Gaming foe Jack Thompson sues Gawker Media
Anti-video game advocate Jack Thompson has sued Gawker Media, the parent company of gaming blog Kotaku, according to GamePolitics. The reason for the suit, which was filed in a federal court in the Southern District of Florida, was a number of reader comments on recent Kotaku posts that Thompson deemed "threatening" and which he claimed Kotaku and Gawker Media declined to remove from the site.
Thompson, a Miami-based attorney, has been a high-profile crusader against video games and their alleged negative influence on children for some time now, but gained new notoriety in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings earlier this month for being quick to point fingers at gaming as a root cause of the massacre. He alleged in the court complaint that the commentary from Kotaku readers began to emerge "within mere minutes" of an appearance he made on the Fox News Channel on the day of the shootings, as the result of a post by editor Brian Crecente that criticized Thompson's opinion.
To clarify, this is not actually a new lawsuit. Thompson had filed a suit against the Florida bar in March, citing a variety of forms of "aggressive left-wing politicking." He then expanded the complaint to encompass all members of Florida's Supreme Court. On Thursday, he formally added Gawker Media to the roster of defendants. The case, consequently, is now John B. Thompson vs. The Florida Bar, R. Fred Lewis, Charles T. Wells, Harry Lee Anstead, Barbara J. Pariente, Peggy A. Quince, Raoul G. Cantero, Kenneth B. Bell, Dava J. Tunis, and Gawker Media.
Kotaku's Crecente has acknowledged the lawsuit.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
does not make us violent criminals". And when someone says you
do... YOU TURN VIOLENT!
I read some of the postings, you people should be ashamed of
yourselves if you're the peace-loving, non-violent gamers you
claim to be.
this only brings back memories of "The Crucible", where the only proof is your word, and that proof is absolute.
what you have to understand is that some people are sick, and others are being entertained. DONT take the precious few f-ups out on us.
As far as the recent VT event, before the shooter was even identified he was already blaming the video game industry for being the primary cause of this. The problem is he has enough perceived authority that he could very well influence the gaming industry even if he is completely off base.
He likely will end up disbarred before long as he keeps bringing frivolous lawsuits to the courts as well as legal threats to many others with no intention of ceasing and desisting. Anyone that actually knows the history of this guy and what he does ends up quickly disliking him (including the Florida Bar Association)
I will point out though, that most of those who are so filled with anger, so graphic are more than likely low- to mid-teen aged boys. If you have or know any teenage boys, you surely will understand that they are not the most stable beings in the universe. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
That being the case, violent games are rated "M" for mature, meaning that they cannot be purchased by people under the age of 17. If these teenagers are in fact playing these games, someone isn't doing their job. And that someone is more than likely the parents of these children. (Why are they permitted to spend so much unsupervised time on the Internet in the first place, posting on Kotaku the first thing that pops into their heads? Personally, I'd rather they went and played a game!)
When someone says something along the lines, "I'm gonna kill you," it doesn't actually make them violent.
It's people drawing ignorant conclusions such as this that lead to the misinformed notion that violent video games cause violent behavior.
Anyway, on to the point. Most gamers dislike Jack Thompson because of what he is: a loudmouth, that only gets attention because of the completely unfounded, opinionated BS that he spews. He slanders gamers, games, and anyone that would support them. At Virginia Tech, he points the finger at GAMERS instead of mourning for the victims, and looking for real answers. And, if, every time someone said "I'm going to kill (insert name here)," does it happen? Of course not. You clearly are misunderstanding many of the readers on this site.
As I said before, if I've killed 30,000 online, playing every violent game from GTA to Battlefield to Halo to Gears of War... how could I possibly speak clearly and coherently, as I am now? Don't take the writings of others so literally when they aren't intended to be taken as such. YOU should be ashamed of yourself for supporting such a loudmouthed lunatic, if you're such a peace-loving person yourself.
