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Teen Charged With Harassing Thompson 62

Posted by Zonk from the i-don't-know-who-to-root-for dept.
A young man has been charged after reportedly threatening Jack Thompson with torture and death, reports Gamespot. Thompson claims the boy is already in custody for his crime. From the article: "The Sheriff's Office public information officer, Lt. John Martin, could not confirm for GameSpot that the child had been arrested because the detective and sergeant assigned to the case had both left for the day. However, he did confirm that the boy had been charged with harassing communication, a misdemeanor offense."
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Teen Charged With Harassing Thompson More

Teen Charged With Harassing Thompson

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  • Transcript of offending message: (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MOMOCROME ( 207697 ) <momocrome@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Saturday December 10, 2005 @03:30PM (#14229670)
    "If I ever meet you, I will Kick Your Ass"

  • Aaaargh, stop proving his point. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kyle90 ( 827345 ) <kyle90@gmail.com> on Saturday December 10, 2005 @03:31PM (#14229673) Homepage Journal
    Jack Thompson is a douche, but threatening to torture and kill him just reinforces his ideas that violent games make people violent.

    • Re:Aaaargh, stop proving his point. (Score:5, Funny)

      by Geoffreyerffoeg ( 729040 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @03:44PM (#14229768)
      Jack Thompson is a douche, but threatening to torture and kill him just reinforces his ideas that violent games make people violent.

      Yeah, really. Someone please kill that kid before he causes too many problems.

    • Re:Aaaargh, stop proving his point. (Score:5, Funny)

      by Chrismith ( 911614 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @03:48PM (#14229787)
      Exactly. We need to send a different message. Instead of "If I ever meet you, I'll kick your ass!" people need to be saying, "If I ever meet you, I'll explain my position to you in a calm and reasonable voice, and attempt to illustrate why I believe that your opinions, valid though they may be, are wrong!" They may then bake him a plate of raisin roundees in an attempt to sway him.

    • Re:Aaaargh, stop proving his point. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @03:51PM (#14229805)
      Any chance that this whole thing was just blown out of proportion? Look at all the other crap that Jack has pulled and all of the things he's said out of context or completely blown out of proportion.

      From Article: 'The specifics of the torture with which Thompson was threatened are so grotesque that they cannot be properly placed in this news release," Thompson wrote in a mass e-mail addressed to news outlets, politicians, and industry groups. "The torture was to end with the shooting of Thompson, as in this teen's favorite games.'

      So far, the only thing we really know is that Wacko Jacko said he did it, but doesn't really give us much for specifics. Considering all the other crap he's spouted off, I really wonder how much of this is the actual truth and how much of this is some kind of delusion that Jack has dreamt up.

      If some kid was stupid enough to make death threats against Thompson, he probably deserves what he gets. Just because Jack is an asshole doesn't give anyone else the right to be one. Hopefully the kid will learn from this experience that you can't go firing off your mouth without thinking first. Hopefully Jack will get disbarred and learn the same.

      • Read that again? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by hackwrench ( 573697 )
        Since Jack Thompson has not mentioned suing any games that end with him being shot and given his aggressive legal posture on this point, one can safely conclude that he has sanctioned whatever videogames end with him being shot. Jack Thompson seriously needs to consider the stupidity of such a thing. Furthermore, he says that there's more than one game that ends with him being shot. Weird.
    • I think that Jack Thompson is always so angry because he does play any videogames. He need to relax and play some Super Mario. Then he'll be all chilled relaxed.
      • Oh Gosh, I justed killed the English Language.
        Let me fix that:

        I think that Jack Thompson is always so angry because he doesn't play any videogames. He need to relax and play some Super Mario. Then he'll always be in a good mood and not have to go after gamers.
    • So what we need in order to have a proper control for this experiment is to take some people who don't game, expose them to Jack Thompson, and see if they develop a desire to torture and kill him.

      Sounds like fun. I'll take bets.
    • Indeed. People should rather start using phrases like "I'm gonna bomb you like Bush!" or "I'll give you the guantanamo treatment!". I wonder if that would open people's eyes.

      Enough of games already...

  • Arg not this shit again. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by KriKit ( 892231 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @03:44PM (#14229767)
    Chances are the kids mentally disturbed. But that won't change the fact that, "Videogames made him do it." (C) Copyright 2005 Jack Thompson. Nice to see he's playing the role as a maryter, and enforcing the fear that videogames make for a violent society. "The threshold for accepting charges or declining them is whether or not the complainant was in fear for his life," Martin noted, "not whether or not the complainant had the ability to carry it out. But just making threats would be an offense in itself." Whats that about? I hear about people being threatend and stalked and don't have any recorse. Local police wont do anything, just file a report.
    • Whats that about? I hear about people being threatend and stalked and don't have any recorse. Local police wont do anything, just file a report.

      Simple, the people you hear about don't have money or influence, so they just get the standard, "not worth our time" response. Also, there are worlds of difference betweeen "so-and-so said..." and "here's an email that person sent". The main difference being physical proof. I've not read the details of this, considering the only details are the ones Thompson h

  • Gee, thanks! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @03:49PM (#14229793) Homepage Journal
    If true, that person is basically giving the sensationalist some more ammo. Before, there wasn't much to agree with his statements, but now he's got some concrete examples of "pixelantes".

