There really should more recognition for this piece.

Super-Hans

I applaud the effort to disassemble Jacks bullshit but here its like preaching to the choir and with Jack, well, he knows exactly the extent of his twisting of facts. I'm going to mail this out to as many media sites as I can manage. Hopefully Jacks antics can be picked up as a story unto itself.

Cell9song

MetroidJunkie

lestat730

nxp3

Ahsayuni

Strange Kid

emrexpert

voodooKobra

Just because there's like 18 (or however many) psychos who decided to go shoot up their local highschool, doesn't mean they should represent the millions of SANE gamers in the world who've never had a single homicidal thought in their life.

Britini_Martini

slerch666

I know this too, the essence of nightmares indeed.

j4m3sb0nd

To quote David Cross -

"Oh, honey the terrorist alert has been lifted to orange!"

"Whoa, what should I do?"

"Well... get the bread out of the oven and let's eat dinner."

JohnOB1

Violent content, just like guns, has been around for a long time and exists just about everywhere. As we can see with Canada and other similar countries, neither guarantees violent youth. The problem here does not lie with questionable content; it lies with a society that cannot teach its members (young and old) to deal with that content as well as their own lives in healthy ways.

alpacalypse

I want to become a Nascar and/or F1 champion, I guess I'll grab those racing games and play them a lot, that's a sure way to become a champion...

Or maybe an american football/basktetball/baseball superstar, hmmm videogames are certainly the way to go!

Thompson, please shut up :/

Barbarossaxxx

Folli

The best way to get over this is to remember that at the end of the day, we're all going to outlive morons like him by virtue of our youth.

PlayerX

snakebyte

And I'm glad some of you have decided it'd be a good idea to actually do something instead of complaining that no one is. I think I'm going to try to take him on in a public debate one of these days. Mind if I take these dissections as arguments, Mr. Crecente?

Kuyukly

allabouttrust

Maddogdw

lol, and the part where he cries for his son? Jack Thompson is bound to get shot by an angry gamer if they we are as violent as he predicts. Everyone in the gaming universe hates his guts. But noone pulls the triger, why? Because everything he has said are just lies.

Hylian-Hero

Fox News is the worst, they have the largest bias in a media that's MOSTLY biased, but this is not unique to them. Sensationalistic garbage is the norm in TV news.

Karlott

TC

Now if you put these types of games in the hands of someone who already has some type of sociological disorder then yes it probably would have negative effects.

The bottom line is that people who are psychopaths, schizophrenic, or even sociopaths don't have the same wiring in their brains as normal people. They have the problem of not being able to distinguish been what is real and what is imaginary. So is someone who is a schizophrenic is playing violent games and watching/listening to other forms of violent media that probably isn't a good thing.

Quick solution to the problem is that parents need to watch the behavior of their children and society needs to behave, in regards to raising children, like they did in the past. Anyone ever heard of the saying it takes a village to raise a child.

NoGame22

Sloopydrew

It's really about mentalities, am I wrong...?
Well, we have the "I hate my country and nothing's worst than this" idea engraved on our genes, but we don't go around killing people...

Murteira_Nabo

This is really getting out of control...

Murteira_Nabo

matthew

Foolster41

gdamascus

SickNic

mcderek3000

Tracid

laesperanzapaz

But unfortunately the damage has already been done.

No doubt some stupid parent saw Jack on TV and has already decided to email their legislator, and no doubt the ball is rolling to get video games banned again...

FunkyJ

Koji Otaku

Hater3000

charman

Your wrong even a peaceful protest is needed other wise people assume it's true. Gamers really need to cuz a big fuss about this becuase that is the only thing that the media understands. That is the same reason why they dop this becuase people say nothing!

The whole ignore it and it will go away helps nothing... it's exactly why censorship does not work... The problem wiill still be there... It's like the friggin grude or some thing!

Fear is like that... once you stop ignoring it you and stand up to it fear goes away. Even I won't go see some movies... they are way too dark for me and are depressing and disturbing... Yet they help you face the real stuff like this. Prevention is almost impossible. Then factor in the fact that people believe these places could never have things like this happen....

Runna

WTF?

Rob Phelps

I'll say one thing, if he steps foot in Virginia, my home state, we are gonna have words.

