Mr. Thompson:

I'm not even going to bother with introductions here. I'm going to get straight to the point. There are a lot of annoying people in this world, and I can manage to get along with all of them. Yet one person gets my blood boiling every time, and I haven't even met him. That's right; it's you. You, Jack Thompson, piss me off. And it's not even because I'm a gamer, and you hate violent media. Heck, my mom hates violent media and I've managed to tolerate that for 21 years. No, Jack Thompson, my problem is the fact that you blatantly skew information for your own personal gain, blast every opponent without listening to their side, and you voluntarily remain blissfully ignorant.

This has bothered me so much, in fact, that I've decided to compile a list to show you everything you've done to piss the gaming world off. Every mistake, every error in logic, every bit of misinformation that you have shown the world will be on public display. People will be able to see how much of an ass you really are. This is in no particular order, so just bear with me.

1. In an interview with Chatterbox Radio, you stated (and I quote):
There's a study out of Indiana University in the last couple of months that's reported in the Journal for Computerized Tomography which is a study that shows brain skins of kids' brains who have played violent video games show brain damage and actual structural change in the brain to replicate the structural damage in the changes that are evident in violent kids' brains.

If you can make sense out of that mumbled mess, it sounds like you're saying that kids who played violent video games showed brain damage. Hm… that's very interesting, and quite contradictory to the ACTUAL study from Indiana University ([link]), where they state:
The brain activity of aggressive adolescents diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) is different from that of other adolescents when both groups viewed violent video games, as demonstrated by the study.

In other words, fMRI scans show less brain activity in the frontal lobe while the youths with DBD watch violent video games. The frontal lobe is the area of the brain responsible for decision-making and behavior control, as well as attention and a variety of other cognitive functions.

Aha! So in reality, what the article actually said was ""kids who ARE violent, and clinically diagnosed as such, will be affected by violent video games."" I must congratulate you on your valiant effort to skew the facts, but alas, YOU FAIL TO CONVINCE.

2. In your recent letter to Senator Joe Lieberman ([link]), you state:
I believe you and I both know, as people of faith, that the Biblical principle is that you go privately to the person with whom you have a disagreement and express the concern.

So how (or should I say why) did this letter end up on the Internet for the entire world to see? This is hypocritical and downright stupid, especially since you're openly blasting Dr. David Walsh for (rightfully) trying to distance the NIMF from you.

You talk about how people should just disagree with you in private. So howcome if you go to [link], you can find over 15 ""open letters"" that you have personally written? Practice what you preach, Jack. Don't tell someone they should disagree in private, and then proceed to tell the ENTIRE WORLD that you think Doug Lowenstein is like Hitler ([link]) or that the people at Take-Two are sociopaths. Where do you get off with such slander and hypocrisy?

Dr. David Walsh obviously posted the letter openly so he could let the entire world know that he doesn't want to be associated with you. Honestly, I can understand why. As Walsh, himself, pointed out:
Your commentary has included extreme hyperbole and your tactics have included personally attacking individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect.

3. Since we're on the subject of personal attacks, why don't I just find all of the hateful things you've said in response to hundreds of emails you get from gamers? Many of these gamers aren't even mean or hurtful; a lot of them ask for information and you blow them off. Why? Because they're gamers, and your cold heart couldn't even care less.

Let's just show some of the emails that people have sent to you, along with your responses:
Guess what, Jack? Games don't kill people. People kill people. As cliche as it sounds, it's true. It takes a mentally unstable person for games to blur the line between fantasy and reality, at least to the extent that this individual is now willing to commit a violent crime.

To be honest, I haven't heard much about you until very recently. Since then, I've read stories, statements, news releases, etc. about your movement to ban violent games from youngsters. What will this solve, other than to win approval among those that have hopped onto the bandwagon on this relatively hot topic? Your complete disregard for the millions of gamers who play violent and non-violent games every year, sometimes for hours at a time, with no violent side-effects is disgusting. You point to a few specific cases where the involvement of a game is questionable, and cram the idea down the throat of everybody willing to listen.

