Comments on: Jack Thompson v. Sanity

By: Halfdan Reschat

Halfdan Reschat — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:46:45 +0000

The problem is not so much that he says that video games are the course of these mass murders – but instead that people believe him.

You can’t ever take a person serious that says that Doom is a realistic mass murder simulation. Doom? DOOM!?!?!
I love the game – but it’s from 1995 and with extremely bad graphic and nothing like reality. It’s just plain stupid to say that it can convert normal people to mass murders.

A video game can’t transform normal people to mass murders. They simply can’t.

By: David

David — Mon, 07 May 2007 12:02:26 +0000

Video games didn’t kill those students, easy access to guns did.

By: Duane

Duane — Sat, 05 May 2007 02:32:38 +0000

OMG! I can’t believe Andy can type with his head up his ass. I think Andy’s comments might be worse than the video. How does ANY sane person disagree with your statement. (btw Andy, Veronica’s ’stance’ reflects pretty much the entire non-freakshow world view). Also, I’m not sure Andy knows what fatuous means. If you think that people are just hanging around, waiting for a video game to ‘ … nudge people toward doing violent things…’ then you are the one who is sorely mistaken. Ack. I hate when I get like this.

By: Horse N. buggy

Horse N. buggy — Wed, 02 May 2007 17:28:59 +0000

I didn’t have time to read all 35 responses, so I’m sorry if this was covered already. But as I read your post, I thought about your reaction to the recent event where the game company allowed guest to sample a slaughtered goat. You seemed shocked and horrified that a company would do something like this in real life. (In reality, lots of people eat goat, some even ritualistically slaughter them before eating them. In this case, I think the goat was purchased from a butcher.)

I’m not commenting on whether or not a video game can make a person more violent. (I personally believe it can, but I don’t have any facts to prove it scientifically.) What I’m more curious about is how someone who is horrified by violence in real life (as most of us are) can choose to be entertained by it in a fantasy world (this includes gaming & movies).

I don’t mean to pick on you, it’s just that I know you play some of the “shoot ‘em up” games. I used to love Punch-Out (pre Mike Tyson) as much as the next kid – you hit a guy, he fell down, but he wasn’t dead. When games changed over so that killing humans was the target, I stopped playing. To me it’s just as horrifying in fantasy as it is in real life.

Just looking for an opinion.

By: joshshill.com » humoresque

joshshill.com » humoresque — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 04:40:31 +0000

[...] However, I must also draw your attention to the latest from MyExtraLife, featuring a parody of Jack Thompson. For those of you who don’t know, Thompson is an American activist and attourney, whose main aim in life is to link events like the tragic Virginia Tech massacre to video games. For the best run-down of his latest idiocy, check out Veronica Belmont’s rant here. Also check out MyExtraLife’s latest comic here, and this Wiki post regarding PennyArcade’s own troubles with the man. [...]

By: Tyler Leisher

Tyler Leisher — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:43:37 +0000

Um, “Counter-Strike: Half Life” and he dressed up in the “garb of the hero”. Last time I checked, Counter-Strike was called “Half-Life: Counter-Strike” if not just Counter-Strike, and last I checked there was no such hero in that game unless you mean a terrorist or a counter-terrorist?

By: Martez

Martez — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 08:28:12 +0000

For whatever it’s worth, Thompson has never said he’s out to get ALL videogames ever. I quote,

“Yes, there are plenty of wholesome, educational games out there. And there are good manufacturers out there. Video games are like any other technology – it’s neutral, capable of either good or evil. I don’t want to do away with video games. I just want to protect children from adult games.” – Jack Thompson
(http://www.netjak.com/review.php/1091)

That’s about as far as I’ll defend him, because I do think he’s an utter douche (the next thing he says in the interview is for gamers to get a life) and the way he hopped on TV mere hours after this incident is despicable. I just get tired of people making cracks about stuff like Mario driving them to stomp turtles as if Thompson says all videogames make kids violent.

By: Nick K

Nick K — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:12:09 +0000

Not that I support Thompson or anything. I still don’t agree with his point of view, and I think it’s really inappropriate for him to use this tragedy to illustrate his cause, but I just thought I’d point out the following:

I don’t know a whole lot about Jack Thompson, but I think you may have have misinterpreted his point of view, in this video at least. From what I can tell, he’s not saying that violent video games will cause normal people to become more inclined towards displaying violent behaviour. His point is that individuals who are ALREADY INCLINED towards violent behaviour in the first place could be desensitized towards violence, by playing violent video games, to the point where they don’t feel any remorse or guilt after killing real human beings in real life.