RagingTowers

...let's just hope they don't get a ladder.

http://film.oatmealtown.com/images/jt.jpg

The-Plummer

UncleScrotar

the-red-terror

KM91

illuminatedwax

To whom it may concern-

You displayed a great deal of journalistic impudence when you labeled Jack Thompson during a phone interview as an expert in school shootings. If by "expert" you mean "a pared-down one-note tune about violent video games turning the youth of the world into mindless killing zombies", then you hit the nail on the head. You had him on the phone hours before anyone knew anything about the shooter, and he was there to spread his anti-game propaganda.
There is and has been absolutely ZERO evidence supporting his wildly exaggerated claims about videogame violence, and yet you treated him as if he were some tried and true warrior of the court systems, battling for justice against videogames. Do yourself a favor and RESEARCH your interviews; even a little bit of research would have revealed him to be a liar and a victim-vulture for his baseless crusade.

The Saint

The_Saint

'Cause, y'know, Doom and GTA both teach one how to load a weapon, aim it correctly, shoot it accurately, control the recoil, and move while shooting (in real life it's impossible to be truly accurate while moving, especially at a high rate).

Heck, Airsoft and Paintball are better "murder simulators." Thank heavens he hasn't gone after them yet.

The fact that he's considered an "expert" by Fox News ought to tell y'all enough about the kind of quality news network they are.

combolation

wtf. he can't even GET HIS GOD DAMNED VIDEO GAME INFO PROPERLY.

Isn't there anything we can do about this fucking moron?

ManjiKengo

And you forwarded this to major news organizations such as CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, right?

justhesh

Wernstar

shufflemoomin

erroers

Thank you exposing JT for being the fake that he is. Iam Still waiting for the day where all the companys such as Rockstar,Id software...ect file a giant lawsuit against him for slander.

and as punishment in Jail he has to play FPS and GTA games oh and don't forget DOOM for as long as he is living.

MURDERFACE

(Yeah, I know Google recently changed some math to cut down on googlebombs.)

Zadaz

I used to think Jack was just misguided, now I can see that he is completely deluded.

mattva01

"deceitful charlatans"
Like Jack Thompson...

Wow, so it's cause of people like Jack that this kid went on a rampage. Though thats still a terrible reason to do something so horrible, At least Jack will know what it feel like to be the one who caused the biggest school massacre in US history.

ffmusicdj

TubbyJG

def PD

"I don't think we should underestimate the intelligence of our youth but kids are also impressionable, emotionally super-charged and sometimes downright crazy. I should know."
While no doubt true, one should also consider that perhaps the reason such people are drawn to violent media is a natural disposition towards violent behavior. You can't possibly say violent games make violent kids because I've played any violent game I can get my hands on and have been doing so since I was 8, yet I would never hurt another person. The secret is in the kid's brain which is unfortunately something you can't question when he's dead. The world needs to acknowledge that while people are able to be influenced, media in and of itself, is not enough to warp a mentally healthy person into a mass murderer. Plain and simple.

nickgravelyn

Necron117

jErrt

Nekojin

Jawajoey

pillow

EmeraldDragon

Justcrim

There are a lot of ways that people react to Jack Thompson, and a lot of them, in my mind are simply wrong. Not because the argument in them are actually wrong, but rather because of the way that people outside the gaming community react to situations like this.

Here's the deal: as odd and unfounded as his statements may seem to us, those people outside of the gaming community can look at us, the gaming community, and see much worse. In the comments I've read, there are several references to people saying they hope Mr. Thompson gets hurt, calling him various names, and all around avoiding the issue at hand.

Furthermore, a quick look through the article titles featuring Mr. Thompson reveal a decidely antagonistic approach. Even the title of this article can be viewed by a person who doesn't know the situation as the words of someone who is angry, rather than an authroitative voice.

Our acceptance of this antagonistic tone, both from reporters and especially from commentators only makes thoughtful, reasonable articles like this one less accessible to people outside our community. Sure, we can all look at the situation from the gamer perspective and scoff at the folly of blaming this (and other violence) squarely on video games. However, to a person new to the issue, we come off sounding as biased and juvenile as Mr. Thompson does, only most of us don't have the Law degree or history of media appearances to back our thoughts up.

