Jack Thompson is a hero.
At least, that's the word from America's Freedom Festival, an event taking place in Provo, Utah this week. As reported by the Deseret News:
America's Freedom Festival at Provo honored four individuals with 2008 Freedom Awards Wednesday night... The honorees... personified some or all of the festival's four traditional values of family, freedom, God and country...
A lawyer dedicated to protecting children from violence, obscenity and pornography in the media, Jack Thompson was honored especially for his defense and support of families.
Thompson... said that while his life has been filled with persecution and ridicule, he would go back and do it all over again, with even more fervor than before.
Now, Utah County, where the festival takes place, is an extremely conservative corner of the United States. So it is perhaps understandable that organizers there value Thompson's conservative Christian agenda. That's their call.
However, to consider Thompson only on his values crusade ignores a troubling list of negatives that stretches from Orem to Salt Lake City. Consider that this "American hero":
- has been recommended for a 10-year disbarment by the Florida Bar
- has been judged guilty of 27 ethical offenses by a Florida judge, who is sending her recommendation to the Florida Supreme Court
- the 27 offenses include things like: "Knowingly making a false statement", "Engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" and " Engaging in conduct in connection with the practice of law that is prejudicial to the administration of justice"
- may no longer submit filings to the Florida Supreme Court, in part because he included porn pictures in a motion (and NOT in a pornography case)
- included gay porn pictures in a federal court filing (also not a pornography case)
- received a cautionary visit from the U.S. Marshals following a federal court filing in which he wrote "...enemy combatants at Guantanamo are to get more due process from federal judges than what I am to have. I guess my "mistake" was not killing 3000 people to make my point..."
- called for the impeachment of Utah's Republican Attorney General when the AG suggested that a video game bill written by Thompson would be unconstitutional
These items are strictly a matter of record, and do not include Thompson's strident cultural rhetoric (with which one may or may not agree) or his penchant for sheer vitriol. Moreover, Thompson himself has written that he expects to be disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court.
There seem to be two possibilities here. One is that the selection committee did not conduct due diligence on its nominee. The other is that they just didn't care. Perhaps the committee was aware of Thompson's issues but chose to believe that they are part of some vast cultural conspiracy against him waged by liberals, the video game industry, the Florida Bar, Florida Supreme Court, US District Court, gays, shock radio, the Republican Blank-Rome law firm, various judges, the Alabama Bar, etc.
But at some point the idea of a conspiracy that large becomes silly. What's happening to Thompson now is more like a judicial consensus on the man's behavior.
How did America's Freedom Festival fail to see that?
GP: We've made several attempts in recent weeks to get an explanation from the committee as to why Thompson was chosen for the award, but got little more than the fact that he was nominated and ultimately selected. That lack of openness is especially troubling in light of the fact Utah County's government is the sponsor of the award event (i.e. - the taxpayers footed the bill for this award).
More local coverage in the Provo Herald-Extra...
Comments
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
I'm surprised he hasn't been here to gloat about it.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
What most don't really know about the Freedom Festival, is it's primarly done on BYU campus, which is sad to say, highly religous. It's not done in downtown Provo, it's actually starts on BYU and ends on BYU.
And yes I am from Utah, and from the Provo/Orem area where this took place.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKIN KIDDING ME!!! How can he receive something from a "freedom" festival???? I am in shock! He is trying to limit the free speech of video games! Oh geez. Stupidity at its finest!!!!!
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
I want to point out one thing. Making his whole entire anti-violent game crusade a Conservative agenda....that's also an understatement like calling himself a freedom fighter. He is definately not using morality especially when demanding to be paid by networks in order to come on and rant. More like a Neoconservative agenda.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
I'm surprised that he wasn't arrested for denoucing all mormons for not going with his own religion.
I can't wait to see you in the Unemployment Line Jack.
Semper Fidelis
Tim Shull
Cpl Ret USMC
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
They want to give a "Freedom" award to someone whose life's work is to restrict people's freedom? Irony, anyone?
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Really GP? We dont' have any news to report on? I don't think I could be more sick of hearing about JT. This isn't even game pertinent, it's just another chance to marr this idiot's name, like it matters. Don't feed the trolls, and stop wasting the visitors time. I used to read GP daily, but I'm so entirely sick of the bias and blog-ness of the site. What happened to the reporting and steady stream of information you guys had for us?
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
News is relative and Dennis is entitled to an editorial. Also, did the JT story somehow swallow up all the stories under it? That seems to be what you’re insinuating by claiming it’s ALL GP reports on. If you don’t like a certain article, don’t read it, but don’t try taking it away just because it doesn’t suit YOUR definition of newsworthy. Personally, I enjoy the antics of JT.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Is it me or is the word Freedom used as a corporation label rather than the real definition of term?
