Jack Thompson (activist)

Jack Thompson is also the name of an actor; see Jack Thompson (actor).

Jack Thompson on WCPO

John Bruce "Jack" Thompson is an attorney often cited in the media for his views on the effects of obscenity and violence in popular media. A native of Ohio, he is a 1976 JD graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law and has been practicing as a medical malpractice attorney in Florida since 1977.

Loss To Janet Reno

In 1988 Thompson was the unsuccessful GOP challenger to Janet Reno for the Office of Dade County State Attorney. Following this, as the "Man in Miami" for NewsMax.com, he made a series of bizarre allegations [1] regarding Reno, met with incredulity in the press [2] [3], claiming that she was a closet lesbian suffering from various mental disorders as side effects of Parkinson's medication, and that she was being blackmailed by the Mafia.

Cases

Ileana Flores

He first came into the public eye in 1986 when he represented Ileana Flores in her divorce from Frank Fuster. Fuster had been convicted the previous year of multiple counts of child abuse in the controversial Country Walk Case.

First Amendment issues

Following the Flores case Thompson became prominently involved in First Amendment issues, particularly concerning the possible effects of sexually violent material. Interestingly, the Florida Supreme Court ordered that he undergo psychiatric testing during this campaign, which he successfully passed. He later quipped that this made him one of the few sane lawyers working in the state. What specific events or statements prompted the court to require testing, and on what grounds, is unknown.

2 Live Crew suit

Thompson led the campaign against the 1989 2 Live Crew album As Nasty As They Wanna Be. In the 1990 federal trial which ruled the album obscene, he submitted material as an amicus curiae. He would reprise this role as a third-party "expert" in various video games cases (see below). The court's decision led to the arrest of several members of the group and a record retailer, although the ruling was soon reversed.

Freedom Alliance

In 1992, Thompson represented Oliver North's Freedom Alliance at the annual Time Warner shareholders' meeting, regarding Ice T's song Cop Killer. He put forward the argument that, should the song inflame listeners and lead to the killing of police officers, widows would be able to sue Time Warner over the content of the record. Time Warner subsequently dropped the performer.

As a result of Thompson's efforts against Ice T's song, he was named a "top ten" censor by the American Civil Liberties Union [4]. Thompson states on his website that he considers the ACLU's 'award' a badge of honor.

Video game cases

In 1999 Thompson filed a $130 million federal products liability lawsuit against several entertainment companies on behalf of the parents of victims of the 1997 Paducah schoolhouse shootings. These included the producers and distributors of the movie The Basketball Diaries, Internet sex website operators and a variety of video game producers. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case in 2002.

Despite the failure of the Paducah lawsuit, Thompson has continued to pursue in court the makers of violent video games. For example, he has attempted to link the Columbine High School massacre and the Washington Sniper to first-person shooters, in the latter making various claims regarding God mode and the zoom function of Halo's sniper rifle and pistol. He has frequently attacked Rockstar, linking Rockstar North's Manhunt game and Grand Theft Auto series to a wide variety of murders, particularly those involving vehicles or weapons other than firearms.

Some consider Thompson to be a Wertham-like figure in the video gaming world. While Thompson lacks Wertham's psychology background, and his actions have not led to a censorship movement, neither has he succeeded in connecting the media in question to violent crime in the eyes of the US Government.

More recently, he has attempted to persuade the lawyers defending Dustin Lynch, charged with the murder of JoLynn Mishne, that video games were responsible for the defendant's actions. The lawyers have declined to do so, and Thompson has subsequently offered to defend Lynch for free, presumably in the hope that he may use and thus create credibility behind the "video games defense" [5].

As well as propagating the "video games made me do it" defense, Thompson has also attempted to predict which violent crimes will be caused by specific video games; in the Washington Sniper case, he was the first individual to suggest to the press that video games may have been the source of the sniper's skills, a conjecture vindicated by the discovery of a ubiquitous PlayStation in the van used as a "mobile hideout" by the two men responsible. Dateline NBC reported that Malvo trained extensively on the Xbox game Halo. Because of this report, Thompson believes that "Microsoft should be sued and held liable for money damages by the victims of the Beltway Snipers." [6] It is important to note, however, that John Allen Muhammad was a former soldier with significant rifle training, as predicted by the police, and that Lee Boyd Malvo's shooting skills could have easily been the result of instruction by Muhammad.

In addition, Thompson blames the Columbus, Ohio sniper shootings on video games since it was found that Charles McCoy Jr. had a PlayStation 2 and the game "The Getaway"[7]. Thompson also proactively linked Grand Theft Auto III to violent crime in general, although he failed to do so in the case of Manhunt.

In one [8] of a series ([9] [10] [11]) of "video game violence" interviews by CBS, he compared Doug Lowenstein of the Entertainment Software Association to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, although the response has since been edited [12]. Months thereafter, Thompson instead compared Lowenstein to Adolf Hitler, in a wordy personal attack nominally veiled as an open letter [13]. In the June 2005 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Thompson was interviewed and again discussed Lowenstein, this time implying he was worse than Saddam Hussein. In July 2005, Thompson released the aforementioned open letter, simultaneously praising Hillary Clinton's call for federal game legislation and targeting Lowenstein with yet another barrage of personal attacks.

