Jack Thompson goes too far

[Harmonixer]

Many of you know who the lawyer Jack Thompson is. If you don't, allow me to make a VERY long story short for you:

At the time of Grand Theft Auto III's release, there was a lot of controversy. Was this game too violent? Did it contain too much sexual content? Would it influence the actions of the nation's youth? However, a Florida lawyer by the name of Jack Thompson took these to a whole new level. When one young man in California--I could be wrong about the location--murdered a numer of people (I believe they were family members, actually), Jack Thompson led a lawsuit against Rockstar games for causing this heinous crime. He won. Since this, he has been a lead supporter that violence in video games is the cause of violence in this world. Since then, he has had numerous bouts with many sources, ranging from the average citizen writing to the Florida bar, to popular webcomics such as Penny Arcade, VGCats, and Ctrl-Alt-Del. He has also tried, unsuccessfully, to press law suits against the creators of these comics for calling him out for the complete IDIOT that he is. However, as has recently been reported on Ctrl-Alt-Del, he has gone too far this time.


From GamingHorizon.com:

"Earlier this month, gamer named Mitchell S. with the online screenname "Kuja105" who posts on a few online videogame forums (including GameFaqs.com and MetalGearSolid.org) committed suicide. On January 2 he posted a message in both forums detailing his intent to end his own life, citing overwhelming complications with school and finances.

A very brief period of initial disbelief was followed by a barrage of replies from fellow forum members pleading that he not take his life, trying to talk him out of it.

For days, no word was heard from Mitchell. Fearing the worst, members and administration from metalgearsolid.org began searching for contact information, spending hours on the phone trying to get in touch with him. Finally on January 4, Ryan K., an administrator at metalgearsolid.org, got him on the phone and spent hours desperately trying to talk him out of it.

Sadly, Mitchell soon ended his own life by consuming antifreeze and painkillers.

Later, members from the site contacted Mitchell's family to find out the grave news. They reported it to their online community, and posted a tribute to their passed friend on the front page of metalgearsolid.org."

Mr. Jack Thompson then sent in the following letter regarding the situation to MetalGearSolid.org, one of the forums frequented by Mitchell, where he was known well:

"Your "gamer friend" will find peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ, but sadly it's too late for that.

There is a void in every heart. You can fill it up with the things of God, or the things not of God. This unfortunate soul chose to fill it up with combat games. The playing of these video games is masturbatory activity, meaning senseless self-stimulation. If you gamers could use a dictionary you would know that that term is not necessarily a sexual one.

The real tragedy here extends beyond the life and death of this one fellow. There are literally millions of young people and young adults whose despair is deepend by turning to the things of this world and then finding them meaningless.

All of you gamers need to put down the controllers and get a life. The utter inanity of the vast majority of postings here shows how vapid "gaming" really is.

You are one of the cheerleaders for this wasting of time and the wasting of lives. Do you feel any remorse for having contributed to this "culture of death?" Of course not. Hey, let's all play MORE games, and ignore all the really productive things to do with our lives.

Let's pretend to be shocked that a gamer might descend into deeper depression, as his gamer "buds," knowing he was killing himself, couldn't figure out how to call 911 themselves for him. That would have involved leaving their computers I guess.

Sad. Sad for all of you."

This man, in all essentiality, has said "I'm sorry your friend killed himself over video games, and he is going to hell for it. You will too." He has gone from blaming all violence on video games, to saying that gamers as a whole are going to hell for not using the time that we use to play games to worship God. Now, I'm a Christian. I have my own way of practicing my faith. I'm an honors student in college. I'm an amateur programmer. I'm a thatrical tech. I've travelled, and studied abroad. I'm, sadly enough, far more educated than this man. What right does he have stereotyping the gaming community in such a way?

The following is MetalGearSolid.org's response to Mr. Thompson's letter:
"Once again, Mr. Thompson, you've proven that your ignorance knows no bounds. We're not going to participate in this war you wish to wage against us -- we're bigger than that. We're bigger than you.

This is a case where our tragedy is greater than the sum of our transgressions. The fact that you want to exploit the loss that both we and his family have suffered to forward your own selfish, religiously driven ambitions speaks volumes about the integrity (or lack, thereof) of your character, and it only serves to strengthen our resolve.

You can continue to try and discredit us and insult us, though no true man of God would do such a thing. We pity you and your ignorance, and only hope that someday you can come to terms with and mature away from your biggotry. As Metal Gear Solid fans, we have learned to believe in the best of individuals. We've learned to show charity. We've become better people, and through the loss of our friend, we've become a closer-knit community.

We forgive you, Jack, and we hope that God will do the same for you."

