(Part 2 of 4) Game-hatin' attorney Jack Thompson went verbally medieval on GamePolitics in an interview with the obscure PopZart site last week.
In my third year of running GamePolitics, I've grown accustomed to Thompson's criticism, but this attack was remarkably personal in nature, so I feel called upon to respond. Part one of my riposte may be found here. Part two follows:
JT: the worst example of [a game industry stooge] is GamePolitics and its owner Dennis McCauley. McCauley is now an operative for Hal Halpin's ECA, so the curtain behind which this Wizard of Odd, Mr. McCauley, has been rent asunder. McCauley has pretended, mightily, to be a journalist. He is not. He does put out a lot of information, some of it correct, about what is going on in the gaming world and industry. I commend him for that. He does a better job than most.
GP: Interesting... In a single paragraph, Thompson pegs me as both "the worst example" and doing "a better job than most." Go figure... As for being an "operative," gee, it sounds so very Splinter Cell-ish...
As far as the ECA goes, I think GP readers already know that the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is NOT a game industry organization, despite Thompson's efforts to paint it that way. The ECA receives zero funding from the game industry, and wouldn't accept game industry money if it was offered. Hal Halpin has been very clear about that. Membership fees paid by gamer-members drive the ECA. Personally, I've always made it very clear that I have no connection to the industry. My record reinforces it.
To put it bluntly, I've pissed off a number of people in the game business over the years - Take Two people, ESRB people, ESA people, and more. I'm kind of proud of that fact, actually. As a journalist, when you're simultaneously angering Jack Thompson and Paul Eibeler, you know you're playing it right down the middle.
What's more, even a cursory glance at GamePolitics illustrates that Thompson's comments are dead wrong. In the past few weeks alone we've been all over Microsoft concerning the Xbox 360 red rings issue because A.) they deserve it and B.) it's an issue that's very important to game consumers. At other times we've taken Sony to task when they tried to bully Kotaku. We ripped inept former Take Two CEO Paul Eibeler on a regular basis. It's all in the GP record.
Oh, and don't forget that GP made its journalistic bones by breaking the Hot Coffee story in 2005. That little episode cost T2 close to $30 million and still reverberates through the business. Our person of the year for 2005 was Leland Yee, architect of the California video game law - not because we thought the law was a good idea, but because Yee was so skillful in maneuvering it to passage. By the way, can you guess which publicity hound complained about not being selected?
So, GP as a game industry stooge? I don't think so. We're after the truth here, wherever it leads us.
JT: McCauley gets money from the very industry that he is supposedly "fairly" reporting about. Look at his ads. Look at his now formal ECA affiliation. I get money, by the way, from nobody, nor have I ever accepted any in my twenty years of fighting the entertainment industry's marketing and sale of adult entertainment to children. I'm clean. These sites are not.
GP: What money from the video game industry? I work for the ECA. Once again, and I'll say it slowly this time, Jack. The ECA is a consumer group. We fight for gamers.
Ads? What ads? Prior to the ECA acquisition we had small Amazon and Commission Junction affiliate ads for things like games, books, DVDs and T-shirts. I personally selected and posted the ads. Never - as in not ever - did we have an ad paid for by a video game company.
Currently there are some issue-oriented banners - but nothing to buy - on the front page of GP that I picked myself because they are relevant to what we cover. We've also got links to every major - and several minor - video game watchdog organizations on the front page. My goal with GamePolitics is to be a comprehensive, one-stop shopping resource for information related to the politics of video games whether you're a gamer, a game company executive, a political staffer or an activist.
On the other hand, may I ask, Jack, how much you expect to receive from your video game debate tour? $3,000 per appearance, wasn't it? May I ask how much your combined lawsuits against the video game industry in Alabama and New Mexico are seeking? $1.2 billion, isn't it? That works out to a pretty hefty legal fee...