Grand Theft Auto

In July 2005, he once again attacked Rockstar North, specifically the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game was found to contain explicit sexual content on the disc that the developers had removed all in-game access to, but had failed to remove from the disc itself. The so called "Hot Coffee" sex minigame involved the game's main character and his girlfriend. The content was inaccessible from the unmodified game (and therefore would not, by custom, be considered a part of the game), but through 3rd party alterations unapproved by and unassociated with developer Rockstar Games, one could access the material and play the sex minigame. As a result of Thompson's attacks, as well as attacks from many other activists against video games, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) gave in to pressure and changed the games rating from "Mature" (M) to "Adults Only" (AO).

Additionally in July 2005, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification upgraded it's classification for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas but as Australia does not have an "Adults Only" (AO) classification the game itself has been entirely banned throughout the country.

On August 3, 2005, Thompson claimed that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has within it code that can be brought out through similar devices as the ones used to obtain access to the Hot Coffee modification, when the player's character enters a strip club with what would otherwise be a non-nude sex scene. He has claimed that the code allows for full frontal nudity and sexual activity of an extremely vulgar nature. When questioned about his latest accusation among others, his only response was two words: not interested.

On August 12, 2005 several online newspapers published a story from The Associated Press: "Relatives of two slain Fayette officers turn to suit over video games." Jack Thompson filed a lawsuit representing famillies of two of the three victims in Fayette, Alabama. The third victim's family later joined the lawsuit. [14]

The Sims 2

On July 22, 2005, after the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas case was settled, Thompson sought after The Sims 2, citing that it was "worse than Hot Coffee", due to the availability of a mod that removes the censorship fields from all characters when they are nude, allowing pedophiles to see computer-rendered nude children [15]. In another instance, he claimed "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise...contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." He added an accusation that EA and Maxis were cooperating with the mod community to peddle vile to minors. In reality, even with the "blur" removed, The Sims 2 contains no such details; the characters have no visible reproductive organs or pubic hair whatsoever, similar to children's dolls, and female models lack both nipples and areolas. Thompson further accused Electronic Arts (EA) and Will Wright of supporting adult custom content specifically. In reality, Will Wright has historically supported all user-created game content universally, on the principle of endorsing personal creativity, innovation, and personalization. Although there are user-created content packages available on the Internet many would consider adult material, they are neither created nor specifically endorsed by Maxis or EA and thus are not a factor in the ESRB's rating of the software.

Bully

During the first week of August 2005, Thompson publicly protested Rockstar's yet to be released video game Bully; as part of the protest, he recruited two school buses of children to join him [16]. (This incident prompted Internet personality Seanbaby to challenge Thompson to a fight on the G4 television program Attack of the Show!). He has also sent Microsoft chairman Bill Gates an e-mail stating that he has 54 days to stop the release of Bully on the XBox, insinuating a threat of legal action.

Killer7

On August 5, 2005, Thompson sent an e-mail to Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB, this time accusing them of being too lenient on the game Killer 7. He cited as evidence a review on IGN [17], which he referred to only as "this pro-violent video games site", which had this to say:

"...profanity, sex and bloodshed are commonplace… We can’t stress it enough: kids should not play Killer 7. Not just because there’s an M on the box, but because for once that M really means something. There’s much more than blood and guts in the game. Everything from the design of puzzles to the subject matter is designed for older players and it’s really that simple...And there are cinematics that feature full-blown sex sequences...Killer 7’s adult themes, which encapsulate extremely violent, profane and sexual situations, as well as a wide range of issues from terrorism to the sale of children, make the M on the box really mean something [18]."

However, the only "full blown sex sequence" in the whole of Killer 7 consisted of two fully clothed people, a little movement, and some implicit moaning, that, in the eyes of many, is content no worse than in a PG-13 movie. Whatever his reason was, Thompson continued to urge Vance to contact retailers and ask them to pull the game from shelves, adding that, unlike the Hot Coffee case, this was a case of the ESRB "that the 'full-blown sex sequences' are patently present in the game, yet you (Vance or the ESRB) chose to put an 'M' rather than an 'AO' rating on it."

Thompson claimed that the ESRB was involved in "a criminal conspiracy to distribute sexual material harmful to minors in violation of criminal statutes", a claim made similarly during his attack on The Sims 2. He also threatened to call for the ESRB's dismantlement.

Thompson forwarded an exact e-mail to Scott Ramsoomair, the creator of the webcomic VGCats. Ramsoomair began an e-mail dialogue with Thompson, but Thompson followed his strategy of ad hominem insults and avoiding the questions asked. Thompson eventually claimed that all gamers, including Ramsoomair, are drug addicts. Thompson followed by threatening legal action against Ramsoomair for responding to the insults. Ramsoomair would later post the dialogue on his website [19].

