant conservative lawyer before who hated free speech, I now think he's even worse. Don't get me wrong, I think Manhunt 2 is a little over the deep end in terms of game violence, but Jack Thompson would probably not stop at even Counter Strike in terms of stopping them from being published if he could.

[boiler]

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about freedom of speech and stuff.....

 

 

... but somebody needs to pimp-slap this fool back into the real world.

[[LaW]Maverick]

"I encourage folks to read Psalm 35, a Psalm of David, which is brilliant in its entirety (since God Himself wrote it). . ."

 

A little pretentious in our knowledge of Biblical matters are wee Mr. Thompson? (My church has always told me the Bible was written by MEN to pass on the message and word of God...but definitely written by men 100's of years after most of the events took place)

 

Hahaha...religious nit-picking aside--this guy is a complete moron. IT IS THE PARENTS' RESPONSIBILITY TO TELL THEIR CHILDREN WHAT IS REAL AND WHAT IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!! There are worse things on the news EVERY DAY than what we see in Grand Theft Auto (though I personally hate the game with a passion, and it makes me angry when parents buy it for their 4 year olds)

 

This guy doesn't need to be pimp-slapped, he needs to be severely beaten, disbarred, and thrown in prison for frivolous law-suits. There is a reason that we separated Church and state, and the reason can pretty much be summed up into one word: "Crusades."

 

Lawyers have absolutely NO business quoting the Bible and dragging God's good name through the mud as justification for their misguided attempts to heal the corrupted minds of our children. The problem lies with the parents. If he really wants to make a difference, he should be going after them. If parents are too lazy to spend time with their kids and put things into prospective, then that is the parents' fault--not whatever form of entertainment gives them the idea in the first place.

 

Oh, and one more thing: since when did sex and swearing become worse sins than violence? I mean, I would rather have my kid run down the street butt-naked screaming the F-word at the top of his/her lungs than have my kid walk down the street, pull out a gun, and shoot a few random people. It seems to me that all the violence in the world is OK, as long as there is no swearing as the people die on-screen. That's dumb...

 

And with that...the end of yet another rendition of Mav's 2-cents

[boiler]

Lawyers have absolutely NO business quoting the Bible and dragging God's good name through the mud as justification for their misguided attempts to heal the corrupted minds of our children. The problem lies with the parents. If he really wants to make a difference, he should be going after them. If parents are too lazy to spend time with their kids and put things into prospective, then that is the parents' fault--not whatever form of entertainment gives them the idea in the first place.

Word.

 

Oh, and I do like the GTA games myself, but I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER let anyone under the age of 18 (yes, 18.... in fact in college I thought there were a few guys that were so immature they shouldn't have had it then either) get their hands on it. When I have kids in the next couple of years, all of my copies of games with T or higher ratings will be placed under lock-down, only to be brought out for myself after bed time for the kiddies.

[Windex]

i myself played the GTA series before i was 18, but heck.. i had enough common sense to know that pulling out a gun and shooting people is wrong..

 

That only happens when the children are raised around violence and thats the only thing they know..

 

most violence (in cincinnati) occurs around the "ghettos".. why? because their daddy's were drug dealers and their moms probably did questionable things.. so those kids grew up to be the gangstas and drug dealers their fathers did..

 

I've seen a 4 year old kid calling people the "B word" and throwing punches.. It's all directly related to the way you raise your kid.. not the games you let them play

 

now if you weren't raised around violence and still have the urge to pull out a gun and shoot people you shouldn't be allowed to walk the streets..

[shaftiel]

Poeple are always looking for a scapegoat to avoid personal responsibility. Children do not learn to kill from a game. Children do not learn to be caulous and evil from a game. Children learn how to interact with the world from their parents and environment. If there is an on going gang war outside their door, they see friends and family being gunned down, and they also play violent video games, which would you point to as the main reason they turn out to be a killer or a thug?