Once again, I don’t support this perspective. However, I don’t think it’s completely illogical either.

By: Jack Thompson and the V. Tech Massacre « Nick

Jack Thompson and the V. Tech Massacre « Nick — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:38:09 +0000

[...] So I saw this video on CNet Editor, Veronica Belmont’s blog, as well as her thoughts about it. I tried to post a comment, but I think it went into her spam folder. Anyway, it might seem inappropriate that Jack Thompson uses this tragedy to highlight his point that violent video games are the root cause of violent behaviour, such as the Virginia Tech massacre, but hasn’t that been the norm in the aviation industry with tombstone technology? [...]

By: Charles

Charles — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:41:52 +0000

These kind of things happen. I’m not trying to belittle the tragedy, (my prayers to all the families and friends of the victims) but it’s a complete asshole-fuck thing to do, blame this on something other than the criminal. If anything else was to be addressed, it should have been the response time and methodology of the security. People keep coming up with new things to blame, as if they’re not fully responsible for their actions. Video Games are not traumatic, but enduring years of mindless political babble probably is.

By: barb dybwad

barb dybwad — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:39:57 +0000

imo someone should do a study on Jack Thompson as a direct cause of violent behavior, because until this flaming idiot came along I’ve never had such a strong urge to kick anyone in the teeth. BAN JACK THOMPSON!!1one1one!1!

By: Andrew Mager

Andrew Mager — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:09:57 +0000

Thanks for posting this Veronica. As a Virginia Tech student, and a founder of a new-media publication there, I have seen all there is to see about the killer. There is no justification for his crimes. There is really no way to get inside this guy’s head unless you really examine his manifesto, and that won’t be public for a while.

Thanks for writing a great blog Veronica, I check it out all the time.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:28:24 +0000

Maybe he learned about video games from Representative Ted Stevens from Alaska. We can all take a lesson from these guys.

By: Steve M

Steve M — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:53:58 +0000

sock it to him veronica! Maybe you two could duke it out in some kind of boxing match or something, I’d pay to see that

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:48:08 +0000

This is hard for me to admit, but I gotta do it because I still got some healing ahead of me. I’m probably a little older than most of you reading this. I grew up in the 80’s and dropped a lot of quarters into a little game called Donkey Kong. The thing was like heroin, and that’s no crap.

Those of you who live in New York gotta remember the story of that sick kid who busted into the Bronx Zoo and started busting out the knees of all the gorillas with a cricket bat, all the time screaming “Just let me climb!! Aroo! Aroo!”

Yeah, you remember. And yeah — that kid was me.

Hey, I’m better now because of a miracle called Dianetics and a damn good chiropractor. But no man gonna tell me I’da done what I did without just a little help from the hypnosis of that “game.” Shake your heads and snicker, because you probably also read what the Silverback did to me when I swung and missed. But don’t ignore me because you can’t deal with my truth, man.

By: Grant Brunner

Grant Brunner — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:45:52 +0000

Every time you blog about Jack, an angel gets kicked in the teeth. He wants the attention.

By: Chris L.

Chris L. — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:31:01 +0000

i can’t believe nutholes like this guy get to be labelled as an “expert” in anything in this world. i think kwahhn’s comment sums it all up haha. someone please start a facebook group “bitch slap jack thompson”… facebook groups are the authority on these things, correct?

By: Søren H. M.

Søren H. M. — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:52:40 +0000

Couldn’t agree more!

Well said Veronica.

By: Kwahhn

Kwahhn — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:36:33 +0000

I used to play Mario Kart 64 a pant load. Every so often in real life while I’m driving I want to initiate a power turn.

BAN MARIO KART!!!!!!

By: Rodrigo

Rodrigo — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:10:47 +0000

Lame, stupid, lame! This guy is totally out of his mind. I totally agree with the idea that an individual will only commit such horrible thing if he really wants to do it, if he’s somehow predisposed to do it.
.
I live on a very dangerous place. Down here people are killed by the dozen. My city by itself have more deaths on long weekends than the whole Canada have yearly. And most times the killers don’t play videogames, don’t know what videogames is or even can’t afford one.
.
Should we blame videogames for that?
For me, this guy is really stupid.