July 25, 2007 -
Part 4 of 4
Background: Controversial anti-game attorney Jack Thompson went on the attack against GamePolitics in an interview with the obscure PopZart site during the week of E3.
In my third year of running GP, I’ve grown accustomed to Thompson’s criticism, but this attack was so remarkably personal in nature that I feel compelled to respond.
You may also want to read part one, The Demonizing, part two, Game Industry Stooge and part three, Raising The Bar. Part four, The Bookstorm, follows.
Picking up where we left off in Part 3, we resume by quoting another of Thompson's accusations from the PopZart article:
JT: McCauley even went so far as to link his site to my Tyndale House book offering at Amazon.com to assure that it would be "bookstormed." The number of obscene postings at my book offering there were so voluminous because of what McCauley did that Amazon had to delete many of them. McCauley is simply a tool of this industry, then, and its too bad, because the guy has talent and has a sense of what is news. What he lacks is any sense of fairness when it comes to Jack Thompson.
GP: This is an absolutely, utterly, false accusation which Thompson has repeated numerous times, including to PopZart. Here's the truth:
Back in 2005 GP's only source of revenue was a pittance from Amazon affiliate ads. You know - someone clicks through and buys a book, GP earns a few pennies. Thompson's book Out of Harm's Way was to be published in mid-November, 2005. Thinking that it might be a good seller among GP readers, I posted an Amazon ad for it, pre-publication, in early September. For three months that ad ran and Thompson never complained. Why would he? He was getting free advertising.
When the book finally launched in mid-November, people certainly did post nasty things on its Amazon page. I actively discouraged that on GamePolitics and even wrote a charitable commentary on the book at one point, for which Thompson thanked me. All of this from the guy who, in Thompson's words, "lacks any sense of fairness when it comes to Jack Thompson."
Timing is crucial to understanding what happened next, and how this outrageous "bookstorming" accusation suddenly materialized. Thompson's book was published on November 14th, 2005, and the nasty Amazon posts started almost immediately, but the bizarre "bookstorming" charges against GP didn't surface until nearly three weeks later, on December 1st. Why?
It's impossible to know for sure what triggered the sudden turnaround, but Thompson may have become angry with me over two stories - one that I wrote, and one that I didn't. It's also possible that he became even more frustrated when I was unable to take his phone calls.
All I know is that from September 1st until the late afternoon of December 1st, Thompson was fine with his book being advertised on GamePolitics. What caused him to suddenly begin making these outlandish allegations? Here's the timeline. You decide...
Sept. 1, 2005 - GamePolitics begins running pre-publication Amazon ad for Thompson’s book
Nov. 15. 2005 - GamePolitics announces Thompson’s book is now for sale; posts first chapter; negative comments start to appear on Amazon
Nov. 16th, 2005 - I admonish GP readers who are discussing some mischief against Thompson's book ("I won't have a book burning advocacy here, no matter whose book it is.")
Nov. 25th, 2005 - Having now skimmed the book I write my generalized impressions; Thompson posts a thank-you
Nov. 30, 2005 - Book ad has run on GP for 90 days – no complaints from Thompson
Dec. 1st, 6:45 AM - GP runs a story about a service promoting Thompson as a radio talk show guest; Within hours Thompson will take exception to this item
Dec. 1st, 2005, 9:59 AM - via e-mail, Thompson offers GamePolitics an op-ed, “Hillary’s Video Game Hoax,” which is his response to GP's Nov. 29th coverage of game legislation introduced by Sen. Hillary Clinton
Dec. 1st, 2005, 12:43 PM - Thompson posts response on GP to the radio bookings piece; chides GP for not running Hillary story; vows to quit visiting GP.com
Dec. 1st, 2005, 12:48 PM - First of six voice mails left this day by Thomspon; chides GP over bookings article and not covering Thompson's Hillary op-ed
(these voice mail recordings were left on my office phone by Thompson on December 1st, 2005; they were digitized and saved)
Dec. 1st, 2005, 1:28 PM - GP, busy on those oh-so-annoying non-GamePolitics segments of life, posts a brief response to Thompson; but no time to respond to Thompson's phone calls
Dec. 1st, 2005, 2:15 PM - second of six voice mails left by Thompson
(in these voice mails Thompson seems to believe he's talking to an answering machine on which I'm screening calls; he's actually talking to Verizon's voice mail service, which I use for my office phone. I can't hear a word he's saying until I get around to checking messages)
Dec. 1st, 2005, 2:27 PM - third of six voice mails left by Thompson (as a courtesy to Thompson, we've blocked his recitation of his phone number with a tone)
Dec. 1st, 2005, 2:32 PM - fourth of six voice mails left by Thompson (ditto, regarding JT's phone number)
Dec. 1st, 2005, 2:48 PM - fifth of six voice mails left by Thompson
Dec. 1st, 2005, 4:24 PM - last of six voice mails left by Thompson ("I'm done with you... you're a hack...")