Did you see a couple of years back when some kid had to go to the hospital because he attempted a stunt that was on the MTV show ""Jackass?"" On the show, they have a disclaimer that says that all stunts were supervised by professionals and that they should not be attempted. But those kids tried it anyway, having read the disclaimer, and people like you blamed the TV show, not the kids who were foolish enough to try it. Excuse me? It's not their fault that a few unruly kids were ignorant to try a dangerous stunt after they had already been warned not to. Let's forget that they were educated enough to read the warning, but blatantly disregarded it. And why should we forget it? Because it's easier to pull wool down over the eyes of people and tell them what you want them to hear, instead of what actually is. Let's not bother with tedious facts when we can use a few buzzwords and get them excited over something without even understanding the issue at hand.

The majority rules, right? So why, when the vast majority of gamers are non-violent, do you insist on saying that they (the games) are corrupting our youth and leading them to do these violent things? If you're looking for something that makes people violent, you might work on banning the Bible. I'm sure you've heard the quote that if we are to base things solely on people's reactions or what it drives people to do, then the Bible has caused more people to be violent, more than any other book, movie, song, or video game by a very, very large margin.

And if you're looking to ban violent video games, why stop there? Why don't you ban every movie that shows a single act of violence? Doesn't that effect our youth? What about every song that has violent or angry words in it, those should be banned too, right? Aren't those just as harmful? Books, too. Because books can make people violent. Oh wait, that's right. All those millions upon millions of snipers and cop killers that you seem to believe society is training by letting them play violent video games are all too busy getting headshots and mocking people over the internet that they don't have time for reading harmless, wholesome material like the Bible.

Here's a quote I'm sure you'll recognize, pulled directly from your website, stopkill.com:

""I am trying to protect our freedoms. How so? When the next Columbine happens and the perpetrators are proven to be copycatters of adult-rated violent entertainment, then the government, driven by parental concern, really will contract freedom for all Americans. Safety will trump freedom.""

Proven, Jack? What sort of proof will you find? That the game pushed an already unstable youth over the line? It couldn't possibly have been something else, right? No way was there any sort of mental condition that might have existed that would cause this person to be violent! It couldn't have been that he was ignored by his parents and tormented by his peers, could it? You're trying to draw a correlation when there isn't one.

Spend your time on something constructive, Jack. Don't waste your time trying to create a scapegoat that'll never last. Say what you will. But keep in mind that they only people you get to listen to your nonsense are those that have no desire to take the time or effort required to see what's happening. Nobody has banned violent movies, or video games, or music. It still exists. That song you got Time Warner to pull from store shelves? Guess what? The album, titled ""Body Count"" is still available for purchase. You should run it through a search engine some time, just to see how effective your railing was. That's a pretty empty ""badge of honor.""

And your one sentence response?
""actually games train people to kill people. glad i could help you figure that out, junior""

Not even properly punctuated or capitalized. That's sad, Jack. Really. But maybe this was just a one-time thing. Surely it must be fluke; I mean, after all, nobody's THAT much of a bastard. So let's see how this gamer responds:

That's laughable, and it proves my point exactly. The only people you're willing to talk to are those that have no idea what's really going on, and would rather be fed some conjured up speech about how poorly we're raising children by letting play games than actually think for themselves.

Think what you like, gramps, but you're not helping anything. Your whole movement is a waste of time. You're a lawyer, right? Why don't you spend it making sure rapists and murderers stay in jail where they belong instead of going free? Do something that's worthwhile, and leave the people that have done nothing wrong alone.

Your response was actually longer than one sentence this time, but still not up to par. Well, maybe it was up to par for you, Jack. After all, your response was chock full of insults:
""talk to""? you mean, be your human pin cushion. you don't want to ""talk"" to anyone. you want to play people as if they were pixelated morons in a game. I talked to Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes, and thereby to the entire freaking world. don't bother me further with your little game-driven life

I honestly could write the entire letter about your hateful relationship with the rest of the world, but I won't bother. I think you get the idea. I'll just start posting a bunch of the other responses that people have had the pleasure of receiving from you (and you can find these all over the Internet, but a bunch of them are at www.jackthompson.org):
get lost, junior

i couldn't care less

i'm not interested in this conversation. you invited yourself to it. Bye

no, i don't have time to fool with dissenters. i have an industry i'm busy
destroying. go bother someone else

no, I couldn't care less what some video gamer thinks about anything. When you grow up and have kids, give me a call. you'll have changed your mind. in the meantime, get a real name and stop bothering me, or else I'll have you arrested

who the hell are you?

