Jack Thompson: Idiot

[Dragoon Knight]

Alright, I was debating whether to stick this in Gaming, PRP or General, because it contains elements of each.  Any mods, feel free to shift this topic about to wherever is most appropriate... it's just important that's it's seen.

Jack Thompson is a lawyer from the U.S. who constantly attacks video games companies, and those that rate said games, about their supposed "negative influence" on players.  He claims that games like "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" train people to kill, and that they (or games like it) are solely responsible for events like the Columbine Shooting.  Sorry, but bollocks.

While checking my bookmarks this morning, I came across this at one of my favourite Webcomic sites, VGCats.com.  For those of you that don't want to read the entire thing, I'll give you a summary.

Jack Thompson emailed Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB (company that puts the age ratings on games) about a new game called Killer 7.  He complained about how this game had "explicit content" (not an exact quote), that it had been given the wrong rating (M, instead of AO; an age difference of 1 year) and that it should be pulled from the shelves immediately, or else he'd take legal action against the company.

As if this wasn't bad enough, he then proceeded to forward the email to VGCats Author, Scott Ramsoomair, with several snarky comments and threats.  The IP addresses for all emails were found to be valid and the same for each message, so there is no doubt as to their validity.  If you haven't already, I would suggest reading them on the link supplied above; they are towards the bottom of the page.

This man is a person of subnormal intelligence.  I've put forth arguments about exactly why he, and others like him, are all retards in my thread in PRP (can be found here).  You don't even need to read it to see that his arguments hold no merit.  He disgusts me.  If it were the fault of games, then I would be out shooting / killing people right now.  But I'm not.  It stands to reason, then, that it's individual cases that matter, meaning it can't be the games' fault.  A chemical imbalance, or bad parenting, or other specific reason as to why the child could be adversely inflenced.  That's what causes the violence.

In the time that I've typed this post, they've added quite a bit of this information to the Wikipedia Entry regarding Jack Thompson (can be found here).  I simply cannot believe that the human race is capable of producing such senile assholes with a vendetta against games, when their arguments fall flat at the slightest challenge!  It just goes to show you how far parents are willing to shove their heads up their own asses.

A fitting take on this entire debacle can be found at another Webcomic I frequent, Ctrl-Alt-Del.  Read the news post (can be found here -- link will expire after a day or two) and check the strip made in honour of Jack Thompson's idiocy.

I will finish this introductory post with a quote from the Ctrl-Alt-Del news post, which I found to be both hilarious and truthful, and I hope that all of FED2k will join me in denouncing this man as a total idiot.

Face it Jack. You've got nothing. I've been gaming since my Commodore 64, and I've never killed anyone. I've never run through traffic like Frogger, and I've never tried to jump on anyone's skull like Mario.

I could go out right now, pick any murder in the world and link it to something stupid just the way you keep doing. Man kills his wife while she sleeps. Turns out he ate cheerios for breakfast that morning. BAN CHEERIOS OMGWTFBBQ!.

EDIT -- "Person of subnormal intelligence" was meant to be "re*tard", but the omnipresent Nema is always watching... :P

[nemafakei]

Hey, that one wasn't me!

"I'm not.  It stands to reason, then, that it's individual cases that matter, meaning it can't be the games' fault."

Not necessarily. A game might, for example, make you more likely to commit acts of violence, and you would still have thousands upon thousands of examples of perfectly nonciolent players of extremely violent games.

[Dragoon Knight]

The forums seem to be developing a form of prescience... they censor things before you even notice them! :P

What I meant in that statement, though, is what is being chorused by gamers worldwide every day.  Games do not make your average person want to go out and commit violent acts.  Nor do they make the average person "trained to kill", "mentally unbalanced", "anti-social" or any of the other spew that Jack Thompson comes out with.  The kids he's referring to are a vast minority, who have pre-existing susceptability to violent media.

Say for instance a kid is allergic to peanuts, and dies because of eating them.  Maybe no-one knew this person was allergic to peanuts, or maybe someone did (say, the kid's parents), but didn't monitor / educate their kid well enough.  Do we get insane requests to ban peanuts, or put an age rating on them?  Do we get idiots like Jack Thompson shouting crap like "Kids know peanuts can kill people by eating them!  They'll start spiking other kids' food with peanuts!  DEAR GOD THE HORROR!"?

No, we do not.

The situation is very similar, although I admit there are flaws in this comparison.  Just because one kid in several hundred thousand goes out and kills someone (or more than one person), it doesn't neccessarily follow that games make everyone like this.  In fact, I don't see where that line of reasoning comes from in the first place.  Conclusion?

Crappy parents have found a new scapegoat.  Junior goes and kills his friend Billy-Bob over a game of Halo that got personal; big whoop.  It could have been a Pok

[Dragoon Knight]

Sorry for the double-post, but I've just come across a really good article relating to video game violence, and how the media - and Jack Thompson (man, I hate that guy) - are lying to us.  I suggest that anyone with even a remote interest in this area of debate check out this link.

Granted that those are only statistics for the U.S. the author is using, but this thing isn't really an issue over in the UK.

[TMA_1]

there are a lot of shitty things happening in american society. Because of this people are trying to find the answer to the some of these societal problems. Video games are violent, young males buy a lot of video games, young males cause most of the violence in our society, therefore video games are one of the main causes to our problems. Duh... this kind of reasoning is bullshit and is totally out in left field.