Dec. 1st, 2005, 4:32 PM - Eight minutes after his final, angry voice mail, Thompson’s FIRST EVER attack on the GP Amazon ad materializes via e-mail to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, cc’d to GP: Tortious, Possibly Criminal Activity at Amazon.com, ...I would ask that you rescind from [GP] the privilege of linking to my book on your site. The idiot videogamers who visit that site are not buying the book. They and the owner of the site, Dennis McCauley, are using the link to “bookstorm” and spike the book. I want it stopped now.
Dec. 1st, 2005, 5:54 PM to 7:19 PM - GP sends several e-mails to Thompson: "I can't tell you how disappointed I am that you would link my name with anything insidious … I would caution you not to blame your bad [book] reviews on me... I've been in and out of meetings all day and I can't talk to you on the phone... FYI, as per your request, the ad for your book is gone from my site. To date, five copies were sold through GamePolitics - which probably makes us the world's leading referral site on your book."
Dec. 2nd, 2005, 6:07 PM - Thompson posts a lengthy tirade, vows never to return to GP (no such luck, unfortunately)... GP responds, admittedly with more heat than is my norm. But then again, I'd just been accused of this "bookstorming."
Dec. 3rd, 2005: Thompson sends an e-mail to newspapers that carry GP's column claiming that GP is misrepresenting himself; copies to media outlets; claims that GP is orchestrating bad reviews at Amazon, including the line, “I got McCauley to pull the [book] link this week, because I caught him doing this.”
Dec. 3rd, 2005: The truth being that I took the Amazon ad for his book down as a response to Thompson's request, I wasn't about to sit still while he claimed this courtesy as evidence of some wrongdoing on my part. I immediately reposted the book ad and left it up the entire month of December to prove the point. This did not go over well in Miami, to say the least.
The bottom line is simply this: If Jack Thompson makes people angry, that's not my fault. I can't control what people think about him or what they post on Amazon.com or anywhere else. I absolutely challenge Thompson to produce any evidence whatsoever that I encouraged an attack on his book. There isn't any evidence because it never happened. In fact, there's substantial evidence to the contrary.
Jack's parting shot at me from the PopZart article:
JT: These blogs like GamePolitics, where Dennis McCauley lets people 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.
GP: I assume he is referring to reader comments. What am I supposed to do about that? Did GP invent the anonymous Internet? Maybe Jack could take it up with his old law school classmate, Al Gore.
In the end, I must think back to Federal District Court Judge Paul Huck, who, in dismissing a recent case filed by Thompson against the Florida Bar, wrote:
Thompson submits nothing beyond wild accusations of a vast conspiracy against him…
Comments
I think this one from Romeo & Juliet fits
The hatred i bear thee can afford no better term than this.
Thou art a villain.
I don't think we all hate JT in the literal sense of the word, but giving his tiring and unyielding antics I would think we can all agree that the term villain fits.
you forgot to add a modified version of JT's redundant sig. I'll mad-lib it: "Jack Thompson, (blank), and you're not." Some work-safe examples are "media-whore", "stalker", and "egotistical jerk"
The reason Dennis has written four articles to counter your claims is that there are a lot of claims to counter. You are a classic troll, and are resorting to using devices which most people grow out of in the early teens:
Prima: -Claim A-
Secunda: -Refutation of claim A-
Prima: -Unrelated claim B-, and Secunda just can't resist replying to every one of my comments!