Oh, I'm not angry. I'm just very determined and successful against nitwits who have nothing better to do with their lives than play video games and corrupt other people's kids. you are so self-righteous, so sad, and so aimless.

Got it, honey. I'll pray you have no more children.

nope. why don't you get back to minding your own business?

Don't need your help, junior. You're the problem

you're right. i have better things to do than bother with gamers' ideas, which is the latest oxymoron.

oh, go buy a suicide game and get real good at it, won't you?

read again whom I want to have contact me. have the games fucked your brain up? it says to only contact me if you have been harmed. fuck off.

Should I even mention when you sent an email to Scott Ramsoomair of VG Cats ([link]), and when he responded, you threatened to arrest him for harassment? Or how about when you called up Gabe from the web comic Penny Arcade ([link]) and screamed at him, and then proceeded to call him a second time ([link]) and do the same thing? Maybe I should show the world an argument you lost with a 14-year-old ([link]). Yes, you are quite the likeable fellow.

However, I think I should really bring up the time when my own roommate, Rocco, left you a message, and you actually called him back. You didn't even let Rocco speak; you cut him off every single sentence (and that's not an exaggeration). When he finally started to talk back, you told him to stop interrupting you (again with the hypocrisy) and that he didn't care about the children. When he told you that he was a practicing Christian, you proceeded to hang up on him.

Actions speak louder than words, Jack, and your actions have had severe repercussions on your credibility as a lawyer. In fact, most people I talk to can't believe that anyone would talk so retarded. The fact that you managed to make it through law school never ceases to amaze me.

4. You made a game proposal to the gaming community that if anyone created the violent game that you had proposed ([link]), you would give $10,000 to the charity of Paul Eibeler's choice.

Let's forget about the fact that the game talks about killing off people and organizations that DO exist. And never mind the fact that, going by your principles, you'd have to sue YOURSELF for making the game. And never mind the fact that, contradictory to your twisted logic, no one would play the game and then proceed to kill off the entire gaming industry.

What really bothers me, Jack, is that a group of people actually MADE the game, and you proceed to back off on your $10,000 proposal ([link]). Not only did you change your mind about giving money to charity, but you then proceeded to say your proposal was ""satire"" and mock the gaming community for not comprehending your witty intelligence. You know what, Jack? That proposal might have sounded like satire coming from anyone else, but coming from you, it just sounded like typical Jack Thompson bull. You backed off so quickly from your charity proposal that the ""cretins"" at Penny Arcade ([link]) decided to donate $10,000 in your name, because you didn't have the guts to keep your word. I also find it hilarious how you tried to have them arrested afterward ([link]).

But let's just theorize for a moment that your proposal really was just satire. You never intended to give money to the needy. So if your satirical comment sounds like everything else that spews from your mouth (and it does), then I guess that means that everything you say is satirical! Well gee golly willickers, I guess no one should ever listen to what you say!

5. You've made a ton of false, baseless claims throughout the years, Jack, but one of the claims that still baffle my mind is that, in your Chatterbox Radio interview, you stated Will Wright (creator of The Sims) is collaborating with the porn industry ([link]). And since we're talking about The Sims, why don't we also talk about your claim that The Sims 2 contains ""full-frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and public hair."" ([link])

The first claim is just nonsense. There's no factual evidence ANYWHERE to back it up. As for the second, it's completely untrue. Full-frontal nudity does NOT exist in The Sims 2. For one, a blur censors the Sims when they undress, and two, even if you remove the blur, all you have left are ""Ken and Barbie"" figures with no genitalia whatsoever. The female models also lack nipples and areolas.

Where did you get such bad information, Jack? Did you even bother to check out your source? Of course you didn't. It turns out that your source of information was nothing more than a GTA modder who was trying to see how much bad information you'd actually believe ([link]).

6. You've said that John Lee Malvo, one of the Beltway Snipers, trained exclusively on the game Halo ([link]) and honed his sniping skills that way.