 

Violent video games provide an important psychological outlet for men specifically. With our culture and envirenment becoming more and more safe and urbane, the outlets available for men to express their aggression have diminished significantly. This is why sports and extreme sports have become so popular. In every culture throughout history that has a large populace that is free from the need to protect themselves, this has occured. In 776 B.C. Greece had a large population that was free from strife. In order to maintain the peace they need to funnel the aggression that was not being vented to something that was not destructive to the society. They invented the Olympic games to give the men a place to express that aggression in a useful way. In Rome, the same thing occured, once they had a large population with no outlet for their aggression, sports became a very important aspect of life.

 

Video games are no different. They provide a venue to express your aggresion in a non destructive fashion. It can become unhealthy only when you have no point of reference to delineate between reality and the non reality of the game. That being said, children do NOT have the nessesary points of reference to trully understand the difference between what is OK to do in a game and what society deems as acceptable. Parents should always be involved in the selection and screening of any medium that has the ability to draw their children in, be it a T.V. show, video game, or even religion. Regardless of what anyone says, it is the parent who has the final say, and in the end, total responsibility for the final form that the child takes. That is why being a parent is so unnerving. You always second guess your decisions. Always worry if you made the right choice. If you don't, your either the best parent in the world, or the worst heh .

 

This Thompson character is a misguided idiot. I would contend that violent video games help to reduce the pent up aggression in adults. Much the same way that in countries with legalised prostitution the cases of rape are nearly non-existant. The venting of these desires help society much more than they hurt it.

 

 

 

Shaftiel

Edited March 19, 2007 by shaftiel

[[LaW]Maverick]

 

yup, Shaft and I are on the same EXACT page. I agree with all of it...well said!

 

Heck, I learned how to shoot a real gun before I was old enough to drive, but I never had any desire to shoot anything alive with it (heck, I don't even like to hunt). That's because my father explained (exhaustively) how dangerous guns were, and I was raised properly. My parents were always sure to explain things that I lacked the necessary experience to figure out for myself.

 

Also, if we continue to shelter our children and filter out all of the "bad" things in the world, than guess what. They're not going to be ready when they face those "bad" things when they grow up and move out. For instance; I'm sure many of you had a friend or acquaintance that was sheltered as a kid. I mean, the type that has to wear a mouthguard to go out and play on the jungle-gym, and can't watch pg-13 movies until the actual age of 13, isn't allowed to cross the road until teen-years, and typically has a baby-sitter until the age of 16?

 

Heck, some are worse than even that. Anyway, to continue with the example. The most sheltered kid that I know was flunking out of college when he got arrested for selling marijuana to an undercover police officer. His brother (also very sheltered) grew up to scream how much he hated his parents and was finally kicked out of his house when he physically assaulted his father. We're also pretty sure he's into drugs and what not.

 

These were the kids that were protected from the violent movies and games by the parents, but they saw it whenever they went to a friend's house or whenever the parents weren't there. It's not hard to find access to things like that, and without the parents there to guide them and explain what was wrong and right as well as provied a prospective on reality, the kids ended up getting themselves into a ton of trouble the second they got a modicum of freedom.

 

So the point stands: parents are to blame.

 

Shaft, if it makes you feel any better, with your thoughts here you sound like you're a great father (or will be) :-)

[Sgt. Slaughterâ„¢-TopBrass]

So, God makes video games?

 

Jack Thompson, what a loonie. Instead of spending all this money trying to get a video game banned, use it to educate parents!!!!!!!!!!!!

[boiler]

My "18 years old" cut-off might be a little extreme... I fully intend on instilling the proper ethics into my kids as far as that is concerned, so they should be responsible enough to handle stuff like that. But there is content in those games that still should not be available to non-high school age kids in my opinion, no matter how mature we think they may be.

 

You hit the nail on the head with the outlet stuff, shaft. I think my primary reason for playing games (especially the more violent ones) is as a form of release at the end of my day. If I've had a particularly strenuous day, then nothing helps me unwind like blowing the crap out of something, smashing up cars, or shoving a pump shotty in someone's face in CSS

[appalachian_fox]

So, God makes video games?

 

And so God separated the console games from the PC games, and gave half the 'Net to the console games and half the 'Net to the PC games. And God said, "This is good."

 

?

Edited March 19, 2007 by appalachian_fox

[MrDuke]

He appears to be the Howard Stern of lawyers and he's going to drum up some support for whatever financial (nudge,nudge) move he's about to make.