So let us turn the tables. Why, Mr. Thompson, do you insist on replying to everything that Dennis McCauley says? This wannabe-journalist hack clearly doesn't know what he's talking about and is no threat to you, so why give him the oxygen of publicity by stooping to his level and responding to him?
If things got any more drama-filled here I'd think this were deviantART. If you comment-whore, expect people to comment.
(@Andrew Eisen: Zing!)
I found some better quotes from Hamlet that might be better construed.
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better.
* Hamlet, scene iv
More matter with less art.
* Gertrude, scene ii
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
* Ophelia, scene i
Well... why should we stop with just one of Shakespears great works, let's try Macbeth.
Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it.
* Lady Macbeth, scene v
How's that run for Judge Friedman's seat shaping up, by the way?
Fan of anime, never gonna be an attorney. And YOU'RE NOT!
More to the point, I'll say it because it can't be said enough: superb job GP. Facts don't lie, and you easily provided enough.
Finally, I say this last part as mostly a general comment, not an attack. I've said it before, I'm fairly well-versed in the workings of the human mind. I've seen only two reasons for the actions Mr. Thompson exhibits. The first is simply trying to cause controversy and grasping at straws to do it. A major part of that is something that's come up a couple time already: entrapment. He tries to draw ire, and then point to it as evidence. The other reason is simply mental instability. That's not an attack, simply experience. I've worked on mental wards and I've seen the same kind of behavior there, although more extreme for the most part.
Sadly, I really think Mr. Thompson suffers from the latter. I can only judge from his public actions, but the uniformity of his actions across situations gives strong support for this. That includes his actions in what would usually remain private conversations. I honestly feel very bad for him. That kind of thinking can be a very scary thing to experience.
Says the man who leaves dozens of messages on Dennis' answering machine like a jilted lover.
Shakespear makes it quite clear that the comment is a reflection on herself.
How appropriate that you would pick that particular quote.
Andrew Eisen
So, your response to these or any of Dennis' claims are that he did a four part rebuttal? Once again, sir, you sink down to a level of trying to skirt around simple charges because you're unable to answer them head on. For example, you claimed Dennis "bookstormed" you, in response Dennis said he did no such thing and provided a link one of which gave a not unfavorable nod to the book in question (which you thanked him for) and another where he specifically told his readers he didn't want them to take action against your book and that we should appreciate all forms of speech even if we disaggree with it. You responded by displaying your ability to count to the number four. Notice how Dennis' response was directly pertinent to the charges laid before him by you and that your response was nothing of the sort.
@JT - Judge Huck has already blown you off once - fairly recently - on the recusal. I don't think this attempt to delay your September trial will work, either.
The one thing he does not seem to get is that gamers refuse to stoop down to his level.We do not use the kinds of dirty tricks he uses, we do not qoute tabloids, and we use facts to argue against your lies.
Im going to throw one hell of a BBQ the day you get disbarred.
I do appreciate your quoting Judge Huck, though. It prompted me to move for his recusal today, now that video game sites are quoting him about a "conspiracy" I never alleged.
Thanks and hooah!!!!
Jack Thompson, Attorney, and You're Not
Truly disgusting. Sicker than Manhunt, which I played through many times.
Jack these people aren't masterminding anything against you. Its as simple as this: If you act like an asshole you will be treated thusly. There is no grand conspiracy against you. We all just hate you in our own unique ways.
At court just say 'entrapment' and you're fine.
Austin Lewis,
CRIM/SOC Major
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
We all are, like it or not, neighbors.
I feel as though Mr. Thompson is being led by the devil when he lies and produces these wild accusations.
It is possible that Mr. Thompson is using a new internet service and now has a dynamic ip address.
Even the media is on to what a Tool he is, and they normally support stupid crusades like this.
@Gameboy
I think all three statistics are on the money, actually. But I made them all up.
