Current mood:	hungover still
Current music:	Kidneythieves - Before I'm Dead
Entry tags:	gaming, politics

Jack Thompson is a liar and a pussy.
Anyone who frequents GameSpot for gaming news knows that they have a (mostly) weekly editorial called "Rumor Control." Like the name says it deals with rumors in regards to the game industry. Today's was interesting, to say the least, when I read Rumor 2, supplied below.

"RUMOR #2: The FBI is investigating death threats e-mailed to Florida attorney and feisty game industry critic Jack Thompson.

Source: E-mails threatening great bodily harm forwarded to this and other publications by the attorney himself, as well as a Thompson-penned plea to Senators Hillary Clinton and Joseph Lieberman (sent to their offices and media outlets, including GameSpot) wherein Thompson asks for "help your respective offices could give me in persuading the FBI to act in response to these threats."

The official story: "People are threatening to kill me." And: "The FBI is all over these." --Jack Thompson. "No comment." --FBI spokesperson, North Miami Beach Division.

What we heard: Among the dozens (and dozens) of unsolicited e-mails this Web site has received from attorney Jack Thompson over the past weeks, a handful were singular in nature: they included e-mails purportedly sent to Thompson which contained threats on his life. By anyone's standard, the e-mails sounded dastardly, indeed. One read: "For being a total f***ing ***hole. I think video games or [sic] freaking awesome, and they are my entire life, and for you to insult them, is like telling me my life is totally worthless. For this, sir, I AM GOING TO F***ING KILL YOU!!!" [Expletives masked by asterisks.--ed.] Another forwarded to GameSpot from Thompson read: "this is not spam, its [sic] my right as a citizen to send you thousands upon thousands of emails saying the same thing until you die painfully from gun shot wounds." And a third: "Everyone thinks you are insane, hence the name 'Wacko Jacko', which makes you the equivalent of a molester. Therefore you are gay. I hate you, and the world would be a better place if you were brutally murdered." We gasped along with Thompson. When we alerted Thompson that we intended to seek out additional details and verification of his claims from the FBI itself--as to the status of such an investigation and progress being made (the FBI employs trained media specialists for such purposes), Thompson replied with some urgency: "Are you, crazy? ... People are threatening to kill me. Either report what I have said, having been provided the emails, or stop bothering me."

Bogus or not bogus?: With members of the Bar (aka lawyers) compelled to tell-the-truth-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth, and an FBI agent who doesn’t overtly deny that an investigation is underway, likely not bogus."

Before I get into their determining of how bogus this story is, lets go over some things. First for those of you who don't know who Jack Thompson is, he's a republican dipshit lawyer down here in Florida (Miami) leading the crusade against video games. He's popular at the moment due to his criticisms, and lies, of the GTA franchise. The guy's a fucking sociopathic liar, it's been reported by numerous gamers who have contacted Jack that his response was short and crude, one being "All gamers should be exterminated." No joke. Now mind you I'm talking about people who have sent Jack very professional emails with no swearing and no personal attacks which certainly deserves more than "You should be exterminated." Just my opinion of course but imagine if you sent your congressman a well written polite letter and you got back "Fuck off you fucking idiot, we'll do what we want," you'd be pretty pissed off. Well actually, they do that anyway they've just mastered the art of auto-response and tickling you while they rape you in the ass but I digress, most people in the professional world act, you know, professional. The fact that Hillary Clinton and other politicians (on both sides of the aisle) are getting involved with this clown is not too astonishing what with wanting to appeal to the "moral heartland" and all (I guess appealing to the spirits of the fore fathers never crosses their minds) is still disgusting none the less.

With that out of the way let's talk about GameSpot's rumor call. "With members of the Bar (aka lawyers) compelled to tell-the-truth-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth," I don't know where these guys have been but trusting a lawyer's word is like trusting Satan that he'll get you into Heaven. I mean, lawyers lie for a fucking living, their job is to either put someone in prison or keep their ass out of prison by any means necessary within the court room. Fudge some truth here, have some evidence dismissed there, it's all about getting the jury to see their version of events. That's their job, so, unlike GameSpot, I'm not taking this guy's word based on the fact that he's a lawyer. Oh yeah and there are very few, and I mean very few, lawyers who work for justice. Those lawyers you'll find in non-profit practices who work pro bono or have worked in the State Defense Attorney for years, but guys like Jack with their own practice, it's all about the money. I mean he's a proclaimed lifelong Republican sticking his nose in the ass of the most evil liberal of all (according to the Right) Hillary Clinton. This guy is far from what I would consider a reliable source as far as truth is concerned.

Now look at these emails he was supposedly sent: "For being a total f***ing ***hole. I think video games or [sic] freaking awesome, and they are my entire life, and for you to insult them, is like telling me my life is totally worthless. For this, sir, I AM GOING TO F***ING KILL YOU!!!" [Expletives masked by asterisks.--ed.]

Not only does it sound like a Jack Thompson speech, it's also laughably stereotypical. I mean, come on, seriously, this guy's trying to make a career out of making gamers look like unstable addicts and he just happens to get an email supporting his beliefs? Yeah, right, and Adolf really wasn't a bad guy. Next!

"this is not spam, its [sic] my right as a citizen to send you thousands upon thousands of emails saying the same thing until you die painfully from gun shot wounds."

I find this one to be pretty laughable too but I noticed something here, Jack's a shitty lawyer. Now the first "letter" is clearly a direct death threat but this one, show me where the person said "I will kill you" or any variation. It's not there! The person says "until you die painfully from gun shot wounds," that's not a threat! According to the law that is not a threat due to the ambiguity of the language. No wonder you're trying for a political career Jack, you suck in the court room. Next!

"Everyone thinks you are insane, hence the name 'Wacko Jacko', which makes you the equivalent of a molester. Therefore you are gay. I hate you, and the world would be a better place if you were brutally murdered."

This one could be real, infact, it probably is, but again you'll notice there's no death threat. The person says the world would be a better place if Jack were brutally murdered but he never says he is the one that will murder him. Come on Jack, you supposedly know the law, this is Semantics 101!

So what's Jack's response after GameSpot says they want to confirm his allegations? "Are you, crazy? ... People are threatening to kill me. Either report what I have said, having been provided the emails, or stop bothering me." Stop bothering him? Hey dipshit, you emailed them first buddy. This line also stinks of "I'm lying and I don't want you to confirm it." It's pretty clear to me this bullshit is nothing more than a stunt for Jack to further demonize gamers and the game industry.

To GameSpot's credit they did call this one correctly, the rumor was "The FBI is investigating death threats" which is more than likely true, sadly.

So bogus or not bogus?: FBI investigating death threats, not bogus. Jack Thompson's life being in danger, bogus, but knowing Jack's paranoia that all gamers are killers he probably believes it to be not bogus. Gamers sending hollow death threats, probably not bogus knowing the mentality of certain gamers. This being a PR stunt for Jack Thompson, not bogus.