Ignoring Mr. Thompson is dangerous, but so too is reacting in anything other than a mature and dismissive way. Here is a chance to take into action the Christian message that Mr. Thompson often quotes. Here is our chance to turn the other cheek. Great his largess with calm, unbiased fact. Great his anger with our collective passivity. An eye for an eye will not work here, and the more we berate him, the more his arguments seem validated by the outside world.

As a United States Marine, as well as a gaming enthusiest, I too believe the Mr. Thompson is wrong in blaming games for violence. Believe me, real shooting is very, very different than games. But I don't think that typical avenues of internet problem-solving will get rid of Mr. Thompson (by typical, I am refering to character defamation, threats, calls for violence, or even something as mild as framing an informitive post with at title that is clearly one-sided.

Those of us who wish to editorialize Mr. Thompsons actions should do so maturely, and site which portend to be journalistic in nature should be as unbiased as possible. Certainly, show the opposite side of the case. But give Mr. Thompson's argument their due consideration before dismissing them, lest we begin to resemble a body who's collective responce is just as, if not more, immature than the person villifying our passtime.

Phenix

Kokichi

So they discuss "man made global warming" on a regular basis?

moondogf

NihonTiger90

This is actually ammusing.

ffmusicdj

Ask politely that they never allow Jack on again.

saigumi

Why? Because he doesn't recognize the fact that murderers play games too. They are human like the rest of us, just disturbed in some way. By blaming video games for what happened, he's not addressing the real cause of the massacre and these sort of things will continue to happen...

and for this reason, that is why I say J.T. does a disservice to the victims. He doesn't really care about them. Only his personal agenda. What a 'jack'ass.

andersen_hc

I think it would be interesing to find that he "trained" with plays, and not games like Jack would have everyone believe. I hope this horrible event does not further this idiots campain.

raffyv3

It´s true that violent media can cause a lot of problems in weak or susceptible minds, they can even serve as influence to commit violent acts, and it´s true that mainstream media uses violence a lot, people are immersed in violent content.

So to me he didn´t not lie, he just a gave different interpretation from a conservative point of view.

PJ Moreno

MILFChick

Rence

@GundamAC197:
Yeah, I've always liked Adam, and I found the review to just solidify it. This shows that he's not just capable of reading off snarky reviews - that he's also damn smart and knows what he's talking about.
Hell, had the conversation gone on for longer than 7 minutes or so, Adam would have probably gotten Jack more pissed off than he already was. Proof enough was when Jack tried to make it look like Adam's solution was 'to make everyone play more videogames' rather than study. I'd not seen trolling like that outside the crappiest message board users.

NewtypeS3

JohnD212

Karttikeya

AuraHACK

Unless he means Gordan Freeman...which would be wierd. Either way: 7 hit combo, etc.

Sai-kun

omgjuicyjuice

Good on you, Herr Crecente. For all your random misspellings in other posts, you make up for it with stellar research and this rebuttal piece. I'd love to see you on Fox News bringing this all up for them.

Frodo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmJ7IXeqG7k

Sorwah

@feilong80: I haven't read all of the comments here...but honestly, is anyone trying to argue that psycopaths can't gain momentum from viewing violent media? I completely agree that someone who is hellbent on taking lives will take pleasure in these things, as an outlet for their own homicidal tendancies. Where I disagree is where he-who-must-not-be-named's argument begins--that these things cause normal, well bred, mentally healthy people to do such things. That's just incorrect, no matter how you look at it.

Specifically in yesterday's situation, after the shooter did what he set out to do he killed himself. The most basic physical and psychological need of any living thing is to continue living. His need to work against this proves that he was in some way unbalanced, and GTA didn't cause that.

Even more to the point, no one ever seems to touch on the fact that GTA doesn't force you to break the law in any way. One can put the disc in and try to abide by the law, and it won't penalize you in any way (actually, I've found it to be more challenging this way, especially driving). The vileness of the acts you do is contingent on the person playing--if there's anything to fear, it's that.

GundamAC197: Proud new Wii60 Owner!