As for the posting, I think he's going through a Proxy or the like.
That interview alone might be proof enough to sue him for slander and libel
@Aerix - Very funny =)
@Shoehorn O'Plenty - Not much effort is required to find Mr. Thompson's "dirty laundry." Like you, I also believe that if a person's faults should be on display if they are attacking someone else. What was that phrase being thrown around left and right throughout this 4 part series? Full Disclosure? It's easy to cry our for Full Disclosure when one thinks it should not apply to one's self.
If someone walked around spreading lies, defamation and insults about you, I'm sure you'd feel just as compelled to defend yourself as Dennis did, yes, Jack's only doing it to 'get a bite', we ALL know that already, but I think Dennis and the people here are perfectly justified in defending themselves from being called 'Cowards' and 'Vandals' etc, reagrdless of how backwater Jack has to go in order to be listened to these days.
I understand that. I just thought that seeing as Mr. Thompson is poking his nose into Bar Governor Ben Kuehne's affairs, it would only be right if his own dirty laundry was aired alongside it :)
"I was just wondering...where the newspaper boy was...waitin' to hear some good news..."
"Where are ya?"
"All right, now you're startin' to piss me off, ya little piggly sonbitch. Call me!"
@Shoehorn O'Plenty - As a Florida resident, I have previously sent a letter as response to one of Mr. Thompson's letters. However, my past letter was a response to the message Mr. Thompson relayed to the Governor and Florida State Attorney General regarding the future release of Manhunt 2. I felt it was my duty as a citizen of Florida to make sure my voice, as a gamer and game developer be heard, and not just my opponent's.
Sending a letter to the editor in regards to Mr. Thompson's case with the Florida Bar means little to me because it has nothing to do with me. His actions and behavior brought on the investigation. I feel writing a letter to the editor in response to Mr. Thompson's would be poking my nose into someone else's affairs, a tactic I do not believe in.
Actually, we've made fun of his phone number for a very long time. :)
It's common for him to include his address and phone number in his posts. Then, he turns around and whines because someone dingbat decides to do something stupid and write/email/phone him and say or do something stupid to him. And of course he blames everyone else for the information being out there, rather than taking responsibility for his own actions. That, too, is very common of him as well.
As to his "office address", both the address and phone number, as well as an email address had long since been posted publically on the Florida Bar website, along with many other attorney's info. Whether it has changed in the last year and a half since I last checked, I'm not sure. And I'm not even sure if the email address would even be vaild. Though, as I've pointed out many times before, it's a waste of time trying to communicate with him because he is unable to communicate in an intelligent, reasonable manner unless he's doing so in view of mainstream media and even then his communications are filled with lies and deceit.
And after performing a simple reverse address check on that address about 2 years ago, it appears that the address may very well be nothing more than one of those UPS mailbox stores where your mailbox address appears like a professional office address. I -think- at one point someone mentioned that he actually works from a home office. But I can't remember for sure. Maybe someone here will remember where that is or correct me if I'm wrong. I can live with that.
Nightwng2000
NW2K software
Perhaps someone who lives in Florida (if anyone reading does) should mail the editor of the paper which Mr. Thompson has contacted and inform him of Mr. Thompson's OWN grievances with the Florida Bar? He has given press releases about it so it's not confidential.
They should be made aware that they are attempting to get him to prove his sanity, that he faces disbarrment, and that all of this has come about through his terrible behaviour. Bringing up the topic of another bar member being accused of something, is a little pot and kettle don't you think?
I guess I really need to listen to the voicemails based on everyone else's posts. I read your response to Jack Thompson's "quitting" of your website and I just have to say, goddamn. You tore that guy a new one.
@ Jack Thompson
Seriously man, get your own blog, posting something completely irrelevant to the conversation on someone else's blog because you think it's important is incredibly arrogant. You should, quite frankly, be ashamed. If you're going to do that at least respond to the charges posted here against you. Namely that Dennis seems to think that you fabricated the "bookstorming" charges and he has given a large amount of evidence that would suggest that, tell us Mr. Thompson, how is he wrong?