As a gamer, it’s rather difficult to avoid news about the individual who was once our archnemesis. From Grand Theft Auto to Bully, his outspoken criticism of violence in video games, and how it was going to destroy our children — the ones who shouldn’t be playing GTA in the first place — could start almost any gamer into a titrate.

But it seems that not only good things must come to an end, because after increasingly …shall we say, bizarre complaints being filed in court, the courts finally said enough was enough, and requested for Mr. Thompson to respond to charges of contempt for the court.

Since then, things just seem to have headed downhill for him, with him first being found guilty of 27 misconduct charges, to being recommended for a 10 year disbarment after he walked out of his hearing, and now permanent disbarment and a $43,675.35 fine.

When this all started, it was really satisfying to see that the court system wasn’t going to just sit back while he tried to link video games to every act of violence perpetrated, seemingly around the world. But, at this point, I’m wondering if the guys at Penny Arcade were onto something:

Eventually, though, as his behavior became more craven, more incoherent, and more contemptibly vile, it became difficult to stoke an appreciable hatred. That is to say, it was difficult to pile the hatred atop a growing bulb of genuine pity. He increasingly began to reference a divine source for his media campaigns, which made me wonder what other voices he was hearing, and what precisely they were telling him to do. In today’s incomparable strip, we posit one source.

This must be entered into the record, though: walking out of your own hearing? Truly, truly epic. I hope I can represent myself with as much vigor when I’m an irascible old coot.

And it’s true. Many of you have probably read how Mr. Thompson would refer to the judge presiding over the case, as a “referee”, writing in his objection to the June 4 sanctions hearings, “You, the referee, are not even a judge.” He goes on to question the “referee”’s loyalty, the loyalty of six of the seven Florida Supreme Court Justices, claims that none of the mentioned individuals has any right to pass judgment on him and brings up the Watergate scandal — and this is all just in the first page of his objection!

Does a sane individual do such a thing? Is it that he thinks, really, “What’s there to loose now?”

I wonder.

Fortunately for our friend, even if he is disgraced and told that he can never practice law in Florida again, I’m sure he’ll still have a spot on FoxNews, drawing together the similarities of school shootings with Halo.

If you liked that, try...

1. This Week in Stupid - Slashed Butts, Closet Apartments, and Jack Thompson
2. Comic Rundown: Post-Holiday Blitz
3. This Week in Stupid - Tae Kwon Dope

2 Comments »

1. 
   FurrySaint
   July 10, 2008 at 2:00 pm

   From the comments over on a href=”http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/06/04/florida-bar-wants-jack-thompson-disbarred-10-years-thompson-storms-out-hearing”>GamePolitics.com:

   I espicially love at the start of (I belive) paragraph 10, in which he says “Fourthly, most of what I am charged with I did not do on behalf of any client but in pursuit of efforts to secure enforcement of laws for the common good.” He essentially said ‘I did everything I am accused off, but I’m saying i did it for all of you, drop the charges please.”

   [Reply]
   Devin de Gruyl Reply:
   July 10th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

   I guess he figures that since that defense worked out so well for Ollie North, it can work for him too…

   [Reply]

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