There's a week-long expose about Jack Thompson's Florida Bar misconduct trial going on over at Game Politics, and I've been reading some of the transcript excerpts. It's actually remarkably interesting, considering how dry most real-life courtrooms are. The coolest part has been seeing what Thompson himself is like in the courtroom (he's representing himself), when he's not sending snarky e-mails to game journalists or egging on the media's mind-bogglingly distorted view on gaming.
What surprised me the most is how he actually seems like a pretty good lawyer. He seems to know the rules and the talk (and, to some extent, when to break them) and comes off as anything but the inept boob most of us like to imagine him as. From the transcript (and frankly, from everything he's ever said that we've read about) he's really good at goading even other lawyers and judges, though the whole trial is pretty much about how that "skill" is coming back to bite him in the ass. His sparring with the judge(s) is pretty damn funny to read.
What I can't tell from the transcript, and what I'd really like to know, is just what the hell kind of conviction against video games he really has. Clearly it's a deep one; I can't believe that a balanced person would expend as much effort and subject himself to as much hatred and ridicule as Thompson does, just for publicity and self- aggrandizement. But at the same time, he seems much too calm (I'm speaking relatively, of course) and meticulous to be a flat-out lunatic on some crusade against the "demonic" influence of gaming. As far as I can tell he seems to see the gaming industry as an easy scapegoat for the broader cultural problem of violence (him and most of the media out there, unfortunately), but there's just this bizarre lack of sincerity that bothers me almost as much all all the bullshit invective he spews out. I really don't know what to make of it.
2 comments:
and he wasn't just doing it for the money? (is there money?)
I'm not sure about that....actually as far as I can tell there actually isn't money (unless there's some under-the-desk dealings going on with conservative groups or something). As far as I know, most of the cases he's brought to court so far have all been sponsored and tried by him, so he hasn't had to pay any attorney's fees. Some people have theorized that he'd be a lot less noisy against the games industry if he actually had to pay for any of the bullshit allegations he brings.
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