[Dragoon Knight]

Exactly.  Like the article says, Jack Thompson must know he's spouting copious amounts of bull excrement.  If he doesn't, I might stop hating him and just pity him instead.  But assuming he isn't totally stupid, and has just found a niche to exploit, he's being a total asshole.

I mean, one only has to look at the astounding lack of publicised response from gamers to see that the media doesn't want the whole story to be told.  They, too, are content with letting the parents of America think that they're perfect, and that games are destroying the very fabric of reality. ;D

It gets my blood boiling, but like I said, I'll be dancing in the streets when the truth eventually comes out. :)

[TMA_1]

Its like that Ray Bradbury story about the children and their unnatural love for the vr room. They become so attached to it that they prefer artificial reality over their own flesh and blood. This is obviously an extreme but extremes are used when trying to make a statement sometimes. These kinds of things can create problems in our society, but it is only for a small minority, that is the rub. We cant judge everybody for the mistakes of the few.

[Dante]

Is that the one where the children are obsessed with Africa? Now that was creepy...

[nemafakei]

The media are biased because they want to continue to have the audience (and payment thence derived) of parents - they don't want to alienate a rather substantial market, and besides, 'study shows parents don't give a damn', is also perhaps less interesting than 'study shows videogames lead to violence'.

And it's not even as if they need to be cynical about it to do so - articles critical of the popluation aren't popular, and so critical reporters don't do as well. The media can quite often have a systematic bias without realising it.

[TMA_1]

lots of the biggest blame goes to cable news. Cable news corperations have to compete with one another and because of this they are trying to fight over ratings. What sells is obviously more important than the content of the news these days, and the people are really to blame in the end. If more people wanted unbiased news than there would be a market for this.

THe problem is groups like NPR are almost as biased, but in different ways. I think better news is on the horizon, but I am concerned that a new network would be biased in the exact opposite way that news networks are now leaning. Lets face it, right now cable news networks are more on the conservative end of the spectrum. If there is a new news outlet I am afraid it will side on a liberal agenda more than a conservative one. Thats just my opinion though.

[gryphon]

any one here ever met the first CEO of Atari ? . .on the way home from work, the office was located on a mountain site in the woods every employee was driving like they where in an Atari race game. And remember, it was a long time back so graphics where just 2 color and looking like packman. :P Every Atari employe who was involved with the project admitted into driving like madman in the game enroute home.

It's sort of the cigaret industrie. They all know that you can die from it but let's not tell every one and just sell them so we can make some money.

And not being influenced by games ? Please, we are influanced in the minor aspects of getting better hand-eye coordination, into better ways of problem-solved thinking ( depending on the games you play ) not to forget the times you are sitting in the bus thinking of how to pass to the next level. All influances.

If people who are playing games arn't influenced by them, then why does the US army and intelligence cervices use 5 different versions of Americans Army The Game to train future soldiers and security agents ?

Saying games don't influance the player is just ignorance. The question should be why it affects some people so much. Which has nothing to do with the game, but with the mental state of the persone. If he is vulnerable to outside influences he will be influenced. And if a video game isn't doing it for them then the next MTV clip will.

[TMA_1]

thats the thing gryphon, video and computer games really dont overtly influence me. If it is a damn good game it will stick in my mind and I will think about it a lot while its in play, but a good game doesnt influence me any more than a great movie. In fact books influence me and alter my emotions more than any other medium. I really think it is individual.

[Cyborg]

Of course the video games influence you, but so is everything else. Books influence you too. I want books banned. I don't read them anyway.

And Jack Thompson behaves in such a (stupid) way that I may be more likely to act violently. I want him banned.

[gryphon]

And Jack Thompson behaves in such a (stupid) way that I may be more likely to act violently. I want him banned.

You can't bann people for being stupid (according to your judgment). If we could, trust me a lot of you whould never have been allowed as a member her. . and I don't just mean NaMp. .. :P

[Cyborg]

No, I didn't say that. But I said he was so stupid that, because of him, I may act violently. If he is the reason for my violence, he should be banned, just like games.

[Kiyouta]

Someone should do a drive by on him - GTA style. Wow that would be ironic.

[Dante]

No, it would be fitting. And it would create a martyr. Irony would be him playing GTA and then getting shot while attacking policemen with a flamethrower. That would be ironic.

And also amusing.

[Kiyouta]

Uhh go die.

[Dante]

I sense hostility.

[TheRedDuke05]

Sorry for bringing a slightly old topic back to life, but I just Wikipediaed Jack Thompson and I am very disgusted of what he has done. I heard he tried to get someone fired who "threatend" him with a AIM smilly. And since I finally decided that link you gave, I am disturbed that he threatens to sue anyone who disagrees with him or called them retarded crack monkeys.

[Dante]

Aren't we all? Seriously though, some people are just anathema to everything you stand for. Jack Thompson is merely one in a world of moronic, loudmouthed people. After all, he has supporters, doesn't he?

[TheRedDuke05]

The wikipedia entry said that Jack called Hillary Clinton Benidict Arnold for not supporting him on an issue. And I heard he is trying to sue Mircrosoft for makeing the game bully, what a retard. Hope he loses the case and loses all his credability. And if microsoft loses, they can always send in Master Chief  ;D

Wow this is the first time I admit I am rooting for Microsoft.