Because the last time I check, Freedom is the state of being free and not enslaved. Jack Thompson isn't exactly a freedom fighter, more like a extremist like in the Middle East. Cause let me tell you, them and Jack Thompson have alot in common except for the term of killing but it's sorta the same thing, they both benefit or get negative reactions from deaths involving violence.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
well, II Corinthians 10:5 states "Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." As a result, bible-thumpers like Jack sound a lot like tyrants to me.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
岩「…I can see why Hasselbeck's worried about fake guns killing fake people. afterall, she's a fake journalist on a fake news channel」
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
but that scripture is saying to capture your OWN thoughts. you can't do that to other people! you may show them how to do it but you can't force feed them. that's their own choice and not yours
-
And I'm sure there's another passage that contradicts that, kinda like how the Bible says "an eye for an eye" but then says "turn the other cheek" and "vengeance is mine, sayith the lord". People will take what they will. PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM NOT CRITICISING CHRISTIANITY OR IT'S PRACTITIONERS.
-If shit and bricks were candy and tits, we'd all be livin' large. For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007)Grand Theft Childhood, by Harvard Medical School researchers Larry Kutner and Cheryl Olson
Re: -
I'm not too sure, but I do know that the eye-for-eye thing was about when two men are fighting and one accedentally strikes a pregnant woman and her "fruit departs from her" (i.e. miscarriages): If there's "mischief", he loses what she lost, whether it be an eye or a tooth (the line is "eye for eye, tooth for tooth". Pro-choice activists think that refers to the fetus, but keep in mind that infants have no teeth) If there's no "mischief", he just pays a fine to the woman's husband. Since the fetus would die either way, as it's a miscarriage, the term "mischief" would have to refer to any damage done to the woman.
Sorry for going off topic there, but yeah, I agree, people will take what they will.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
岩「…I can see why Hasselbeck's worried about fake guns killing fake people. afterall, she's a fake journalist on a fake news channel」
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
I think I can understand why Dennis is so interested in this, let's face it, Jack has been a proverbial thorn in his paw for a great deal of time now. What I don't quite understand is why it's the subject of so much speculation to the rest of us. Let's face it, it's not a crime to be a jerk to those around you or we could've locked him up by now, (likely me as well). Nor is it a crime to honor people who are jerks to those around them.
Their credibility is their own to trash. If they want to give one of these awards to Jack they're within their rights to, and he's entitled to receive. However, at the risk of going all Bradbury, actions have downstream consequences. If they want to give one of these "Freedom Awards" to Jack I wouldn't want to wipe my butt with whatever's left of the value of that award. I'd put more stake in the value of the free prize I got in a box of corn flakes last week. I mean really, if they wanted to ruin the program couldn't they just embezzle the money and take off for a non-extradition treaty country?
Now, I think I read some comments somewhere along the line implying that this is a federally funded program, ergo, we have a vested interest in seeing that these awards go to worthy recipients. However, I would argue that somewhere, some federal funds are being spent just about every five seconds of every day. That doesn't mean any of us can do anything about it. Let's face it. Say we did want to do something about it, and we took up a petition for the festivals organizer's asking either why he's getting the award, or requesting it be given to someone more worthy. What do you suppose would happen? The festival's organizers would track the petition back to us, call us gamers and biased, and ignore it. Either that or call Jackie and he'd call us gamers and biased and tell them to ignore it.
My suggestion? Sit back. Enjoy the quiet time. While Jackie's in utah at least we know that he's not off somewhere killing some other judge's fax machine with motions that only make sense to him.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
These conservatives have absolutly NO idea what the word freedom means. Jack Thompson is AGAINST freedom, he HATES freedom, he promotes forceful censorship and tyrany and tries to pass that off as "freedom" because everybody loves that word.
Jack, what you preach is authoritarian censorship, which is totally on the other end of the scale. Go ahead and play your martyr card, I will play the worlds smallest violin for you.
Wake up, you are an abusive conservative bully who slanders and/or sues everybody that doesn't agree with you (which is an overwhelming majority of the western world) weather he be a employer, employee, lawyer, judge or politician.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
For the record, not all conservatives, and I'd even argue that not even the majority of conservatives hold views even remotely like this group does.
"I'm not responcabel fer my comuter's spleling errnors." -- Xlorep DarkHelm
"I'm stel not responcabel fer my comuter's spleling errnors." -- Xlorep DarkHelm
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
To be fair, there's no one definition of "conservative", because a bunch of non-progressive far-left radicals have stolen the word and redefined it.
There's one actual Conservative in government, and he's Ron Paul. His views haven't changed much in the 40 years he's been in the congress. That's pretty much the definition of conservative. Any defintion of conservative that requres the government to act differently than it has for the past 200 years, is inherently left-wing, in the classical sense that it means bringing about change.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
I think we should all take a moment to remember the wonderful film, BasketBall.