I mean, I train on Guitar Hero to help start my music career, play Madden to keep my a-game, and shit, Crusin' USA is the only reason I got my license, but we don't ever hear about these great achievements in the news, do we?

Maybe cause there isn't a direct correlation there either.. but no one is worried about blaming positive results on video games.

Take responsibility for your success and blame the rest on your favorite scapegoat.

serotoninzero

I'm also glad you got the video up. I think a lot of people that called you a liar owe you an apology.....

darkslide

No comments on J.T.

slimky

I think it's ludicrous to say that video games have zero impact on a person (not that anybody in particular is saying that here). The whole idea of art, be it literature or music or cinema or video games, is to have an impact on you.

But to claim that since these kids played video games, they became murderers is just plain ignorant. How many murderers never touched a video game in their life, Jack? How many video gamers who love to kill Covenant have never committed a murder, Jack?

I mean, look at Japan! Japan is packed full of gamers, swarms of them! Are they merciless killing machines, Jack? Is every day another Columbine in Japan, Jack? The murder of the mayor of Nagasaki today was the first murder of any significance to come out of Japan in years.

Video games are just another means of expression, and just like any means of expression a sufficiently warped mind can use them to justify their actions. Just as Mark David Chapman used "Catcher in the Rye" to justify what he did to John Lennon, just as John Hinckley Jr. drew from "Taxi Driver" in his assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, so to can any twisted individual use a game like Doom or Halo or Gears of War to justify whatever it is they do. You can't just blame the convenient media if there's no justification for it. Millions of people have read those books and watched those movies and have not done squat. It's the people, Jack, it's the people.

Jewbacca

here's the thing..

As long as you parent your child and you tell them the different between fantasy and reality and give them a strong moral background there should be no problem. Violent movies, TV, Videogames or not.

The problems come in when parents decide to let TV, the media, and schools raise their children for them. I've been of the mindset that a person is a direct reflection of their parents.

If the parents aren't there to guide their child in the right direction then entertainment does. No person can gain any sense of morals from entertainment. I'm sorry, that's why it's called entertainment and not something with the word 'moral' in it.

I tell you what we should do. Let's put Severe restrictions on who can and who cannot have children in this country and I bet you that with in a generations time you will see the quality of life change drastically.

----

or... Let's think about this from a different perspective for a minute. A young adult who goes away to school who has never partied, drank or done any other recreational mind altering substance is now exposed to that world for the first time. More than likely their parents never discussed this world with them and never explained the consequences and told them the story of 'everything in moderation' and that it's okay to experiment but to not let something like drugs or alcohol rule their life because it will become a problem. The ones that do begin to partake in those activities then tend to completely over do it. They then, more times than not, go on to completely abuse that freedom and either let their grades suffer or completely flunk out.

Now who is to blame in these situations? The world around them? the person doing the act who has exhibited no self-control, or the parent of that person who never did the proper parenting?

mrWalrus

lol, if there was a GTA parody my favorite weapon would be a dismissal of charges against the accused.

dalejrfanfreak

isn't that two games?

Way to sound like a douchebag, JT.

on another note:

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/4893/4548aa4a2b64e21892...
this link takes you to a picture that measures of crime victims per 1000 citizens, plotted over the course of 32 years - Showing a downward trend; they've dropped box art of several incredibly violent video games that have been released at various points in the timeline which makes it incredibly hilarious because Jack Thompson and others would have you believe there is an epidemic of violence sweeping the nation thanks to games like Doom, Postal, GTA and Mortal Kombat when the crime rate is actually dropping. . .

dannah

I think just about all of us agree that M rated games should not be sold to minors. However, I really think that this all goes back to parenting. My parents bought me M rated games when I was young and I saw my first R rated movie when I was in Kindegarden. I have a clean criminal record but I think that is because of how I was raised. I think it's definately plausable that based on how someone is raised they may become addicted to violence and violent games may be more interesting to them than say Gran Turismo. It's like my pastor at church says "you gotta ask yourself how people are capable of such things" and my response is that you just have to look at how someone grew up and there's your answer.

dalejrfanfreak

minor_problems

Hoboman725

However, there is a large jump from learning things from a game, to being "driven" to perform a crime by a game.