    I don't care what you think about a person, or how wrong they are, uncivil discourse only gives the target more ammunition and greater resolve. If you can't handle it civilly, ignore them.

  • Video games made him do it! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chrismith ( 911614 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @03:54PM (#14229822)
    If we're to believe Jack Thompson, the games are to blame. Why, then, did they arrest the kid? It's certainly not his fault. GTA made him do it.

  • Really (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ShadowMarth ( 870657 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @04:03PM (#14229870)
    Everybody famous gets death-threats. It's no suprise. It's just this moron's got the ability to use it for ammo...
    • This guy is famous?

      Who the hell is Jack Thompson? I'd read the article but I don't even want to know.

  • "Shoot Jack Thompson the Game"? (Score:3, Informative)

    by MMaestro ( 585010 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @04:20PM (#14229946)
    "The torture was to end with the shooting of Thompson, as in this teen's favorite games."

    Whoa! Theres a game where you can shoot Jack Thompson? Why was I not told of this!? /sarcasm

    "'Shoot the messenger' is the video game industry's strategy,"

    "Shoot the messenger"? Jack Thompson isn't a messenger, hes the guy trying to burn down the castle. (Undermining the ESRB and backing out of a $10,000 donation to a charity if someone makes him a mod to his specifications is not going to win you any friends in the industry.)

    Is it just me or are his claims getting more outrageous as time goes by?

    • For the record he didnt say mod he said make a game and publish and distrobute it. Those guys with the GTA mod dont count they didnt even make it right. Also despite the fact that it was a lame satire it was satire just read A modest proposal http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html> . HE refered to his video game as 'A modest video game proposal' Get it? Yeah it's lame but if your an english major or very well educated you would recognize it. I feel stupid for not seeing it before he said it was satier.
      • wtf I made his game last month.
        http://www.ikaruga.co.uk/bodythumper/ [ikaruga.co.uk]
        the end
      • For the record he didnt say mod he said make a game and publish and distrobute it. Those guys with the GTA mod dont count they didnt even make it right.

        Actually, if you read up on it, the only reason why it failed that condition was because Jack Thompson came out and backed out on the promise after the dev team announced they were going to contact Rockstar for permission to publish and distribute it (presumably using an online model, a la Steam). Given a month or two (and with the OK and a license from Roc

      • I can say "I'll give the man who kills George W. Bush one million dollars!" and if I were to do that in the US that would get me arrested even if it was satire. He is free to express his oppinion and say crap as long as that crap doesn't hurt people. I'm not sure whether witholding 10k$ you promised to donate to charity is considered hurting but it certainly hurt his credibility.

        Also, he should know that jokingly making such an offer will result in ten people jokingly following up on it. If one guy says to

  • When will they learn? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Xaroth ( 67516 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @04:35PM (#14230021) Homepage
    I mean, sure it feels nice, but when will children learn that a life of misdemeanor isn't the answer?

  • JT (Score:2, Insightful)

    by king wilson ( 252680 )
    so....

        Other than the police confirming that the kid was charged with a misdemeanor, the only info in the story comes from a Jack Thompson press release?

        I think Slashdot needs to update their story posting policy, to only include stories that have the slightest chance of being factually true.....

  • What weight do Thompson's actions have in this? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by deranged unix nut ( 20524 ) on Saturday December 10, 2005 @05:52PM (#14230327) Homepage
    Thompson sounds like the little kid that keeps poking his sister on the long car ride and then goes crying to mom and dad when his sister slaps him.

    I am not a gamer, I haven't even played any retail computer games in several years, but Thompson is annoying the heck out of me.

    I would hope that the judge would see the situation for what it is and would tell Thompson that he is getting what he is asking for and if he doesn't like it then he should find a new political platform to beat on.

  • The real lesson here boys and girls. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10, 2005 @06:57PM (#14230619)
    If you want to torture and kill Jack Thompson, just do it. If you threaten him first, the police will show up and arrest you before you get the chance.

  • Ironically... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Weirdofreak ( 769987 ) <weirdofreak@gmail.com> on Sunday December 11, 2005 @04:24AM (#14232342)
    I believe I'd be correct in saying that Jack lives in Florida? Well, purely from the information in the artical, he's broken state law by recording the conversation - you need both parties' consent. (According to wikipedia - look up telephone tapping.)

    That the kid lives in Texas, where no such law is in place, might change matters, and the kid might also have got his answerphone. But I'd love to see Jack get a lawsuit slapped on him for this.
  • The unmentionable gruesome torture in all it's grotesque hideousness!

    "So help me God Jack Thompson I will addict you to Nintendogs and you will be unable to say another damned lie again because you will be too worried about your puppies!"

  • heh (Score:3, Funny)

    by Niet3sche ( 534663 ) on Sunday December 11, 2005 @09:11PM (#14235998)

    I'm not a lawyer, but I have a crack legal defense strategy for him, and it even comes down to one word...

    Satire.

    ;)

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