The Return of the Jerkoff
So, I just read the incredible article by greywar about the letter the Seattle police received from Jack Thompson, everyone's favorite retarded Lawyer that opposes videogame violence.
For sakes, this is getting out of control. I really wonder if Thompson has all his facilities to be continuing on like this. I finally got around to writing him a e-mail on what I had to say, and hope that this man who is famous at firing at his critics might fire at me. I don't hold out much hope of that, but it would be interesting.
The fact remains here, people, that these actions are not the actions of someone that is all there, they can't be. This man, this lawyer, has come so close to getting himself in trouble that it almost amazes me that he hasn't. If he isn't deflecting failed support from supposed like thinkers to literally threatening Mike K. from Penny Arcade, he is continuing his crusade which might actually through support from his cause.
Let's look at that, shall we? There are many people out there that would likely support Jack Thompson. Hell, Hillary Clinton wanted to make GTA: San Andreas as a Adult Only game. We have read article and article about how videogame violence has affected some of the youth of the world. Not just the youth if we are to beleive some of the tales of MMORPG players over in the Asian countries. We know that there is this possiblity, and no one id fighting it. The videogame industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Let's say that there are 2.5 million people annually in the United States that play videogames.
I would say that is about right, thought it is growing. Now, we have one hundred people claim that they learned how to effectively kill police or another human being by playing GTA. That is a small number.
What about games like Splinter Cell, Battlefield II, and the games of the like? Don't these games teach you how to kill? Don't these games teach you how to use military weaponry? They sure do.
Where is the blame for these games?
Taking a human life is taking a human life. That is that. None of these games have been added to the list of 'killing' simulators.
When Medal of Honor came out, it was considered the best simulation of World War II on a console. There was a lot of killing back then, and it is a violent game. Where is the blame?
Because GTA has a habit of being a game that allows you freedom to kill people, not just cops, does that make it any more to blame than any other game?
No, I really don't think so.
Look, videogames are a scapegoat, pure and simple. Is it possible that these people claiming that GTA taught them to kill might have been a bad seed to begin with? Just because these kids and young adults don't have records doesn't mean that they were innocent to begin with.
They just might not have been caught until then.
The fact is that there are more things out there in the world that could cause things like murder happen. What about a bad home, bad childhood, or the theory that people are sometimes are born bad? I'm not saying there are, but it shows that there may be other contributing factors to their crimes then playing 100 hours of GTA.
Yes, Jack Thompson is getting airtime and keeping his face in the media for his cause. Did he ever think that he is doing more harm then good for his cause? Maybe it is time for him to think about that.
Until the next huge stunt, later all.