GP: Thompson’s attack on GamePolitics was extensive. So is our reply. Look for Part 3 soon…
Comments
In the interview, he talks his usual rant, accusing Dennis of being an industry whore, and a product of the game companies. He blamed him, and us, about the critical responses to his book in Amazon. He insinuates that there's another agenda involved here in GP, and that we describe him as "insane" or a "Nazi", and that if he was like the person described here or in Wikipedia, stated "would have killed myself a very long time ago."
I'm sure he really had to dig deep into his name calling pocket to pull out that we GP people like to "hide behind anonymity, like big tough guys, casting their stones and then whining when I respond with what I think is the truth, with my name attached, kind of tells anyone who is willing to listen and hear who the mean-spirited anonymous cowards are."
Welcome to the internet, Jack. Anonymity and mean-spiritedness run high here. It's a playground full of glass and nails. While it can certainly be quite fun, if you aren't wearing the big boots, your play time is over. But for some reason, you keep coming back, barefooted, with your scabs and lies about how we are bringing you down. Like we are cramping your style or something. You keep doing it yourself.
Right now, all your are doing is making interesting headlines, is all. We will get bored with it soon, though, so think of something else, quick. I've got an idea, Jack. Make your own website! Oh, wait, you already did that and it didn't work out. Guess I'll just go to jackthompson.org/ to read up on all your latest.
Well, the thing is, some of the falsehoods he keeps pushing out are ones that have been explained to him as otherwise from more than one source, and not just on GP itself.
In many ways it's not his fault, I genuinely think he percieves that because the site is well presented and has links and images on the main page, which is light years beyond Thompsons' old Web-site, that it MUST therefore be a company-run site. He doesn't understand the technologies involved and doesn't realise that it's quite easy to produce professional websites with a little bit of knowledge and a good program.
Thompson will never accept because it doesn't suit his purpose, if he ever had to accept that this Website was completely unfunded by the Video Game Industry, and that the opinions on here are not merely the braindead echoings' of lackeys, but real concerned people who don't want to see their rights as adults sent into a 'slippery slope' situation by the likes of Thompson, then he'd have to accept how wrong he'd been about a lot of things. Thompson will never, ever do that.
Regarding the interview I like when Jack says that he isn't the person that wikipedia describes him as. Too bad his wikipedia entry is made up of almost exclusively his own words and actions...
I look forward to part 3 soon.
Also, how is he fighting the sale of inappropriate material to minors? By supporting the UK in banning video games that are clearly marketed to Adults? That pretty much just supports telling able minded adults that they can't play or view something because a child might get their hands on it some day. Which is bullshit. Why not rally to remove all "inappropriate" TV shows from the air because a child might see it? Or how about all those ads for Viagra and condoms during the daytime that children can see at any time? No, it's all focused on video games that are clearly marked for it's age appropriateness.
Jack Thompson is a fucking moron and scum bag lawyer who hides behind a facade of morality. Jack Thompson is only out for two things, money and fame. That's it. His claims of wanting to protect anything is bullshit. Also, want to talk about violence and disgusting entertainment? Read your Bible sometime, I guarantee it's a whole like worse than most video games or even movies on the market today when it comes to violence. The whole thing is pro slavery, pro degradation of women, pro murder for various stupid reasons, etc. So don't talk to us about violence and inappropriate material when we still have Churches forces your smut called "The Holy Bible" onto children.
Fuck off!
Sometimes I used to get upset that GP gave him so much credibility compared to other websites. Now I see there is no pleasing this man at all. He misses the main point of everything too; I don't think many, if any at all, are against the idea of limiting sales of violent games to minors. We just think there are better, more legal ways to do it than legislation.
Jack just managed to make GP a JT enemy when they weren't in the first place. I wouldn't have called this site one of his allies, but it wasn't a hostile site before his comments.
Keep up the amazing work!! I was so happy to find this site 6 months ago and have checked it daily since!
However, I refuse to be Doug Lowenstein. That is, I will not allow this man to call my character into question. Doug always let him get away with it, although I believe the former ESA certainly had other options available to him.
I agree with you. We must not let this dirtbag get away with it, he has shunned you many times in public and now it's our time to stand up and for him to be shunned at.
Not in it for the money huh?
