Look, I’ve got a rather long rant below about this Jack Thompson vs. Adam Sessler video, but for the sake of brevity I’m going to break it down into simple terms for you: as “common sense” as it may seem, you can’t fight this jackass with opinions. If he were arguing that the moon were made of cheese, you would need hard fucking evidence to the contrary, because he’s a lawyer. He’s going to have a research study proving that there is in fact a high concentration of lactose in the goddamned moon rocks. As asinine as it all sounds, he’d have you over a barrel.
OK, now onto my thoughts, which I’ve transcribed from the forum for you.
A lot of people are cheering on Sessler in this little debate. To those folks I pose this question: What interview were you watching? Sessler stated opinions rather than fact. Thompson is a lawyer, and used real facts and figures in order to deliver his rather retarded message to the masses. If this were a court of law, Sessler would have been spanked and Thompson would have walked out with the win in under a few minutes. While we all sit around and argue about the ridiculousness of his statements, Thompson is going around gladhanding politicians, digging up research, and getting funding for research studies that prove his point. You can’t come at a lawyer with opinions and “common sense” statements, no matter how right they may seem. He’ll always have some fact or figure to throw out in response.
I feel bad that this is the best representation that the gaming community can muster against this guy.
Gaming companies recently got their shit together and, much to our chagrin, canned the overindulgent spectacle that was E3. They also got their shit together in the past and attempted to put a self-regulating board in place to rate and monitor game content. This prick, who should be powerless other than the fact that we give him a voice by acknowledging him and making him more famous, is threatening that ability to self regulate.
If the industry has any brains, or balls, or both, it will come together in recognition of the problem that they have allowed to come to fruition and do something about it. Get a goddamned lawyer poster boy to fight for the industry. Get the ESRB back into the limelight and discussing the topics. Acknowledge that while violent games do cause an increase in agression they don’t necessarily lead to an increase in violence or violent behavior. Get some studies done, get some facts on paper. Get moving.
But then again, just knowing a few dozen people from as many game companies and publishers over the years, it’ll take massive destruction before anyone mobilizes and gets into gear. So we’ll keep debating Thompson on his turf in his arena and losing ground, while he continues to build evidence that leads us to 1984-like control over our content. So really, it’s the industry’s choice. Continue languishing in apathy all the while giving this jagoff more power by fighting him in a battle that he will consistently win, or take his voice away by doing something positive for itself.