Selected entertaining excerpts:
"Fact Common to All Accounts", Number 10: [i]Thompson has also, along the way, managed to annoy the intolerant liberals,
including the Board of Governors, who run The Florida Bar...[/i]
"Fact Common to All Accounts", Number 11: [i]The happy result was that Thompson is now the only officially Bar-certified
sane lawyer in Florida.[/i]
"Ongoing Violations of the Florida Bar", Number 26: [i]Plaintiff could go on, citing other examples of the incredible and sustained
and unco5nstitutional headlong lurches by this Bar in pursuit of its Governors? collective
left-wing agenda, but discovery herein will flesh them out more fully.[/i]
I wish to take this opportunity to strongly discourage the plaintiff from going on, as typographical errors in legal documents rarely build credibility.
"Count VI", Number 66: [i]Thompson, as he has correctly done before in other situations (DC Beltway
Sniper, Columbus Ohio Serial Highway Shooter, Southwood Middle School Killer,
Columbine Rampage Killers, Red Lake Minnesota High School Killer, etc.) suggested
that the ?V Tech? rampage killer was probably someone who rehearsed the massacre on a
violent video game as has so often been the case in similar situations. Such was the case
25
last year, also, at Dawson College in Montreal when Kimveer Gill, Thompson pointed
out on Fox News Channel?s April 16 interview, trained on Super Columbine Massacre
and Postal 2, two mass murder simulators.[/i]
I've yet to see any compelling arguments as to how someone could manage to train for much of anything on Super Columbine Massacre. According to those skill sets so common to the pre-Final Fantasy VII interface of the NES/SNES days, I would likely be considered well-versed in the arts of "ATTACK", "B. MAGIC", "JUMP", and "BLITZ", to name a few. I should point out that I am proficient at none of those, despite extensive training.
"Count VI", Number 67: [i]This was a plausible surmise, based upon eyewitnesses? accounts, already
known by the time of Thompson?s Fox interview, that the killer had a flat affect and
calmly, methodically stalked and shot his prey. That cannot be done without rehearsal,
and the common denominator rehearsal mechanism in a plethora of prior school
shootings was a violent video game.[/i]
This, I would imagine, is similar to how someone can get up on national television and lie, fabricate, and editorialize without hesitation. It stands to reason that Mr. Thompson has had extensive training on some sort of video game, possibly "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney".
"Count VI", Number 71: [i]Besides, science has now established the long-term effect of such violent
entertainment consumption.[/i]
This has been shown, time and time again, to not be the case when dealing with stable minds. This fact is irrefutable, given the hundreds of millions of people on this planet who have at some point come into contact with alleged "murder simulators" and have managed to avoid going on a murderous rampage.
"Count VI", Number 78: [i]This was followed with other posts that Thompson should be struck with a
baseball bat, shot in the face by an irate gamer, castrated and his testicles stuffed down
his throat, and the exercise of other basic ?constitutional? rights to advocate violence
against an individual????????????????????????Not![/i]
And this is why no one takes you seriously, Mr. Thompson. How old are we, again?
I'm going to get sued, aren't I? :)
All that aside, the threats on Mr. Thompson's life, threats of bodily harm, and other such nastiness only fuels the fires of his rampage. In his eyes, the continued, irresponsible actions of legions of hormonally uncontrolled teenage boys furthers his cause and acts as a self-justification. You don't have to agree with him, and he doesn't have to agree with you. It's all in all decent and civil to just leave it at that.
out.
Ego can be a strange bedfellow.
Is our world a better and safer place to live today. The time is now to make a stand.
- Violence is apart of human nature.
- by System Tyrant April 26, 2007 2:09 PM PDT
- I've played some of the most violent games made available to the public. I've watched some of the most violent movies that glamorize killing and torture. I've visited sites that show the extremely grotesque through images and video. I've even been the target of bullies in school and the butt of many mean and cruel jokes. Yet I'm not a violent person. I don't feel the need to kill anybody or anything.
- Reply to this comment
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(16 Comments)Video games don't make people violent any more than slasher flicks or the nightly news. If it did millions of people would be out killing daily. However, violence in games and movies does affect people just like music can. I'm sure a few psycho's got an idea or two from TV or a video game. The truth is that some people are going to kill people, some are going to talk trash, and some are going to find away to turn both into a way to control others.
People who constantly say that violence in media is the cause of violence in people are ignoring the fact that these people were probably unstable long before they turned on a TV or sat down to a video game.