For some people games like this can be cathartic. For people who already have loose grips on reality it can serve as a stepping stone to more violent behavior. But that doesn't mean we should not have violent games (or any media, as it's violent media as a whole that generally takes the brunt of this) because they adversely affect a very small percentage of people (granted in turn these people interact with and affect others).

There is a very "chicken and egg" feel to many of these arguements against violent media. Is it the media that made the person violent, or were they drawn to it because of their violent personality?

Anything can be taken by the mentally ill and emotionally unstable and turned into a cause for murder. Books, Movies, there have been Religious Fanatics that were so crazed in their personal beliefs that they committed horrible atrocities in the name of god or religion. Should we then get rid of religion for it's possible ability to twist those with issues to perform heinous acts?

Rather than seek to blame these possible modes of inspiration we need to continue research in the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of individuals that contain the potential to commit these kinds of acts.

A-Rude-Hero

Is this not how it works in the US today? With games, movies, movie rentals?

MartenKL

Spoffoth

REUYL

RealityCheckKH

Anyways, another yakity yak from Jack Thompson. And his rediculous accusations are amplified by such a recent tragedy. For once, Jack- don't blame it on the media, the video games, etc. It just happened.They don't know what was with the guy who did this, so you can't point out mental disabilities or flaws of the like, nor can you say the guy practiced 25 hours a day/ 8 days a week on hardcore killing in video games. Let the people mourn a little before you start poking them with your fork of idiocracy. And after doing a project on JT, I can safely say that even though the man believes himself to be like Batman (check wikipedia, even though it isn't always right, but hey) , he really isn't. BATMAN isn't being sued for 91K.

But to cut this rant short- great research done, Brian C. .

Mesren_Makai

The truth was EA owned the rights...

rizeup

Remember that kid at your local arcade, years ago? The one that played Pac-Man over and over again because it wasn't aware of the fact it had no end?

That kid was him.

Ergo, frustration reached the point were he started to evolve some kind of psychosis or some other kind of psychotic disorder against videogames.

He swore revenge on the whole vg-industry and became a furious lawyer that pisses of as many Gamers as possible to reach those that also have real mental issues. Why you ask? Easy.

His plan is to get shot by a pissed-off gamer to prove his point.

One would be enough for the media to throw down histeria on everybodies head. And that is exactly what he is trying to do.

He's trying to ban games, and I'm afraid he might succeed soon or later.

Klappstuhl

Can't find any good sources for the situation after Erfurt in '02 only German ones.

Die letzte Änderung des Waffengesetzes vom 11. Oktober 2002 war wesentlich beeinflusst vom Amoklauf in Erfurt vom 26. April 2002. Mit restriktiven Regelungen versucht die Politik die Verbreitung und den Missbrauch von Waffen einzuschränken. Gegen diese Änderungen reichte die Deutsche Schießsportunion Verfassungsbeschwerde beim Bundesverfassungsgericht ein[1]. Am 1. April 2003 beschloss das Gericht, die Verfassungsbeschwerde nicht zur Entscheidung anzunehmen[2]. Insbesondere wird von den Gegnern der Novelle bemängelt, dass der Missbrauch von Waffen nicht durch legale Waffenbesitzer begangen wurde, sich daher eine Verschärfung des Waffenrechts nur zu Lasten der Sport- und Traditionsschützen auswirke.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffengesetz_%28Deutschland%2...

Talks about the stricter gun laws from '02, influenced by the Erfurt school shooting.

Das Jugendschutzgesetz wurde zuletzt mit Wirkung zum 1. April 2003 novelliert (Die Novelle wurde im Juni 2002 verabschiedet, wenige Wochen nach dem Amoklauf von Erfurt), gleichzeitig trat der Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (JMStV) in Kraft. Während das JuSchG im wesentlichen dem Jugendschutz in der Öffentlichkeit und Verbreitungsbeschränkungen bei jugendgefährdenden Trägermedien (Printmedien, Videos, CD-ROMs, DVDs usw.) regelt, werden im JMStV die Bestimmungen zu Rundfunk und so genannten Telemedien behandelt. Grund für diese Zweiteilung ist die unterschiedliche Gesetzgebungskompetenz der Länder und des Bundes. Mit dem neuen Jugendschutzrecht wurden alte Regelungen des Gesetzes zum Schutze der Jugend in der Öffentlichkeit (JÖSchG), des Gesetzes über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender Schriften (GjSM) sowie Jugendschutzbestimmungen in Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (RStV) und Mediendienstestaatsvertrag (MDStV) abgelöst.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugendschutzgesetz#Novelle_1....

