Jack Thompson Now Running Police Investigations

from the blame-game dept

Mon, Jun 5th 2006 12:30pm — Carlo Longino

Apparently at the behest of Jack Thompson, some sheriff's deputies in Louisiana have seized some video games from the home of a teenage murder suspect as "evidence". Evidence of what? That the kid has a games console or PC? Thompson says that he told the police to look for games because reports of the crime fit the scenario of the Grand Theft Auto games -- which would also indicate that any kid with a paper route must be an avid Paperboy player, though we've missed all the reports of Frogger driving people to play in traffic. All Thompson's trying to do (apart from drum up some publicity for himself) is shift the blame for the crime from a sick, stupid killer onto video games -- just the latest in his line of attempts to let people abdicate any responsibility for their actions. One other question -- why do law-enforcement officers in Louisiana now need an activist lawyer from Florida to tell them how to do their jobs?

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25 Comments

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Ben, 5 Jun 2006 @ 12:49pm

Typos
just noticed a few typos Carlo
"Thompson says that (-t)he told the police"
"Louisiana now need a(+n) activist lawyer"

I hate Thompson, but I'm sure I'm not the only one reading this who does.
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Moneyguy, 5 Jun 2006 @ 12:55pm

Cartoons and Video Games
I wonder if I could hire Jack Thompson to represent me in suing Warner Brothers?
When I was young and watching Roadrunner cartoons, I always knew that falling from a cliff (or a rooftop) would do nothing more than create a big hole in the ground. In addition, making a bomb and setting it off would do nothing more than make my face black and blow my hair back.
Reality is quite different - falling from a rooftop and home-made bombs are dangerous if not fatal.
Warner Brothers is obviously to blame for my mis-understanding. I wonder how much I could get if I won the lawsuit?
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Reyane-kun, 5 Jun 2006 @ 12:58pm

Jackass
He is just a plain and simpile Jackass. I have a paper route and never play Paper boy in my life. He's an idiot always killing the fun.
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Carlo, 5 Jun 2006 @ 1:09pm

Re: Typos
Thanks.
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Andy, 5 Jun 2006 @ 1:11pm

life and art
I'm not sure why it's not obvious to these scaremongers that, in this case, art immitates life. The Grand Theft Auto videogame series hardly started organized and random crime.
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Omirta, 5 Jun 2006 @ 1:24pm

I once found a buried chest on my farm, word got out, shortly after police came to seize the chest along with my hardy boy collection of books.

We should stop authors from writing books as well.. I got an idea, how about we stop education all together. If we don't expose our kids to anything, how could they possibly get the idea to do something?!? Why is it, humans must always find something to blame rather than take responsibility for their own actions.
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Ben, 5 Jun 2006 @ 1:27pm

Re:
hey now, im not so sure jT is human. He seems to be on some crusaid to see video games banned from existance.
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Techie, 5 Jun 2006 @ 1:31pm

I Wonder
I wonder if Bush played Medal of Honor is why we are over in Iraq?

Bush "We didn't invade Iraq for weapons of mass destruction or to overthrow an Evil Dictator, playing Medal of Honor made me do it"
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VPR, 5 Jun 2006 @ 1:52pm

...though we've missed all the reports of Frogger driving people to play in traffic.

I love it.
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Mike, 5 Jun 2006 @ 2:08pm

Real Life frogger
"...though we've missed all the reports of Frogger driving people to play in traffic."

Found one. Even frogger is a bad influence.

http://news.com.com/Roomba+takes+Frogger+to+the+asphalt+jungle/2100-1043_3-6049922.htm l?tag=ne.gall.related
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Starky, 5 Jun 2006 @ 3:24pm

Jack the a***hole
I never thought that Jack could be any more of an ass. I guess I was wrong.

Why is he involved with the police investigations? He's a f***ing lawyer, and a shitty one at that!

Why can't he just crawl back into the dark abyss from which he came?
Click my name to see what I feel should happen to him (sorry for the bad lighting effects, I'm still learning how to use 3d studios)
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Greg, 5 Jun 2006 @ 3:41pm

Murderers are not well-adjusted
The Louisiana case aside, I think you may be missing a key point. The game, unlike your paperboy analogy, allows the player-character to brutalize and kill people. Is this a healthy (for the player or society) pastime for someone capable of committing like crimes? Your reaction is from that of a well-adjusted person...murderers by definition are not well-adjusted. Might they not be influenced by playing violent games? And if there is a link, how many lives have to weigh in the balance before we decide to outlaw such games?
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CoJeff, 5 Jun 2006 @ 4:04pm

Re: Murderers are not well-adjusted
Sorry that argument doesn't work. What happens if that not well-adjusted criminal uses a gun but hasn't played any video games at all? By using your argument then we should ban guns. Also how do you define violent? What is violent to one may not be to another. I for one don't want anyone telling me what games can or can't play.

A 100% link to violent video games can never be made; there are just too many variables to consider.

