Jack Thompson Disbarred; Claims Florida Lawyers Are Out To Get Him
from the will-he-still-get-on-TV? dept
It's been quite a while since we last wrote about Jack Thompson, the rather infamous lawyer who blames all sorts of violent crimes on video games and has repeatedly sued video game makers in an effort to shift blame from actual violent criminals to the makers of the video games they play. Thompson was also a regular guest on various TV news shows talking about video games and violence, where he would insist repeatedly (against plenty of evidence to the contrary) that video games cause people to kill. He was also famous for filing bogus lawsuits against critics and has been told by judges repeatedly that he needs to actually follow the law.Well, it appears that all that may be over, as Jack Thompson has now been disbarred, effective 30 days from today. Of course, Thompson isn't one to let a little thing like being disbarred stop him. He's responded at length and is appealing the disbarment (even though he's not actually allowed to file the appeal -- he did so anyway). Still, all this makes you wonder if the various TV news shows that always had him on as a guest will (a) report on his disbarment or (b) still use him as a guest in future stories about video games and violence.
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Filed Under: blame video games, disbarred, florida, jack thompson
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Permit me to be first to say...
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YESSSSS
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Where will he end up
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Re: Where will he end up
So what TV shows was he on? I wanna email them an "in ur face" email. lol
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Re: Where will he end up
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good
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hell yeah
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Re: hell yeah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miAQhDDt018
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Eh?
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Re: Eh?
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Appealing a Disbarment?
But is it true you can't appeal a disbarment? If so, how does one fight against a disbarment that is unfair (or is the disbarment process set up to eliminate any amount of unfairness)?
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Re: Appealing a Disbarment?
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Re: Appealing a Disbarment?
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Re: Re: Appealing a Disbarment?
> through a lawyer like anyone else.
Filing through a lawyer is not necessary for him or for anyone else. Anyone can represent themselves pro se. In fact, doing so is a guaranteed right that can't be denied unless a court finds you incompetent or mentally impaired.
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Re:
Let's see...
1. Bad parents
2. Cartoons (YO JOE!)
3. Movies
That's just in the minute I decided to dedicate to thinking about what else it can be. Are video games part of that list? Perhaps. Is videogames the only thing? No.
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Too many people like to lump things together in a big pile and call it the same thing when they're not.
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The ESRB exists for a reason and parents need to learn to say no to Johnny and to actually have a hand in raising him rather than relying on video games and TV doing it for them.
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Actually there's a very rational argument to be made for some level of exposure to violence. Sheltering your kids from violence leaves them unprepared for the real world. Sure, parents should act as a filter for what their kids see, but to suggest that completely removing exposure to violence is somehow better than any exposure to it is foolish.
Any repeated exposure to a message makes that message more acceptable.
Isn't that part of what parents are supposed to do?
I have a friend whose son recently told me he is looking forward to driving a tank in Iraq and shooting "things". I wonder where he got that heartwarming idea. Perhaps the years of playing vids as a teen? Coincidence?
That your friend's son hasn't had proper morals instilled into him by his parents? Nope, not a coincidence at all.
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...and the horse he rode in on.
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And as far as a court prohibiting a person from filing a response to a judgment against him, I don't even know how such a prohibition can be consitutional. Again, the techdirt crowd often decries judicial abuse, but those sympathies are reserved for "innocent" downloaders and the like, not those who lose there livelihood.
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Read up a little, he was disbarred for abusing the court system to berate his opponents. He was also filing inappropriate documents and generally behaving rather badly in court. He had been placed in contempt of court many times if I recall correctly.
Damn, now I'll have to go back and read a bit more :)
Now...MOST OF US are cheering his disbarrement BECAUSE of his "unpopular opinion"...but there's nothing wrong with that.
We don't care why he was disbarred, just the fact that he was.
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As far as any constitutional rights being violated: this isn't a traditional court, it's the Florida State Bar. You know... the folks that decide whether or not you can practice law within Florida?
If Jack Thompson was in court as a defendant in a civil or criminal matter, then yes, it would be a violation of his rights to deny him from filing an appeal himself.
I honestly don't know if the "file paperwork through a lawyer recognized by the Bar" directive is a standard rule or one that they put in place for his case because of his outlandish behavior, but the Bar is within its rights as a licensing and regulatory body to request that paperwork be filed in a specific manner. He lost his license to practice law because he went outside the rules of conduct that he agreed to follow when he received his license.
So I'd have to agree with you, that no, you don't have all the facts. In fact, you don't have any that were pertinent to his being disbarred.
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Oh, I'm sure he's just about to embark on a long and productive career as an expert witness on the same subject matter...
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