Jack Thompson Announces College Debate Tour

Hmmm...so Jack Thompson is working for Penny Arcade and it's just a huge publicity stunt!!!

Oh my god...it's all so clear now.

I REALLY hope no one decides to attend these things. I don't trust anything orchestrated by Jack; he will have some strategy in place to make himself look the moral superior. I think GoodRobotus has the right idea; don't give this attention whore any rope.

I wouldn’t hold my breath that this will be anything of note. Thompson has proven time and time again that he can’t debate. He just answers all questions by misstating some study and then saying by not agreeing with him the person he is talking to is killing the youth of the nation and doesn’t understand what he is doing and is evil blah blah blah

To be honest I also want to know why he is doing this now. Could it be because his law was thrown out for been uncontitional and that he failed in his bid to ban bully? I mean no politician would touch this man with a barge poll, as a result he needs to claw and scrape to extend his 15 minutes of fame and going on a tour is a way to do that. However if like we all hope Thompson faces some real debates and is torn apart how long will he go on for.

Like all things he does this is badly planned out and will result in him making a fool out of himself, but at least people will be talking about him and in his own little insecure mind that is a victory enough for him as he will do what he always does and focus on the fact that he did it rather then the fact that it failed

I'm not really expecting him to come to my college, though it is a Jesuit University, so it's posiible....

Anway, I can't see how this will be of any benefit for him given, well, it's Jack Thompson. He can't debate his way out of a paper bag. Heck, I'd probably be able to out-debate him, and I hate debates.

What's needed in this college debate tour are people who know exactly what facts Jacko will be trotting out, and the ability to call him on it each time, lest we have a rehash of the G4 "debate."

Despite his eternal status as "village idiot" in the gaming world, he has the ability to sound authoritative to those who are uninformed. If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to make all those claims to CNN and whatever else he gets off to appearing on.

Cold, hard facts are needed for successful rebuttals. Let him be the name-calling ass if need be; if the audience sees us frothing while he keeps himself as the more poised JT we saw in the first part of Niero's articles on Destructoid (and in most of his public appearances), we lose face.

Bottom line: Consider this the videogame equivalent of Uwe Boll taking on critics.

I can't wait to see a gamer beat this communist lawyer in a debate. I have lots of steak!!

@Loopy

Good point. I think part of the reason why he's pushing for his larger critics, i.e. gamers, to show up wearing the "I hate Jack Thompson" shirts is that he wants to reinforce the idea everyone is out to get him as it were. If people show up to heckle him, it wohnd only serve to prove his position that we're an out of control, socially inept group and he could easily turn down future offers of debate using this example of precident. The best way to counter this would be not to give into the temptation to heckle him and instead of taking fashion tips from Jack, show up in business or business casual. By just showing that we are going to attend the debates with courtacy and professionalism, it would sabatoge any grandstanding on Jack's part and keep the door open for further debate on the subject of videogames and the first admendment.

Now correct me if I'm wrong but, in a debate, is it not customary for one of the debaters to know something? What qualifications does this guy, the guy who made Spin magazine whos name is not important enough to remember or scroll up, have other than being an ass. If Thompson was going to have a real debate, he would get someone like Seanbaby, someone who actually knows the medium.

Yeah, put me in the "not impressed, not interested, waste of time" camp.

Anyone who thinks this is going to be a chance for them to punk Jack in public is fooling themselves. He's not going to be the crazy spaz we know from LJ, PA, VG Cats, etc. He's going to be the CNN Jack. The one who tosses out statements that sound plausible and misquotes studies. Unless you've actually read all the studies, you're never going to seriously bust him on the spot. Even if you can get him to snap, its not like the media is going to be following him around on this tour.

Like others, I'm also not impressed with his debate partner. I know Guccione is a publisher, so one would assume he's pro free speech. However, I can't say as I've ever seen him say anything in public on the issue at hand. We know there have been people in other industries (and even in the game industry) who don't necessarily believe that games qualify as art and/or speech.

Now, if he were to debate someone who seems more relevant, I'd be more interested. In addition to the names I've seen already in posts here, I'd toss out Hal Halpin, Doug Lowenstein, Patricia Vance, or even Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik or Scott Ramsoomair.

I'd also like to point out that this so-called debate he claims he wants to have is nothing more than a sham to pass on the same type of false information he's been passing out to other individuals, organizations, and government officials. He's been lying time and again, and called on those lies with proof and evidence, but he's too ignorant to recognize his failings.

Frankly, the man couldn't stand up to a real nationally publicized debate if his life depended on it. Let him debate Dr. Henry Jenkins of MIT. Or Dr. Richard Gelles (who did a recent Q&A session and downplayed the role of video games in regards to overall effects on violence ( http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/health/qa_forum.html?forumId=285... )) of the Center for Research on Youth and Social Policy ( http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/crysp/ ).

Let him go head to head in debates with attorneys from the overall media industry (video games, TV, movies, music, books, etc).

