
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
- - - - -
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.
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.
When I was unsure of who it was, I replied with the following:
"If you are the real Jack Thompson, then I should be getting a LEGAL cease and desist letter from you, not some anonymous comment in a blog post. So since I did not get that. And since I don’t think you are him at all, then the answer is no.
Nice try though…made me giggle.
Scott"
To which he then replied:
"Ok, your mistake. Laugh your ass off"
Phoenix:
Funny how Jack doesn't even know how to file a proper cease and desist paper so he just goes about like a middle schooler and posts about it in a blog....I guess that shows that he really is immature...but we already knew that.
Just like Baby Construction.. And Harry Potter..
Don't forget the "impure thoughts"- you go to hell just for thinking!
Yeah, those bastards are always on your arse..
Personally, I'd rather see him on an episode of "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!". Now that would be a good episode for P&T to do: the Video Game Controversy. And you know they could get Jack to appear. Sure, he'd get raked over the coals like never before in his life, but this guy cannot say no to the spotlight, so I'm positive he'd accept.
Jack: Jack Thompson, Miami attorney and video game violence expert.
Penn: (VO) And then there's THIS asshole!!!
Ooh, I want that! I'd tape it and watch it every single day!
It's finally had enough...
-Mike Schwinger
Still unable to take a fucking joke.
Chalk up another failure for JT.
History, Joke Thompson. It prevents you from repeating mistakes.
We tend to hold lawyers to a certain degree of professionalism and JT has exhibited none of that, and it's one of the reasons why he ought to be disbarred. How he can act that way boggles my mind as well. There are probably other lawyers out there who are just as unprofessional (scary as the thought of that may be), but because he's been the most visible, his behavior is big black smear on the already tarnished reputation lawyers have. Plktrn's analogy to "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" BTW is a remarkably apt one.
@Artem & Spartan Michael
I'm suprised Trey Parker and Matt Stone haven't skewered Thompson yet after all this time, especially when you consider South Park was also in his crossharis some years back and usually Parker and Stone are pretty quick to make fun of anyone who criticizes or speaks ill of them. For that matter I'm also waiting for Seth Macfarlane to take a few potshots at him on Family Guy. Or for that matter Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb on Xplay (considering Adam's confrontation with him last year). I don't know why they haven't yet, but a possible reason why coud be because they feel he already does a good job of making fun of himself.
You haven't earned that right.
Thompson is far more violent and likely to make a threat on you using the law than simply talk to you like an reasonable human being, in many ways, he's the walking epitome of everything he claims Video Games turn people into, incapable of original thought or action, and merely parroting a set of actions repeated time and time again without remorse or guilt.
"So.. how many people actually went to look at the Photoshop Competition?"
I did! I started saving all of the photoshops in a folder on my desktop. My favorites so far include a Super Mario Bros. screencap with Thompson's head photoshopped over Bowser's, and another of Resident Evil 4 where Jackie has joined the Los Ganados in attacking Leon.
Maybe he thinks he's doing his own version of David and Goliath, although frankly, I'm more inclined to think it's more like David and Galactus.
I personally think the GTA one is the best. I mean, we all know the old wanker's done that to someone..
They did this:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/10/14
And this:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/01/05
Can't speak for everyone, but empty threats like "...or else" don't really establish credibility in my eyes.
With that in mind, someone should do a photoshop of Master Chief smacking JT with his rifle butt. It's what he deserves. ;)
just wait a few minutes for the howling to stop lol
"Crackpot lawyer makes empty threat to web site"
Jack Thompson is a hypocrite.
Jack Thompson is a bully.
Wolfenstien? I thought it was Doom..
This was when GP was on livejournal:
"You post anonymously at this site at your own great peril.
You've been warned. Now we're going to see how smart you really are. We know how dumb Dennis McCauley is. He put you in this bind when he went to LiveJournal. Really, really dumb. "
Wonder what happened with that? :)
See, if he actually found out who I was, he'd have one countersuit from me, one from my employers and another thrown in from me, just to make him realise what it feels like.
You can wager he'd also have the US Government and/or Military on him through some posters.
But, as usual, he was talking out of his arse.
What a loser. At some point the "any press is good press" stuff loses its appeal.
I thought it was Doom at first glance, but the actual Minigun-wielding Robo-Hitler was the end Boss of Wolfenstein, they were both based on more or less the same engine anyway :)
"Again Dennis Mcaully gets it wrong again" comment from Jack, something IS wrong!
You can't be in the public spot light and not expect someone (if not the majority/all) lampoon you, your believes, your ethics, or even those that know you.
Yee's approach is not insulting, derogatory or rude. He clearly stated his position and most of us just go "I disagree" or "I agree". Thompson started out with some good points, but he quickly sank into a swamp of hyperbole and personal attacks thus alienating the only people who could really support his cause: Us.
The gaming community has a lot of (probably too much) time and energy on our hands and Thompson's attacks on them has turned the community at large against him. Thompson himself just put this contest on the map.
There are times that I'm so glad I'm your brother.
I'll bet his wife told him to stop, in order to stop piling up the evidence against his sanity. If true, we know who really has the balls in that relationship.
"You must cease and desist informing people of my stupidity and of their rights as citizens. WHAAAAA!"
Jack? Sane? LMAO. Oh, he's sane cause his old college buddy the shrink said so, I forgot.
"That’s it - I’m printing off a full-facial image of JT’s face and making a mask of it. I will wear this mask tonight as I wait for midnight and my copy of Halo 3. Jack can then sue me for impersonating him and defaming him, or whatever other legal bullshit he can come up with."
what a great idea! maybe ill do that for halloween.
just be careful he doesn't try to sue for impersonation!
You heard it here folks, he has reached his prime of being his own parody that he'll have to sue himself.
Oh, he's grown up, just his brain is still catching up
I'd do the same, but instead I'd take the picture and put in on my dart board. ;)
This is gonna be tough to live down, JT...
Wasn't that movie based on the PS2 game that came out not too long ago? :P
@Meggie:
Well didn't you know? Countdowns are the new black!
@zerodash:
Calm before the storm? *shrug* well the less we hear of him, the better I say.