 

I think it's about money and/or fame and neither are becoming of a Christian.

 

Any publicity is good publicity, though.

[Fairweather]

for every new "violent" game theres always one person whos gonna make it their personal goal to help all the children

 

kinda reminds me of kyle broflowski's mom from southpark

[meherdmann]

I personally like

I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two.

and

This lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is, without a doubt, the single dumbest thing I have ever seen any lawyers do in my thirty years of practicing law -- while in continuous good standing to do so with The Florida Bar, I might add, the shock radio and video game industry's efforts notwithstanding.

 

Note the "words" in bold. Someone needs to go over 5th grade English with him. He definitely loses what little credibility he has when he goes and makes himself sound completely moronic by making up words.

[mookie]

I personally like

I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two.

and

This lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is, without a doubt, the single dumbest thing I have ever seen any lawyers do in my thirty years of practicing law -- while in continuous good standing to do so with The Florida Bar, I might add, the shock radio and video game industry's efforts notwithstanding.

 

Note the "words" in bold. Someone needs to go over 5th grade English with him. He definitely loses what little credibility he has when he goes and makes himself sound completely moronic by making up words.

I take it that Esperanto must be your first language.

[shaftiel]

I personally like

I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two.

and

This lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is, without a doubt, the single dumbest thing I have ever seen any lawyers do in my thirty years of practicing law -- while in continuous good standing to do so with The Florida Bar, I might add, the shock radio and video game industry's efforts notwithstanding.

 

Note the "words" in bold. Someone needs to go over 5th grade English with him. He definitely loses what little credibility he has when he goes and makes himself sound completely moronic by making up words.

I take it that Esperanto must be your first language.

 

 

How many people do you really think know about that artificially created language?

 

 

Shaftiel

Edited March 19, 2007 by shaftiel

[mookie]

I personally like

I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two.

and

This lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is, without a doubt, the single dumbest thing I have ever seen any lawyers do in my thirty years of practicing law -- while in continuous good standing to do so with The Florida Bar, I might add, the shock radio and video game industry's efforts notwithstanding.

 

Note the "words" in bold. Someone needs to go over 5th grade English with him. He definitely loses what little credibility he has when he goes and makes himself sound completely moronic by making up words.

I take it that Esperanto must be your first language.

 

 

How many people do you really think know about that artificially created language?

 

 

Shaftiel

Hopefully less than know that "dumber" and "dumbest" are in fact the correct comparative and superlative forms of "dumb."

[Nick Soapdish]

i dont understand what the big idea is. i think that if we just give our kids lots of violence early on, allow them free reign, like what the europeans do, they will grow out of it in time. it's just like cigarettes, alcohol, and unprotected sex. we all have our binges and swear "never to do that again". i think that's what ol' jack was trying to get at, and i commend him for having stuck by his strong convictions. reminds me of other great spiritual leaders of our era like carl rove, george bush, and this guy.

 

look people, if you can't sense the sarcasm in thompson's words, then geez, cmon, grow up. we all know that god didn't really create video games, he would have known better than to make this contraption.

 

jack thompson is a lyrical genius, don't hate cuz ya hands on fire!

 

hahaha, he prob does put up an amazing insanity plea/defense

[shaftiel]

I personally like

I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two.

and

This lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is, without a doubt, the single dumbest thing I have ever seen any lawyers do in my thirty years of practicing law -- while in continuous good standing to do so with The Florida Bar, I might add, the shock radio and video game industry's efforts notwithstanding.

 

Note the "words" in bold. Someone needs to go over 5th grade English with him. He definitely loses what little credibility he has when he goes and makes himself sound completely moronic by making up words.

I take it that Esperanto must be your first language.

 

 

How many people do you really think know about that artificially created language?

 

 

Shaftiel

Hopefully less than know that "dumber" and "dumbest" are in fact the correct comparative and superlative forms of "dumb."

 

 

 

Fair enough.

 

 

Shaftiel

[Tracid]

Someone should make a Jack Thompson skin for CS and make it the new admin gimp option. The skin would be beacon, on fire and drunk!