So Jack Thompson Walks Into a Bar...
GamePolitics has confirmed with an official of the Florida Bar Association that they have initiated a disciplinary investigation of the Miami attorney and self-described "anti-game crusader." The investigation was referred to the Florida Bar by judicial officials in Alabama, where a Circuit Court judge revoked Thompson's pro hac vice (visiting) admission to practice in November.
Thompson previously won a lawsuit he launched against the Florida Bar Association, and it's safe to assume that if the FBA does in fact take discinplinary action he will attempt to do so again.
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JT is only as big as everybody makes him.
Ya know, the shack seems to be getting more involved in gaming politics instead of gaming as of late.
I am moving more away from games anyways, but things just seem different.-
Popularizing Jack Thompson in the gaming community is a double-edged sword. On one end, it hinders his efforts, but on the other end it further proves his point (because gamers, generally, are immature douchebags).
Jack Thompson does need at least some publicity. What he does affects the entire video game industry, not just the under-18's. -
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I think places like the Shack have a duty to report on these issues because ultimately they have a direct -- and sometimes profound -- impact upon games. A 'head-in-the-sand' or 'hope-it-goes-away' approach is not a good solution because, as Chris said in a post a little bit lower, JT has proven very good at generating noise and press by himself.
Thus the gaming community needs to be able to respond with logical and well reasoned arguments. If we, as a community, just ignore people like JT or respond with 'he is teh sux0r' type comments, its more likely the crap he spews will go unchallenged in the mass media and gain some traction with the general public and the always-to-keen-to-pander-to-public-opinion politicians.
Therefore I hope Chris (and other Shackers contributors) will continue to report on this things. Sure, if it was just "JT sneezed today" (or to use a Slashdot analogy, the endless 'Someone at Google farted today' stories) that would be a different story, but so far all the coverage has been relevant.