The Big Picture: Remembering the Real Jack Thompson

[Zeriu]

If anything, doesn't this just support peoples comparisons of Jack Thompson to Anita Sarkeesian? I mean, if indeed Jack Thompson is just a guy with ideological hangups about violent cultures across a political spectrum, isn't that a word-for-word definition of Anita Sarkeesian's Feminist Frequency youtube channel?

Please do keep in mind she also criticizes movies, hip-hop and mediums of art besides gaming; she is - to me at least - someone very interested in pushing a certain agenda, not a video games critic. Same as Jack Thompson.

One was outright suppression of free speech, the other was the use of free speech in poorly supported criticism of media.

I would say the latter is less of a concern.

Anita Sarkeesian disables comments and ratings for each and every one of her videos. If she cared about discussion she would enable them. And no, disabling comments to prevent trolls from showing up is not wise. It just takes away the power of speech from the 99% of people who aren't trolls.

 

[sexy=sexist]

Thinking about it I think Bob is right. Anita is no Jack. A more fitting comparison would be to Fredric Wertham Feminist Frequency is comparable to Seduction of the Innocent. Hell heading over to thw wiki page and we get this sort of gem.

"Wertham "manipulated, overstated, compromised, and fabricated evidence" in support of the contentions expressed in "Seduction of the Innocent."[3] Wertham intentionally mis-projected both the sample size and substance of his research, making it out to be more objective and less anecdotal than it truly was.[6] He generally did not adhere to standards worthy of scientific research, instead using questionable evidence as rhetorical ammunition for his argument that comics were a cultural failure."

 

[MrMixelPixel]

I'm pretty surprised folks think Jack hasn't been on the radar for awhile. I've seen his name quite a few times recently. Pretty much all of them have been in comparison to Anita. So much so that it was super easy to guess where this video was going.

 

[Harry Mason]

Yeah, I think geek culture has already proven it doesn't deserve the respect it worked for.

We need to go back to square one. We need to get beat up by jocks and suffer a huge moral panic about D&D being demonic and not be taken seriously in the least. Then we can fight for all the respect we want again, and maybe this time we won't react to it by becoming bullies when we are no longer bullied ourselves.

We need a do-over.

 

[Lightknight]

Let's say you take pride in your bananas, you think they're great. You have a website devoted to your excellent premium boneless bananas. Someone gets on there and starts telling people that they're terrible.

Are you obligated to let them have their say, or is it your website your rules?

Both. My goal would be to find out why he disliked my bananas and see if it is something I should change. Removing this post would show I don't have faith in my bananas and that this section for "review" was really just dishonest advertisement masquerading as something else.

Now don't confuse me here. I think the website should be free to remove anything it likes, just like you are free to lie to family and friends if you so choose... but don't expect people to trust you.

Agreed. It is their right to do it but it does come off as sleazy and likely should be changed if the intent of those forums is to give people a better gauge of the game.

 

[Kwame Digital]

"Clean up the messes in our own backyard and to prove that were actually worthy of the freedom that we won and the respect we always demanded"

lol Bob have you read your own tweeter feed, why don't you start first then begin scolding others.

 

[geldonyetich]

Whew, I had no idea Jack Thompson was such an ultra-conservative. Really, his whole video game thingy was just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[vincentninja68]

Find it rather ironic that Moviebob is quick to bring Jack Thompson of all people as someone the gaming community needs to shut up about...when no one's really had anything substantial left to say on the man, when his "replacement" is something that that really needs to be addressed. Anita Sarkeesian is gaming's newest "boogie-man", her arguments have been picked apart, she deliberately censors (turns off youtube comments, got thunderfoot banned from twitter) the voice of her audience and anyone speaks out against her.

Moviebob clearly supports her, but just refuses to actually step up and be public about his opinion, because he knows it's social suicide in the peers of the gaming community who knows she's full of shit and is toxic to real feminism.