September 24, 2007 -
Miami attorney Jack Thompson has apparently threatened to rain some legal fire on webcomic My Extra Life and its author, Scott Johnson.Scott's crime? He's running a Jack Thompson PhotoShop Contest:
Jack Thompson actually gave me a "cease and desist" Not any sort of official or legal one, mind you, but he did indeed send me the following this morning:
Subject: You have one hour to cease and desist
...Since anyone with half a mind knows he has no legal basis to say anything to me about anything, especially something as dumb and satirical as a Photoshop Contest, it becomes more the matter of do I respond at all, say anything, do this post, etc. and give him the additional exposure he seems to crave among the gaming crowd...
Why would a person sit in front of a computer and search... all day to see if people are saying your name? Why would a person care about a photoshop contest to the degree that they make threats...? Why would a Florida bar certified lawyer even bother with our stupid little mom and pop shop here?
GP: Speaking of Jack Thompson parodies, what ever happened to last Friday's 5PM deadline for Rockstar to remove the attorney mission from GTA4?
Answer: Nothing, because there is no case there.
Thompson, who is so enamored of his own visage that he routinely cites his television appearances in court filings, seemingly has not adapted so well to the flipside of being a public figure - that one is subject to criticism and parody.



Comments
if you wanted to create the image of a professional, mature, concerned citizen protecting the people around you from disgusting, vulgar trash, then you've missed. instead, you look silly.
senator yee maybe thinks that videogames are an important issue for parents who vote -so for him making some noise about the ESRB and stuff maybe helps his career, and put's his name is positive light for voters because it looks like he's doing something for familes or whatever...
maybe Thompson has something similar going on and wants to get his name associated with anti-games stuff.. maybe he hopes to be like the type of 'pundit' that would appear on news with Chris Matthews (more frequently) as a fake expert with a 'take' on videogames issues... maybe he wants to write a book or something like that
in order to accomplish these goals... he would want to generate some positive press about himself (probably trying to block Halo 3 instead of any other game is a publicity move)... if he wants to become like the "Dr. Phil" of videogames.
as far as i can tell, he doesn't get a lot of positive press... but he does get some negative press from the gaming community....
maybe something that Thompson would really like is an on-line feature or an NY-times op-ed that praises his efforts or at least mentions him favorably... as far as i can tell, nothing like that exists... so a parody photoshop contest probably hurts
it's noteworthy that when there's senator yee coverage, the reaction from gamers seems to more like "i disagree with that guy" or "he has it wrong" rather than....
"he sucks... what an @$$hole... he's doing WHAT?" -which is usually the Thompson reaction
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ps: my personal hope is that Thompson one day has some kind of about-face and decides to use his talents to be a 'champion' for freedom of expression in games or gamers-rights or something like that (not very likely).... but if he did something like this total reversal it might be a great way to turn his bad pr (or lack of good pr) situation around
Nevermind them, I'm rather shocked raiders like *chan haven't had fun with yet, especially after the attacks on Hal Turner. Granted, they're not anyone's personal army, but he has been asking for it for some years now. Or did it happen already? Or maybe they respect what could be the greatest troll on the net? *muses*
Or is he?
"Video Gamer: What is a brain?"
Mr Thompson, I suggest you rent the movie "The People vs. Larry Flint" There is a potion of that movie that should explain how parodies and other harmless ridicule of media and public figures is allowed by law, because obviously this was not covered in your law classes.
"Oy vey"
Anyway, this is just silliness. No question. He should be actually RESEARCHING facts about violence in video games, instead of furiously masturbating every time a website mentions him on Google. Blech.
Jack's really gone off the deep end...
It's called obsession (NO, not the perfume, silly boy). He's addicted to... his own name!
"Why would a person care about a photoshop contest to the degree that they make threats…? "
I was going to simply put it down to him being a cry-baby, but quite frankly, he fits the stereotype of a Bully more than anything. Willing to dish out all sorts of verbal (spoken AND written) and mental abuse (I'll ASSUME he has crossed the line into other forms of abuse) against others, but when it comes to receiving it... well, we've seen his response over the last few years.
So much for his FALSE claim to support Freedom of Speech. What's his argument against that? He'll probably say that parody is slander/libel. BUT, his lawsuit in Federal Court that suggests his verbal (spoken AND written) and mental abuse against others (with his religious beliefs as a foundation) should be protected by Freedom of Speech contridicts that stance. In other words, his own actions show that he believes it's acceptable to treat others abusively in the name of his religion, but to make jokes about HIM isn't protected speech.
It would be hilarious if that were introduced at any court that he tried to file suit against anyone for parody against him.
John Bruce: Judge! They made fun of me! :: Sticks out bottom lip. ::
Opposing Attorney: :: Holds out copy of John Bruce's Federal lawsuit mentioned above. ::
Judge (To John Bruce): Get a Life and Grow the Hell Up.
John Bruce: :: Throws himself on the floor kicking and screaming. :: It's not fair! It's not fair! God is on MY side. God is on MY side!
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Judge: "...Mr. Thompson, I'm afraid this court cannot accept your assertion that essentially saying 'Quit it!' has legal weight, as it were."
Jacko: "But it's *me* saying it, so it counts!"
Judge: "..."
he is no better than an Islamic suicide bomber.
This is all funny, but there are other fake law things that will never go through for you to do that are just funnier for us to watch. Bring a suit up against Nintendo that their Wii console is attempting to turn the youth of America into sex fiends because Wii sounds like it could be slang for penis. Well all get a good laugh and go home and you can get on the news some more. Either way everyone goes home happy.
Jack, did you know that your little ego-boosting schenanigans is MASTURBATION- in line with your very own definition? And you know what God does to people who masturbate...
Obviously nothing, so far. Otherwise, I'd be long dead.
TMI???
And the slide into obscurity continues...
Some (most?) Christians believe that it is a sin and you will go to hell for it.
I guess Jack Thompson has never heard the story of the boy who cried wolf.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
I see what you did there, and i like it.
Than I'm convinced that these Christians you speak of are self-loathers. For as my personal hero, George Carlin, once said:
"Only someone who hates himself would refer to the pleasures of masturbation as 'Self-abuse'."
You have to be if your a Christian lawyer.
"You want them charged for... donating money to charity?"
Now that is a great idea. If they had a South Park episode about Jack Thompson I would really tape that episode to pop into my vcr whenever I want to get a really good laugh just like the Michael Jackson episode. Yet Jack Thompson would go furious and start harrassing the company that is in charge of having South Park on the air. I thing that they should have the episode anyway.