But no, he's too cowardly for that. Have a REAL debate? Not a chance.

John Bruce has proven himself time and again to be nothing more than a tin-pot dictator wannabe. Look at the legislation he helped draft. Look at the lawsuit he brought to attempt to force Take Two to give him a copy of the yet to be release game Bully. Look at his interviews. Everything he's done screams of demands to do it HIS way or HIS way. HE has to be the one to play Bully to decide if it's appropriate for OTHER people's children. HE has to decide if any other game is appropriate for OTHER people's children. HE has to create legislation that would violate Parental Rights by making it the government's decision as to what is or is not appropriate for other people's children (as long as the government agrees with HIM, because if they don't, well, you've seen what happens when someone turns on him and doesn't agree with HIS way. Just ask Dr. Walsh of NIMF or the AG, governor, and others in LA).

I feel very strongly about the issue of Parental Rights and the rights of parents to make decisions for their OWN children and that no other individual, organization, or government official has the right to violate a Parent's Rights. Oh, I'm sure there are "but"s to that in some people's eyes, but rest assured, there ARE comebacks to a number of them quite easily.

I also feel very strongly about the lack of honor and ethics being displayed by John Bruce, not merely in the public forum but in the government and legal forums as well. Lies and deceit do not belong in those forums. Especially when someone is SUPPOSED to be a professional in those areas. Anyone who uses lies and deceit in the legal and government forums is clearly incapable of being in those forums.

And I also feel very strongly about the downplaying, ignoring, and even encouraging of all forms of abuse in and out of the school setting. So John Bruce's actions and attitudes really get under my skin. Such individuals are abhorrent and obscene. I don't care how many religious scriptures they spout.

John Bruce standing in front of impressionable young adults debating anything to do with video games? May as well get someone from Fred Phelps's group to participate in a debate on Human and Civil Rights.

nightwng2000
NW2K Software
(Note: This post is an edited version of a post I made elsewhere on Oct 10, 2006 here: http://ve3dboards.ign.com/general_news/b10496/25276590/p3
edits were made due to changes in events since that time plus changes in discussion. But the jist is still the same.)

@nightwng

You forgot one. Thompson debating Tom Buscaglia.

- Warren Lewis

I'm pretty much echoing Nightwing's thoughts here....

He wants to debate about violent video games, so he invites a debate opponent who happens to be a magazine publisher? Huh?

In what world does that make sense?

I think viewing all that violence in Bully last week might have fried Thomson's frontal lobe.

Jack Thompson has been much in demand on college campuses, where he participates in debates

I beg your pardon? I've never heard of Jack going to a college to debate anyone. Even when Buscaglia or FFJ (I think it was them) invited him to such an event, he chickened out.

Assuming he even goes through with this, it'll make no difference. Jack will be preaching his unsound rhetoric to a group of kids far more up-to-date than him about what games involve.

Warren:

Yeah, it's on Tom's blog.

"Jack got back with me later, now trying to get me to debate him in his church in Coral Gables and continuing to call me a liar. For the life of me I can not see where I am a liar…unless he thought I claimed he actually was an Organ Grinder’s Monkey. I am a lot of things, but liar is not one of them."

http://gameattorney.com/blog/?m=200512

You weren't here on GP when it happened?

Boffo97
Actually, the use of the title former is not needed in your comment on the Ultimate Warrior. He had his name legally changed so he could use it.

Isn't he just wasting his time?

Actually, I beleive JT would be collecting $$ for touring. Considering how his court cases don't ever go his way, its probably the best revenue stream he can get.

He's too good for a "real" job.

Dammit. I don't go to a real school that holds seminars like this. Someone needs to tape it or record it or something. I need to see this.

Here's my question: Doesn't he have a lawsuit (or lawsuits) to attend to.

Oh, wait. The ego needs feeding.

So, Jack's career is over, and he's going on the lecture circuit?

Good. The college students will chew him a new one. This won't last long. He'll bail after the first few.

Can we call this the "Jack versus Goliath" tour?

aniki21 Says:
Assuming he even goes through with this, it’ll make no difference. Jack will be preaching his unsound rhetoric to a group of kids far more up-to-date than him about what games involve.

Guess you haven't been to many college debates. I used to attend "Evolution vs. Creation" debates before ID became the new black, and it was preaching to the choir. Most of the attendees were sheep who showed up to nod in agreement at any BS the Creation debater spouted, laugh at his lame jokes, and glaze over whenever the Evolution debater spoke.

Very rarely was a competent, well educated, good debater "picked" for the "evolution" side. Usually it was just some prof who volunteered to try to lecture the audience, and of course not having a PhD in "brow beating", he always loses horribly to the creationist who would spot all the usual topics.

How in hell can anyone in their right mind still consider duke nukem relevant? I am so very tired of them bring up the old mortal combats and it ilk and throwing them out as the present state of things.

Here's hoping he comes to my town!
I think my debate class could beat his ass.