Howard Stern

An indecency complaint Thompson filed with the FCC regarding the contents of a 2003 edition of Howard Stern's radio show resulted in Clear Channel Communications being fined $496,000 in 2004. The network subsequently dropped Stern from 6 of their stations.

Correspondence

Thompson has gained notoriety as an exceptionally caustic and combative individual, to some extent borne out in many examples of interchanges between him and other individuals surfacing in e-mails posted to the Internet, as well as interviews and media appearances. In his communications, a number of specific traits and tendencies have been observed:

He has been commonly accused of, and many times proven to, use half-truths and misinformation to persuade others to accept his views.
He frequently utilizes ad hominem attacks and slanderous "low blows" against those who disagree with him, as well as simply insulting his detractors, be they politely-worded or otherwise, with a variety of invectives.
He frequently will either imply or blatantly insult those that express dissenting opinions as being mentally ill, mentally deficient, brain damaged, or on drugs.
Accusations by him that those he disagrees with suffer from Tourette's syndrome, made without any substantiating proof or even the suggested condition's relevancy to the subject being discussed, are especially common.
He has ignored individuals who point out factual errors or misstatements made by him and who supply substantiating proof or references, or has responded with the above described behaviors while intentionally failing to acknowledge or respond to the individual's mention of his (Thompson's) errors.
He has provoked several people who have e-mailed him by telling them that they should enter treatment facilities. When they respond to his comments, Thompson has invoked the protection of the Florida Cyberstalker Law and threatened legal action against them.
He often invokes broad negative stereotypes against gamers in general. For example, in an e-mail correspondence with Scott Ramsoomair, he questions: "HOnestly (sic), are all of you gamers on drugs, or what?"[20]. In a correspondence with Ryan Acheson (Gaming writer for The Horror Channel’s Dread Central), he identifies "gamers' ideas" as "the latest oxymoron"[21].

Ultimately many, if not most or all, who do not accept and support his views verbatim find it at best extraordinarily difficult and at worst literally impossible to engage in a constructive dialogue or discussion with Mr. Thompson. Thompson has also refused outright to comment to the media and has gone as far as to not even return media requests.

Rhetoric and affectations nonwithstanding, Thompson has repeatedly, demonstrably lied about a wide range of issues in order to advance his arguments; more recently he has claimed that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas allows players to rape and kill pregnant women and/or children, and he has also accused Electronic Arts of including detailed full frontal nudity and graphic sex in The Sims 2, which he likened to a pedophile training tool [22]. Whether these falsehoods were propagated as deliberate manipulations, or whether Thompson genuinely believed these and numerous other incorrect claims, is unknown.

Typical arguments

Jack Thompson has a set of arguments and prejudicial phrases that he constantly reinforces in public speech.

Thompson describes video games with violent or competitive content as 'murder simulators'. He usually describes violent or sexual content as being 'harmful'.

Thompson asserts that young persons accused of violent crimes have 'trained' or 'rehearsed' their actions using violent games.

Thompson asserts that video games are used by the military to desensitize and remove the inhibition to kill. There is no evidence of any commercial game being used for this purpose by military forces anywhere in the world. The source of this misinformation is most likely the literature of Dave Grossman, a fellow ersatz censorship advocate.

Thompson frequently refers to medical studies that he claims scientifically prove that there is a link between violent media and aggressive behaviour. Although he has used several variations of this argument, a statement on his website is typical of the approach taken:
"Recent medical brain scan studies at Harvard and Indiana University prove ... children's brain functions are damaged by a steady diet of violent images and messages."
The Indiana University study makes no mention of children's brain functions being 'damaged' by exposure to violent media. It is mentioned that "there is a difference in the brain activation patterns of youths with Disruptive Behaviour Disorder and those without when exposed to a specific stimulus", but it is not explicitly claimed that there is a correlation between exposure to violent media and brain activity.
Furthermore this study was funded by "Center for Successful Parenting" (a lobby group campaigning against media violence), which Thompson neglects to mention.

Thompson states as fact that games with adult content are developed for and marketed to children.

Recently, he has claimed that third-party non-destructive modification of video games violates the publisher's copyright or the terms of the EULA.

Response

With his attacks being not just at the corporations which distribute video games but also aimed at the gamers who play them, Thompson has recieved a high level of response from the gaming world who try, at every turn, to correct or outright insult him. Many gamers have felt the need to vocally oppose him by emailing him insults and threats, while others email to challenge his opinions and create a debate in an attempt to correct Thompson whenever he has made an error. Many gamers believe that the responses they receive in return for their comments are badly phrased, full of 'netspeak' and/or are offensive.

With Thompson's recent renewed appearance in public regarding the Hot Coffee modification, his presence in the gaming news has been a weekly occurence. Many gaming websites now report articles regarding Thompson with mocking tones; he's less often presented as a serious advocate for more sensible controls on game distribution, and more often as a sensationalist who tries more for fame and recognition [23]. Believing that many of his claims are exaggerations of truth or outright lies, many see him as a caricature of an out-of-touch generation whose kneejerk reaction is to ban something that is new and unknown, in a similar way to previous generations' attempts to ban Rock and Roll and violent films.

External links

Vocal opposition