April 18, 2007
Anti-game Miami attorney Jack Thompson managed to get onto several national news broadcasts while the Virginia Tech situation was unfolding on Monday.
Thompson, of course, predicted that the killer would be, as he wrote in an e-mail to GamePolitics, a "gamer, obviously."
This clip is from Fox News:
Over at Kotaku, editor Brian Crecente analyzes the Thompson clip and finds it long on rhetoric, short on facts.
Thompson, of course, predicted that the killer would be, as he wrote in an e-mail to GamePolitics, a "gamer, obviously."
This clip is from Fox News:
Over at Kotaku, editor Brian Crecente analyzes the Thompson clip and finds it long on rhetoric, short on facts.
Comments
Your comments are not only unnecessary, but they are EXACTLY the kind of fuel that this asshole needs to continue his crusade. Are you effin stupid? Death threats and wishing he was "killed at Virginia Tech" is not only sick and wrong, but is making us all look like we're as disturbed as you are.
The last thing we need is your kind on our side.
1- You are not a 'school shooting expert'
2- Weise's movie, Target Practice, was not based off Vice City.
3- Please stop moving towards these school shootings to make a career for yourself.
4- When your son does a school shooting, as soon as we're done mourning, we'll laigh at the irony.
NBC got a tape from the shooter. And I have an uneasy feeling he's going to make some kind of game reference. The reference that comes to mind? Since the shooting was all about killing people with too many privleges ('brats'), I'm expecting to see that quote from Dead Rising that was also from a poem. "And yet he complained that his belly still wasn't full".
But we know this. And we've all dismissed his credibility. So why does he continue and persist to badger GP and Kotaku in vain attempts to be dragged back into the spotlight on the curtails of a massacre? Because he realizes his life is, in short, over and he is left with only two choices: continue to attack an innocent population of gamers or commit suicide.
His choice is obvious, and it was obviously the wrong path to take for one so obsessed in his self-image and dignity.
I wasn't suggesting anyone even look at them if they could.
Hell NBC and the FBI will not release the video footage that he sent, but have only released something like 6 pictures, snippets of his"fanifesto", and something like a 30 second snippet of the video footage that was sent to NBC that was found this morning.
I was saying that given what this kid did before he did this...He had some serious. REALLY SERIOUS PROBLEMS.
Any of the lives of those victims are worth 100x more than this piece of sh*t
HOW DARE HE?!?!?!?! How DARE he exploit this tragedy in this way!!! Any and all VT students and faculty who saw this should loudly condemn this man and bar him from appearing on their campus ever again!
At least it's good to see that even the people in the MSM, who never used to question him before, are starting to get tired of him. They're starting to realize on some level that violent video games cannot possibly or easily explain what happened there, and by soley relying on that argument, Jack is being seen as someone with very little credibility.
Still, his disbarment can't come fast enough. Here's hoping. (And I'd still like to see his ownage by Brian Williams).
Maybe I've just seen so much of Jacks' exploits that I wouldn't put it past him, but I genuinely don't think he gave a hint of, or that Fox were expecting the 'Video Games' angle when they let him on air. We all know that Jack Thompson exists, that's why he loves us hating him, because it's attention, but we need to be aware that the one thing that makes Jack Thompson who he is, is his inferiority complex. Most people don't know and don't care who he is, it's his greatest friend and his biggest enemy.
If that were in the bible that would be a great angle to throw at em'. but it's from fiction and also he would just say he is speaking the truth. remember, to him he probably is speaking the truth. he has lied so much that maybe its real to him. alot of fanatics are like that. how he is still a lawyer amazes me. but hopefully that will change
Yeah, that's if T2 has the testicular fortitude to actually go through with it, forgive me but I hope the new guy does a better job of dealing with these kinds of things unlike Paul Eibler...
If and when take two's suit succeeds it will probably hurt Thompson's reputation more then we could have (except for Fox news which is a joke of a news program.)
I know i've had about enough of his bullshit!
Yet that's in effect what he's been saying with these Press Releases and interviews after school shootings or his civil suits.
Makes ya wanna go "Hmmmm....".
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
This kid was out of his f'n mind totally. Video games or not.
I didnt and I wont. I'll read about it but wont watch it. It's what he wanted after all, why he sent the videos. Even if he is in the afterlife, as silly as it may sounds, I won't give him the satisfaction.
That really pisses me off especially since those Columbine kids were able to improve their's so much just playing old ass unaimable DOOM. Harrumph!
*Rolls eyes.*
I will tell you one thing I've learned from video games though. Over the years and through many RPGs I've learned to read better and expanded my vocabulary quite a bit.
Damn those games! They're evil!
It's nice to see that he's being questioned by major news outlets and contradicted by those directly involved, whereas circa Paducah and Columbine he got a free pass. Between this and his pending misconduct hearings, it looks like he's clearly on his way out and he's being taken less and less seriously.
I attribute this in part to a wising-up in the news media. Notice how they showed restraint this time around, waiting for the facts to come out and tending to hold Hui more or less responsible for his own actions. I also take some small comfort that while this may have been the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, there is little to no connection to video games that the MSM can pin it on, blowing JT's arguments clear out of the water despite his vain assertions. And finally, the more he insists games are to blame on this, the more the country sees him for the idiot he really is.
He's clearly digging his own grave now. There's no longer any doubt. And I have the feeling that if hr were to approach any of the victims' families, they'd tell him at best to go take a hike, at worst something far less polite.
On a side note, it'd be interesting in the videotape if Hui had any personal words for JT. I wonder how he'd feel about that?
Finally, Thompson got his BS called on national television!:) I wish I could have seen that.
Any chance someone YouTubed this or it's on MSNBC's website somewhere?