Just 3 words John Bruce:
Jason Della Rocca.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
I'm glad to see you refusing to take this lying down, Dennis. I've never been of the school of thought that the best way to deal with Jack is to ignore him. He should be refuted at every turn, because as has been stated before, there are too many people out there ignorant enough to take his trash as gospel.
This quote from Jack Thompson cracks me up. I think the only thing that is clean is his own ass.
GP why dont you debate him on PWNED Radio ??
He can boast, claim, troll and flame, but once someone puts printed paper fact in his face - as opposed to the 'sources' he calls his imaginary friends - he blocks out.
Pathetic...
I wish sites would not even mention his name, but every time I read an article about this numb-nuts, I get a good laugh.
I like laughing.
Also as someone else here pinted out, he may be in violation of his agreement with Take 2. If that's the case as well, then he's really stepped in it this time. Once again, he's gone and shot his mouth off with no thought to the consequences of what he says. Once mor I marvel that this guy continues to have his law license (which will hopefully be taken away one day).
Between this and his constant ban evasions here (which could constitute harassment), I think you have a strong case this time. Time to finally take him to task and put the smackdown on him. Strike while the iron is hot!
I'm suddenly reminding of conspiracy theorists calling anyone that debunks the bad science and logic behind the claims that we didn't land on the moon a "NASA disinformation officer".
So take heart Dennis, you've got some good company on the list of people that get called liars for simply speaking the truth.
You decline to be in this interview. Jack spouts off stuff about you. And you post your reactions here.
I ask because Mr. Thompson here seems to consider you some sort of major threat to the world at large, spreading propaganda and injecting liquid aluminium melted from GTA discs into the eyes of five-year-olds. I thought it was only schoolgirls on LiveJournal who scream, "Wah, wah, some people on the internet are disagreeing with me!"
Take a moment to focus, Jack. The reason you keep failing isn't because GamePolitics and its cabal are spending millions of dollars on a public smear campaign against you. It's because you're wrong.
The Meow Media case? completely destroyed pre-trial.
Alabama? That may (or may not, depending on if and how far they've gotten into summary judgment proceedings) go to trial in January, but by order of the Court, Jack is NOT representing the Plaintiffs there.
And here in New Mexico? There's a gigantic dismissal hearing set for September 13--Jack will be lucky if he even has a law license to stand on by then.
Five bucks says he calls this piece a pack of lies and whatnot, though. XD
Are you denying that the site is obscure? Being linked on GP likely generated more hits than that site has seen in its entire history.
www.alexa.com Traffic Rankings
IGN.com: 185
GameFAQs.com: 226
Xbox.com: 799
Playstation.com: 898
Nintendo.com: 2071
RockstarGames.com: 4323
Take2Games.com: 69,453
GamePolitics.com: 70,522
JackThompson.org: 1,164,069
Alexa Traffic Ranking
PopZart.com: 6,232,789
Clearly, "obscure" is the most accurate adjective to describe PopZart. Getting linked on GP is the best thing to ever happen to that site. Of course, Jacky would have been better served to post the interview on his own wesbite, where it's apparently 6 times more likely to be read.
Jack "Video games cause violence"
Gamepolitics "Why?"
Jack "Because"
Gamepolitics "Whoa...deep."
Basically go for the fearmongering route in total lieu of any evidence. Just follow these simple steps and you will be just like every other sensationalist, fearmongering news outlet that puts out and doesn't question the mad masturbation fantasies/rants of our favorite bat-shit crazy florida lawyer.
http://www.strouperman.com/Archive/052_Whaambulance.jpg
Very Christian.
Nice rebuttals, mang
The real, enormous irony is that Jack Thompson got thrown out of a court case for doing precisely what Thompson believes that Dennis is doing, maybe Dennis has a better idea of what professionalism is, the Bar complaint was nothing to do with the disagreement on Video games, it was to do with Jacks' own behaviour and the threats he was making, that does NOT relate to Game Politics. This is NOT a site about Jack Thompson, therefore Dennis is NOT compelled to post every little thing about him on it, whether personally involved or not.