Friday, October 3, 2008

A moment's Schadenfreude.

I really should keep up on this stuff, but who can blame me when I have the twin distractions of the election and the Phillies in the playoffs?

But I digress: Jack Thompson has been disbarred for life.

For those of you who don't know the name, Thompson was an attorney who found his niche as a crusader against video games. They were his catch-all answer to all of society's problems. The Virginia Tech shootings? Caused because the shooter played violent video games (even though he didn't). Violent crime? Video games. Homosexuality? Secularism? Heartbreak of psoriasis? Lay it all at the feet of the Grand Theft Auto franchise and file a bunch of motions in court.

He was a sort of a Frederic Wertham for the 21st Century, but instead of inspiring Congressional investigations and hounding his targets out of existence, Thompson increasingly inspired laughter and eventually drove a Florida court to yank his license to practice law.

Some of the commenters at Kotaku say that they're going to miss Jack and his demented scrawlings (he often would troll video game news sites defending his censorious actions), but I'm not one of that number. The defanging of this kook can only be a good thing for the country, and the world in general (it's not World Peace, but I'll take it).

So long, Jack. Enjoy obscurity.

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