They could not have put it better. Thank you, if you have taken the time to read this rather lengthy post, because this man has constantly put the gaming community under intense scrutiny for no reasons but for the fact that he hates video games. I highly urge you to educate yourselves, and your gamer friends, of this man, and try to do something about it. He should not be allowed to pull stuff like this, and most definitely should not be practicing law in Florida--if anywhere. Also, I apologize if I seem like I'm talking bullshit (excuse my language), but this man pisses me off to no end.

Thank you, and rest in peace Mitchell "Mitch" Lee Stuekerjuergen, aka Kuja105.

--Tom

[TaikoNoTatsujin]

I already talked about this with you Tom and you know my view....but in lieu of anything I've said prior...I really find myself at a loss for words after reading the post by that man. I've read hundreds of replies to the letter that this Jack character wrote and I'm very pleased with what I read. Hundreds of posts about the truth of human character that disprove anything and EVERYTHING Jack has ever said. There is no Mr. title here for him, I don't respect him enough.

[Valcion]

Last I checked, God didn't preach hatred and outright chastizing like that. HAs he nothing better to do than to bother a community who had just lost a dear friend?

Its a shame he considers himself holy.

I find it funny that all of the administrator's efforts are negated in Thompson's eyes because he is a "gamer".

[Jam]

I'm not religious at all, but I do practice tolerance. Which is something this man has little, if any, of.

I've been keeping up with Thompson's "crusades" for quite a while now, and honestly, this letter doesn't suprise me in the least. It really is a shame that such people exist in this world. Because this man has caused so much conflict in situations that would much rather be dealt with by sane people.

It's actually gotten to the point where he's blantant bigotry is so plainly visible, that groups that are against violent video games (like NIMF) have told him to back off and not to relate him with themselves. He's a man who is blinded by his ambition to simply win a battle, whether or not logic is involved. And he's using religion as his excuse (which especially pisses me off.)

As for Mitch, my best wishes go out to his friends and family. And I'd actually like to state that his suicide was actually not related to gaming. It involved his financial problems. He only posted that he would commit suicide on the forum that he frequented. Which also goes to show that Jack Thompson had no place in this matter at all. I really am starting to get sick of his name...

[Junior G-Man]

Jack Thompson is no man of God. Jack Thompson is an attention whore and video games are an easy target.

[Ghost]

Jack Thompson Cosplay (http://jackthompsoncrosplay.ytmnd.com/)


Ummmm......wtf?

[TaikoNoTatsujin]

You know, I thought about it today; and the video game industry is THE highest grossing and most popular form of entertainment, not only now, but ever. Video games are so popular in Japan that certain games are illegal to sell on weekdays because EVERYONE buys them. Not just kids, but businessmen, house wives, teachers, CEO's....everyone. That's why it became illegal, because so many people were involved. If Jack Thompson truly believes in what he is saying....then he is denying over 1 billion people the right to be entertained. Do movies and TV not have ANY violence anymore or influence our children at all? I saw topless women from behind on ABC FAMILY for cryin' out loud. Does he not know about strip clubs? brothels? legal drug use in Amsterdam? no speed limits on the autobahn in Germany? There are hundreds of thousands of things that are more dangerous and more influential than video games. Knives for example, guns....real guns, not virtual guns used in video games. Cause guess what Jack? Video games and digital images don't kill people....people kill people. You're saying that "gamers", which quite frankly constitutes about a quarter of the Earth's population, don't have the intelligence, motivation, or significance to even be alive. That's low Jack...you'd rather have 1 billion dead who aren't worth life than have them entertained by video games, which are quite frankly, not dangerous at all considering educational video games are being promoted more than anything else right now. If you do deny video games, then you're denying the right for people all around the world to educate themselves, use their imagination, and just plain have fun. Sound like a religious crusade from God now? Guess again.

[Jam]

Very good points made, Taiko. And I definitely agree. But I think the problem lies in that this man will not hear anything that goes against his arguement. Whether it be logical or not.

You could tell him that the responsibility of keeping violent games away from the youth lies mostly on the backs of their parent or guardian. In that same instance, you could tell him that he is an obnoxious, racist, low-living and hateful being who's a sad excuse for a human, let alone lawyer. But you see, he'll take either comment the same way. The man can only see in black and white. And chances are, he already knows he's been proven wrong. But he'll keep fighting because personal gain and glory is all he's after. It's people like that who start wars. And unfortunately, he has the right to his free speech and general air of arrogance.

Granted, no one is all bad. And everyone has their good qualities. But the way he publicly acts and speaks makes it really hard to see any good in him. I just hope he'll one day voluntarily stop. And that he won't continue to force his beliefs on all that are willing to listen.

Until then, I suppose we should all just bend down and pray that Pacman doesn't whisper satanic messages to us at night. ;)