Pretty soon we will be living in a society like in the movie "Demolition Man" (Bad movie I know)
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Greg, 5 Jun 2006 @ 4:29pm

Re: Re: Murderers are not well-adjusted
Good point with respect to your gun argument. To answer your question: violent=illegal. Stuff you can't do to people in real life. Forgive me if I'm missing something (really), but why is it enjoyable to brutalize and kill people in a game? Would we be missing anything if such games were illegal?
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Robert, 5 Jun 2006 @ 4:32pm

dolts...
If **ANYONE** goes out and actually get's inspired by a video game to commit violent acts, then they've got problems already. A sane person understands the difference between a video game and reality, plane and simple. Video games aren't to blaim, it's the parents who raise botched kids.
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Morgan, 5 Jun 2006 @ 4:52pm

Re: Re: Re: Murderers are not well-adjusted
How does Violent=illegal? Look at football, perfectly legal to play and on the violent side, you wouldn't slam into a random stranger on the street, that would be assault, but when your playing a football GAME that the entire point and is perfectly acceptible and why? Because its a rush, fun, a challenge, different, so should we outlaw football or what about debates I mean those can get pretty heated, to answer your question "why is it enjoyable to brutalize and kill people in a game? Would we be missing anything if such games were illegal?" yes I think many would if someone is screwed enouph in the head to play a game and then murder someone, look to the parents, look to the person. 10 million+ people play these games and what like .000000001 percent of them have killed someone. at that ratio we should outlaw christianity, or other groups that have a higher percentage of members with criminal records come on man, get your head out of your ass.
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Greg, 5 Jun 2006 @ 5:33pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Murderers are not well-adjusted
I take your (one of Carlo's original points as well) point that people, not games, are responsible for their actions. And that the percentages of extreme influence are low. My point is that if you can eliminate even that tiny percentage, and not lose anything in the process, then that would be a good thing. You can see that I don't think anything of value would be lost if these violent games were gone. Many things that offend only some people are illegal. It's a question of what we as citizens decide is right, or in the best interest of our country. And this is just a tiny slice of that ongoing process. I'm glad you have passionate thoughts on the subject too.
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Celes, 5 Jun 2006 @ 5:53pm

Re: Jackass
Hey, I played Paperboy all the time and never once had the urge to go out and get a paper route!
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Minshi, 5 Jun 2006 @ 8:28pm

News Inspires Murderious Rampage
June 09, 2008

Early today Jacky Benten, 16, took up a gun and allegedly murdered fifteen of her classmates in cold blood. She was captured after killing the thirteenth victim, however was released due to the inability to prosecute her. The reason was when police searched her they found a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty Stories in her purse. By the Thompson Law of 2006 video game makers are responsible for all violent actions caused by game players. A programmer for Take Two Entertainment has been given the death sentence for the thirteen previous murders.

When asked if she will kill again, she responded “Of course. I really hated these girls since I started school, but of course to take any action would have gotten me in trouble. I have to thank Jack Thompson though; if not for him I never would have been inspired to kill so many people who annoyed me. Now if you excuse me, I still want to kill Deanny.”

When asked about the increase of murders since the Thompson Law was passed, Jack Thompson had this to say, “This just proves that content like Hot Coffee is corrupting our kids. I am glad that the law was past, given anyone who holds a copy of a game during a crime free reign. Finally we can look at a person’s belongs and know exactly what type of person we are dealing with.

A statistical note, since the Thompson Law was passed, murder rates have increased 1000%, of those murders, 95% have been caught with a game on their belongs to give them free pass. The remaining 5% are crimes of passion without any preplanning. As of date, the state has executed five-hundred thousand game related persons by the Thompson Law. It is estimate as early as next year the state will have to begin to sentence retired game makers to the death penalty.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just you wait.
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mkam, 6 Jun 2006 @ 6:31am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Murderers are not well-adjuste
Nothing would be gone but more of our freedom of expression. But who cares about that anyway?
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Xanthir, 7 Jun 2006 @ 1:52pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Murderers are not well-adjuste
I'd suppose that you've never played one of these violent video games which you find no value in?

At the very least, they are cathartic. At the best, they are damned good fun, and hilarious to boot.

No matter your opinions of them, though, it's impossible to define 'violent' in a way that bans things appropriately. Is a fighting game too violent? What about a wrestling game? What about wrestling shows? People are seriously injured and even killed because they emulate what they see on TV. Does this mean we should ban wrestling? No, it means we should make sure people know that the wrestlers on TV are highly skilled and you shouldn't try to copy their actions in real life.

Similarly, we should make sure that people know that a video game is fantasy, and they should not act it out in real life. We, as parents, should make sure that our children are playing appropriate games, and make sure that they understand the difference between what you do in a game and what you do in real life.

To take a line from your post, I think we *would* lost something in the process of banning video games (or just violent ones). We'd lose a wonderful new field of art, an incredibly fun way to spend our time, and what's more, our adherence to that great document we founded our country on, especially that very first patch to it.
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brad, 20 Jun 2006 @ 2:45pm

games
you know someone should bring up that this is a multibillion dollar industry and that more young people than no do play yet don't kill.
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AL, 21 Jun 2006 @ 6:52am

he also said that the kid was shot in the face and that the only people who shoot people in the face are hitman and video gamers
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sliman, 3 Jul 2006 @ 1:55am

Re: Jackass
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Andrew, 3 Apr 2007 @ 12:12pm

Jack Thompson doesn't know jack shit. Just an old fart one step away from getting into a retirement home.

He needs to stop trying to shift the blame onto video games just because his child life sucked.
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