Says how the youth protection laws got changed after the Erfurt shooting.

Lazy

By Jack's logic with the amount of Wii bowling I've been playing lately I should be able to join the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) this weekend. Everyone keep a look out for me I'll be the guy without a beer gut.

We are creatures of free will. There is nothing dictating our future but ourselves. If there was a problem in the persons life who carried out this act it wasn't because he played games. It was because his problems were too big for him to handle alone. He felt trapped, angry and had no one else to turn too. There is no pity that should be placed on his soul but, if he would have just reached out for help, or if others around him treated him with more respect this whole tragedy probably would have never happened.

No man is an island.

mrWalrus

"While I don't agree with Jack Thompson's "uniformational" statements, and I definetly do not like it when people bash an industry that I enjoy so much in so many levels, I do have this to say: as "the public" for which this kind of games is intended, there must be somethig seriously wrong with us if we don't see the potential harm in video games that embrace and glorify extreme violence."

Thank you, finally somebody is willing to be intellectually honest and ask the question. Look people, I'm not at all saying I agree with Jack Thompson. I am all for preserving rights, including the rights of developers to make violent games if they choose to do so.

That said, we do a disservice to society if we just never consider the question of how ultra violent video games affect the culture at large. As someone else said, maybe it just affects those who are already messed up? I think we need to ask ourselves some hard questions. I'm going to be a father soon. I know for darn sure that I'm going to limit my child's exposure to violent movies, TV shows, music, and videogames. When my kid(s) are 18 and they eventually move out on their own, they can and will do whatever they like. But I wonder what individual responsibility and parenting have to do with this (not this tragedy per se, as we know little about the shooter's family, but all of the recent tragedies).

Yet this is the true problem with Jack Thompson: His clownish antics make many of us forget that the question of violence in games IS WORTH discussion. Not in terms of what the industry can do. They'll make what we buy. But what we, as responsible individuals, can do. Which is, at the very least, be very careful.

feilong80

I'm guessing Fox wouldn't backflip and start deploring Jack Thompson because somebody told them he was wrong.

They've found a way to pull the largest audience, and they'll stick to it until they determine it is detrimental to turning a profit.

flippzilla

Also... the kid in Germany found a HazMat suit that looked like Gordon Freeman's? Where the hell did he find that?

Finally, Jack Thompson unable to defend himself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yREGBKZggwA

NewtypeS3

Being Jack Thompson alone isn't enough to land him in trouble.

flippzilla

percibleperry

kingross

Brian Crecente

Zanatos

1) Jack Thompson is an idiot

2) Jack Thompson should have his bar membership stripped from him NOW.

3) This list needs to be shown to anyone who even SUSPECTS he has a point, to prove once again, that he's an idiot.

4) Did I mention he's an idiot? It's such a good point it should be hammered home.

Bolstering your career via other people's deaths, ESPECIALLY the day after the damn thing happened, is tasteless beyond measure. He should be silenced for good.

Overlord11001001

Brian Crecente

I'm with you. It's the first time I've ever seen Dr. Phil say anything worthwhile.

noire

Somebody should be able to send this to some news network (or even Fox News) and expose Jack Thompson for the man (if he can be called that) that he is.

theCornerinvasion

so what do we do .. make a feature about it. maybe create a category called Trash Bin, where you put articles like this.

listen, it takes 2 sides to debate .. you dont debate liars. (or losers)

sectionz

I pretty much fit Jack Thompsons image of a high school shooter. Despite that, my criminal record is completely clean. Why? Because Jack Thompson is full of shit.

He is spewing forth the same garbage that Conservatives dribbled after the release of A Clockwork Orange. It was wrong then, its wrong now.