"Where the hell are you from?"
"Utah."
"oh.... I'm sorry..."
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
I think that was Orgazmo.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Local governments are run by idiots.
I'm happy the constitution is there to protect us from people like Jack Thompson.
Jesus said, be not as the hypocrite. Jack, are you listening?
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
he probably isn't, as the personal sacrifice for "the kingdom of heaven" Jesus was talking about when he told his disciples, "He that is able to receive it, let him receive it" is to castrate oneself (Matthew 19:11-12) and we all know he never did that.
Tragically, every year there are reported cases of Christian followers mutilating themselves because "the bible tells me so."
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
岩「…I can see why Hasselbeck's worried about fake guns killing fake people. afterall, she's a fake journalist on a fake news channel」
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Wow, apparently if you say it enough times, a lie becomes the truth.
Jack Thompson did not get Howard Stern off public airwaves. Whenevr Thompson says it he makes it sound like he got Stern kicked off all terrestrial radio everywhere.
He helped get him off of one station in Orlando. And this was a Clear Channel station, they had already been looking for an excuse to get rid of him (Clear Channel has an unapologetic neocon ethos as well as being borderline monopolists).
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Very true. Howard is arguably bigger, better and raunchier than ever since he went to Sirius satellite. So he hasn't gone away. In fact, Howard is laughing all the way to the bank. But in Thompson's mind, if he can't be heard on regular radio, then he simply doesn't exist.
Incidentally, shortly after Howard went there, JT had apparently tried to call the FCC on him again for doing the same things on satellite that he did on terrestrial radio. That complaint went nowhere and Thompson has seemed to have given up after that. But that little stunt proved that it wasn't enough for Howard to be off regular radio and just on satellite. He wanted him gone completely.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
true, I read that Stern left the rest of the public airwaves because he was running out of ideas at the time. It's just coincidence that when he re-emerged that it was on satellite radio.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
岩「…I can see why Hasselbeck's worried about fake guns killing fake people. afterall, she's a fake journalist on a fake news channel」
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Although I agree that Thompson is a poor choice for the award, I don't think it's right to belittle the award or ceremony because they selected him.
OTHER than Jack, the selected individuals are very worthy and remarkable people; I was moved by the story of the pilot who was rescued, barely survived the hospital stay, and then jumped right back into a plane when he was done with therapy.
Reading the article, all it lists is Thompson's victories over the music and radio industry. Whatever you can say about his professional history or video game crusade, Howard Stern made a lot of Conservatives mad, and getting him off the air is a huge point in Thompson's favor (for them).
Sure, he doesn't really deserve it, but it makes sense to me that these people would be willing to look at his achievements in the past and ignore all the more recent clamor (including his growing incontinence), even if people try to point it out to them. The awards certainly didn't try to take a stance on video games.
Of course, I could be wrong, and this could just be the Awards' way of taking a quick jab in the culture war using their ceremony as a platform. But three-fourths of that ceremony looked right fine to me.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
With the understanding that Jack has *no* acheivements in the past to credit him with being anything remotely for freedom in the slightest. He has crusade after crusade to smash apart and cripple the First Amendment, of which, Video Games are only is most recent tirade.
And as others pointed out, Jack didn't get Stern off the air, except for on one radio station which was a bit extremist anyway and was looking for a reason to get him thrown off.
"I'm not responcabel fer my comuter's spleling errnors." -- Xlorep DarkHelm
"I'm stel not responcabel fer my comuter's spleling errnors." -- Xlorep DarkHelm
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Meh, it's Utah, maybe Jack can share a room with Glenn Beck and other morality crusading morons.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
The question you have to ask yourself really is, would anyone in this board have known or cared about Thompson getting this award if Thompson himself had not lauded himself for it in as many places as possible beforehand?
There's a lesson to be learned there.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Whoopdee fuckin' doo. Jackoff gets a douche award.
-If shit and bricks were candy and tits, we'd all be livin' large. For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007)Grand Theft Childhood, by Harvard Medical School researchers Larry Kutner and Cheryl Olson
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
speaking of douche-awards:
"Here he is, the Biggest Douche of the Universe,
In all the galaxies, there's no bigger douche than you.
You've reached the top, the pinnacle of douchedom,
Good going douche, your dreams have come true!"
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
岩「…I can see why Hasselbeck's worried about fake guns killing fake people. afterall, she's a fake journalist on a fake news channel」
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
They seem to have some sustainable claim to being the largest Fourth of July celebration in the United States. Although, what's being measured as the "largest" isn't entirely clear to me. Attendance? Amount of fireworks discharged? Number of numb-nuts who recieve a Freedom Award? Who knows?