Of course, again there is the reference to "Half-Life Counterstrike" but he goes further this time saying the killer dressed up like his hero in a commando garb. Well there's no commando garb in Half-Life and there's no "hero" in Counter-Strike, it's a mutiplayer team-based game of Counter-Terrorists vs Terrorists. I'm a fan of couter-strike, I don't play often but when I do it's exciting, it doesnt "train" me to get my heart rate down.
Like he says "the killer was calm like he was playing a videogame". Well when I'm playing a videogame, if I have a flat calm face the game is boring and I wont play it for long. How can you rehearse locking doors with a chain anyway? Is there any videogames where that was a part of it? He makes it sound like videogames are totally interactive, like you can do anything in them.
What annoys me most is that again he is presented as a school shooting expert when anyone who knows the bare minimum about these events know that he says completelty the opposite of law enforcement organizations like the FBI. It's pure sensionalism. Not news reporting. The worst part is definetely "Ironically I was on this campus years ago, talking about the dangers of these games and now it's come to that school". Like he was saying "I told you so".
NickSparx@hotmail.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XtWV-tIeVg
Wonder what he is saying now that more facts are known...
I don't know why they bothered to have him on, but at least they didn't let him shove his bullshit un-checked down their viewers throats.
in court but refused mental health treatment. they are also saying he emailed some sort of threat or plan of this thing to someone at nbc. like ive been saying, its a mental health issue on this one folks. not guns, not videogames. people fall through the cracks and this time the mental health system in this country is really sticking out like a sore thumb.
School shootings have been occuring before video games ever existed. There were ones in the 50's, 60's and beyond.
Games are not The reason people go out and kill others [in school settings?]. There are underlying ISSUES in the people's lives.
I wish there wouldn't be people scapegoating popular forms of media, but we all like to find things to blame.
Listen to it again, and pay close attention to the questions that the interviewer asks. He continually tries to get JT to discuss the bigger picture, to talk about more than just games. He continually fails, because JT avoids the questions and instead continues to push his single-minded crusade.
This means JT is even less credible than Fox News, and that's saying something :)
I have heard from people online claiming he was interviewed, but not so much as a mention on CNN's page or some youtubed clip.
I had a thought, though. What about some kind of harassment? Especially by those who sent him (polite, aka. unoffensive) emails.
Then we would have the best army in the world, IF the things about playing violent games is true. if not then we would have the laziest army in the world, since they would all be playing WOW
I love you Jack! I have a picture of your face cut out into a heart on my wall!
Ah yes, Doom. The Columbine Killer's training game. Shooting at the wall to hit a demon a few stories above you sure taught these kids how to handle a weapon. This is why Doom is affectionately referred to as the "broad-side-of-the-barn simulator" by my friend and I, who are both avid lovers of the old Doom games. I wonder if Dylan and Klebod found that damned blue keycard to get into the buildings.
It seems like no matter what the discussion is (school shootings, street shootings, fights, bed-wetting, jaywalking) JT has to turn it into a crusade against video games. This man is no expert, no specialist. He just has a lot of charisma and he uses that to his advantage. Just listening to him speak you can tell he has no idea what the living hell he is talking about. Super Columbine Massacre, wait...he forgot a word...RPG. RPG. I should not have to explain this. Yes, maybe the game was in bad taste, however, realistic? Definitely not. Counter-Strike Half-Life...what the hell is that? Which one? Cause if it's Counter-Strike then there's definitely no hero. This man is just a self-centered and insensitive jackass, who knows nothing of what he speaks about.
You're fired Mr. Thompson, clear out your cubicle and get the hell out.
It was at the end of an interview he did with Rolling Stone last summer. His son was about to go to camp and he asked him if it was ok that he not tell the other kids who his father was, obviously ashamed and embarassed. The interview ended with JT saying while he feels sorry his son has to endure that, he doesn't regret anything he's done.
Yeah, real Father of the Year material there.
A VERY interesting story. But it's this line that made me sit up and take notice:
"In another, Cho concocted a tale of students who fantasize about stalking and killing a teacher who sexually molested them."
Maybe it is just another violent story he wrote. But... well, we know nothing about his life before he came to the US. And we do know, from this story, that he had to spend some time in a mental facility. We also know that abuse victims suffer from bouts of suicidal thoughts, rage, and even self-imposed isolation.
Am I grasping at straws being a couch potato psychologist? Maybe. But things are sounding rather... interesting.
And, frankly, after the Cody Posey case, it wouldn't surprise me if certain individuals tried to downplay or have such events wiped from the record just so they could push their personal, religious, and/or political agendas.
Yeah, I know I keep bringing up the Cody Posey case. But, frankly, I find it one of the sickest acts done so far. That of trying to downplay the abuse this kid suffered and nearly suffered just to push an agenda.
"Cho indicated in his letter that the end was near and that there was a deed to be done, the official said. He also expressed disappointment in his own religion, and made several references to Christianity, the official said."
Well, we see why John Bruce is so hyped up to push video games now. Last thing he wants is his religion blamed. (We don't know the exact details of the letter, so we don't know how the kid referenced Christianity so it may just be something he, himself, could understand.) Honestly, John Bruce is trying very hard this time to put all the blame on video games. His own REAL motivations should be in question.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This is an insult to everyone who died at Virginia Tech, Columbine, and every other one of these shootings, and an insult to the friends and family.
Scapegoating draws attention from whatever really caused this to happen. It makes it that much harder to try to prevent it from happening again.
"As mentioned before his son is embarrassed by him. He never tells anyone who his father is. Jack himself has said this, and Jack believes it is somehow worth it."
When was this? More importantly, how the hell did I miss something like that? God, I feel sorry for that kid.