Nayl

Warning signs are definitely there in many cases (such as this one based on his writings that are available at the smoking gun) but no one stands up and does anything. I just wish they would blame the other media as well instead of always pushing it on video games. When do parents start to be blamed for things such as this? He was obviously visually disturbed before hand. Next thing you know Jack will come out with teenage pregnancy being blamed on video games...'That 14 year old just wouldn't put down the controller'

Maddogdw

I'm amazed that a person who is so obviously pushing their own career agenda at the expense of objective proof is able to maintain credibility with the media.

Every time I hear about him furthering his crusade, I'm reminded of this article: http://www.clevescene.com/2003-12-10/news/thrill-kill/

Even when the killer says point blank that video games weren't the source, he continues on.

Violent people are attracted to violent content, not created by it.

noire

Yukito

Babylonian

Damn, what a f***ing retard!
Then again, we should not be blaming Thompson but FOX "News" for broadcasting this kind of crap with a "Jack Thompson: School Shootings Expert" Caption …

And the worst part is the fact that this ethicless moron is using the death of 33 people to promote himself.

It's a sad world.

platinum

TOCATL

noots

The Wiki article refers to the changing of the law in '03, but doesn't state that it happened in relation to the shooting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversy#German...

The situation actually got better for gamers after this law, because games can't be put on the Index that easily any more. Too bad that more and more publisher won't release their games in Germany any more.

Here's something about the stricter gun laws:

http://www.germany.info/relaunch/politics/new/pol_erfurt.h...

Lazy

As hideously misguided as the man is, at this point I almost have to admire his dedication. It's hard to stay dedicated to preposterous ideas, especially ones like his, and his single-mindedness has allowed him to do so. Obviously he really believes everything he's saying, even if most of it is blatantly misguided, misinformed, and incorrect.

So we'll just have to keep doing our duty; correct the fallacies that he is spreading in his cause. One individual cannot give an entire group a bad name unless the group can come up with no reasoning or logic to refute that individual. And so far, gamers as a whole have been doing a pretty great job at providing such reasoning.

Jack can go off on his crusade as long as he wants, it's almost Sisyphisian in nature. He can push the boulder up the hill as many times as he is able, but in the end the weight of fact and reason will roll over him and back down to the level field of logical thinking.

Hayabusa

I'm not in favor of censorship, but I am in favor of more openly discussing things and sometimes it becomes apparent the gaming press are as reactionary as Thompson in their own way, jumping to the defensive every time something like this occurs. That being said I applaud you for calling Thompson out on warping the facts to suit his agenda.

But I for one think limiting the sale of M rated games to minors should be a given. That's not censorship that's acting responsibly for the benefit of our youth.

It seems like it would be extremely difficult to quantify exactly what kind of impact violent media has on developing minds, but despite what Crecente states, violent shooters were present in the lives of all these individuals and I think they may have made the perpetrators feel enabled in some small, sick way. After all the military uses games like this to train soldiers. Now I'm not saying these games should be banned, just to be open to the possibility that they may have been a factor. As much as these games may do psychological damage to already unbalanced and disturbed people for he majority they are just fun and stress relief.

I play violent games and I grew up during the shrill hysteria of Metal-phobia in the eighties when parents groups had their panties in a bunch over "explicit" metal lyrics and album covers. Remember Judas Priest were blamed for an attempted suicide and AC/DC were linked to the Richard Ramirez killings because he wore one of their t-shirts among other cases.

I don't think we should underestimate the intelligence of our youth but kids are also impressionable, emotionally super-charged and sometimes downright crazy. I should know.

Anyways thats the end of my meandering, slightly off topic rant.

Camperton

Tensong

IheartPOKEMON

Pixelantes Anonymous

Giving it an add to Reddit.com

huginn

I don't think I'll even bother to read his inevitable rebuttal e-mail. The man honestly just sickens me, now.

lemmy

Brian Crecente

Ultimately, Thompson will continue to lose court cases and thanks to his exposure on fox news, he just exposed himself to a larger crowd of video gamers that know what he says is false. I'll say this much though, it is best to remember that many of those who want to impose restritctions on video games are democrats, such as Clinton and Lieberman. So if you want to attack a conservative news source, don't forget about the two democrats I just mentioned and what they want to do to video gaming.

dalejrfanfreak

FOXHOUND