Poor Immaulee Ilibagiza. It's never easy being the token Black person.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
I've got twenty bucks on Jack's next legal filing containing "Thompson, who was recently honored with a Freedom Award by the America's Freedon Festival, blah blah, blah . . . ." It may even replace "Thompson, who was recently interviewed by Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes, blah, blah, blah . . . ." as his favorite claim to fame.
And the press coverage of the Award -- which I suspect was derived from Jack's self-supplied information -- erroneously states that he was successful in having 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be declared obscene, leaving out the all-important "reversed on appeal" part.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
But hey, on the plus side, dude cleans up real nice in his three-piece suit. Jack should brush down his hair more often; I always find it easier to disagree with him when it's going all over the place, crazy-homeless-person style.
---
The Mammon Industry
Fangamer
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Have you SEEN America's Freedom Foundation (the presenters of America's Freedom Festival) website?
It's all dedicated to exposing the corruption of government and the courts... Their #1 goal is to "Disbar the Bars". So Jack's "crusade" against the Florida Bar is right up their alley. Bad behavior not withstanding.
Not to be confused with the American Freedom Foundation, who's American Freedom Festival (25 Oct 08) honours America's war veterans....
-- If your wiimote goes snicker-snack, check your wrist-strap...
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Yes, I went there, and it's riddled with lies, idiodicy, and spelling and grammatical errors. One of my "favorite" excerpts:
Note: All bolded words are spelling errors.
Are our fundamental, bible believing, right wing, conservative, Christians. Now trying to takeover our entire government & turn America into a fundamentalist Christian nation. Click hear for shocking details!
Corrections:
"Christians. Now" should be "christians now"
"nation" should be "nation?"
"hear" should be "here"
Jeez, if these guys want to be serious, they could at least hire some better writers. Also, they have an article about how regionally acclaimed university grads are dumber than when they first enrolled. Their entire group probably consists of those very same types of people.
More humor!
From the site:
"An exclusive nationwide investigation has uncovered that the worst fears of the founders of his nation have come true. That professional lawyers would betray our nation, steal our money, undermine our freedoms, and destroy our liberty. To accomplish this these lawyers first created a monopoly on the practice of law."
And they give Jack Thompson an award for freedom. From a group of people who have a crappy-looking website with lots of spelling errors, I doubt anyone can take this award seriously.
Re: More humor!
Well, I'm guessing that they see it as him going up against the "Establishment" in the form of his fight against the Bar which does qualify him as a freedom fighter who's trying to break said monopoly...
Re: More humor!
LOL - nice find!
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Well of course he's getting the reward, then..
That site is nothing but scaremongering conspiracy-theories that try to point everyone else as being corrupt, satanic and honorless, and quote/link to random news stories that don't even coincide with their theories.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
@Jabrwok
That's a different America's Freedom. Although, just as easily confused with the other America's Freedom. Both seem to be chock-full of right-wing, Flag-waving, Bible-thumping zealots.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Wait, so there's two America's Freedom Foundations? Is that even legal?
-- If your wiimote goes snicker-snack, check your wrist-strap...
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Yep, there's two of them, both with the exact same name (and, arguably, the exact same agenda). Maybe not, not if one of them has a registered trademark or servicemark on the name.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Ugh. Jack Thompson souldn't be a hero, he should do everyone a favor and be an hero.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Actually neither a hero or an hero is definitively correct, it is all about how you pronounce the word hero. An is used when the word sounds like a vowel rather than a consonant. Personally I say "he-er-ro" rather "ee-er-ro" so would use a instead of an.
In short, being a grammer nazi isn't applicable in this circumstance.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
I don't know what you mean by that, but it does remind me of a forum poster way back who used the article "an" inappropriately so many times. Thanks for bringing back fuzzy memories.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
It's an Encyclopedia Dramatica thing.
Becoming an Hero basically means making mass drama with rants about the horribleness of life followed by suicide, and all because someone stole your iPod.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Oh, so this is not really some nationally recognized award/venue for honored individuals? No wonder I haven't heard about it, until now.
Calling it "America's Freedom Festival" when it's only recognized in parts of Utah is more misleading than creating a company called "US Cellular" and providing phone service to only 26 states.
Re: Editorial: Jack Thompson a Curious Choice for Freedom Award
Nightwng, bro. Decaff.
jackie is simply not worth getting yourself that worked up about.
There are backwards pockets in every society that beleive in odd things (to society at large) and act in odd ways (to society et al). Toss in religion which can be twisted to serve many purposes and you can literally find holes in the fabric is sanity.
jackie got lucky and found one of those holes. He fits in there. Shrug.
Not a thing to be proud of to most of society but then again and apparently most of society are apparently conspiring against him. Honestly I would keep a low profile and not get overly cocky about that award, but jackie has shown again and again that his substance is based on how many times he feels that he has been important (not how many actual times which would not be good for his ego).
In the end though it changes little to nothing. He is still a miserable wannabe excuse for a hero, and life goes on.