I guess we should all forget about the fact that John Allen Muhammad, Malvo's partner in crime, had been a soldier in the Army with enormous amounts of sniper rifle experience ([link]). He couldn't have possibly trained Malvo himself.

Besides, how could you expect someone to train how to use a sniper gun, by using an Xbox controller?! There are a lot more interactive things that could train someone to get good at a gun. Here's an idea, Jack. Why don't you go after all the shooting ranges and hunting clubs? Or maybe try and sue all the paintball establishments in the United States? Those are way more realistic and interactive than Halo. Why don't you go after them? I doubt you'd win your case either way, but it would make a heck of a lot more sense than trying to sue the makers of an Xbox game.

7. In an interview with CBS, you were asked:
According to the Center for Child Death Review, 1,242 kids were murdered with guns and 174 children died from accidental firearm-related injuries in 2000. Aside from stories that get covered in the news [like Columbine], there are few, if any, actual statistics that show how many children's deaths are directly linked to video games. Do the facts speak for themselves? Or is it just that nobody is really keeping tabs?

And your response:
The federal government found that in the school year 2003, there were 48 school killings. The year before that there were 16, and the year before that 17. Something is going on. I submit that the video game generation is coming of age.

That doesn't even make any logical sense. There were more school killings in 2003 than in previous years, so I guess it MUST be the video game industry's fault! I guess we should ignore, then, the millions upon millions of gamers who played way back in the 1980s. They would have been out of school a long time ago, Jack, so you can't say that the video game generation is ""coming of age."" There's no factual evidence to support your claims. There's only vague, indirect evidence, bearing the slightest chance of a connection. Once you find some hard, physical proof that video games are causing these school killings, let me know.

And don't give me any of that Columbine crap you're always ranting about ([link]), because no one really thinks that Doom alone caused this tragedy. In reality, it was probably a number of things. Yes, they were exposed to Doom a lot, but they were also exposed to a lot of music and movies which contained violence, so don't single the game out. More importantly, they were isolated, depressed and abused.

And it's not like things like Columbine happen more frequently. They just get a lot more media coverage now. In reality, murder rates are at their lowest in the last 40 years ([link]). Coincidentally, the gaming industry is probably at the highest peak that it ever been. How do you explain that little tidbit of information? If these video games really are the ""murder simulators"" that you claim them to be, then murder rates should be skyrocketing by now. And this article ([link]) would seem to fly in the face of everything you've said.

8. Should I even mention your views on Islam ([link])?
""The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people,"" Thompson said. ""Grand Theft Auto does. Islam does.""

""Islam promotes the killing of innocent people,"" Thompson said. ""The Quran requires the infidel, whether Jew or Christian, to be killed. ... That's a core essence of the religion. ... Muhammad was a pirate who killed infidels and who advocated the killing of infidels. Not a nice guy. Osama bin Laden is in keeping with his fine tradition.""

This has nothing to do with video game violence; I just thought that the entire world might like to know how inconsiderate you are of everyone who's not like you. You know, Hitler probably similar way of thinking… Not that I'm comparing you to Hitler or anything. I wouldn't do the same things that you do ([link]). But it is interesting how many parallels one can draw between the two of you.

9. You tried to arrest Lou Kerner of Bolt.com because of an AIM buddy icon, created on an affiliate site, which depicted an animated version of you getting killed ([link]).

First of all, they took down their buddy icon (even though they had a right to keep it up there), and you thought that they should be arrested anyway. Secondly, if everyone got blasted for creating some kind of media depicting anyone in a bad light, then half of the citizens who oppose President Bush would be put in jail. Third, your statements are incredibly hypocritical. After all, you're the one whose remarks put down the entire gaming community. You're the one who proposed a violent video game be made about killing a CEO whose name sounds remarkably similar to Paul Eibeler's. You're the one who went up to Janet Reno with a piece of paper, asking her sexual orientation. If anyone should be arrested for harassment, it's YOU.

10. Talk about ironic. In the Chatterbox Radio interview ([link]), you stated that there are ""sociopaths in Scotland sitting around in kilts drinking single malt whiskeys spreading hurtful racial stereotypes in this country."" There's no need to explain anything here. If you can't see the irony, Jack, then you need serious help.

I would have sent this letter directly to you, Jack, but it seems that you changed your email address for some reason or another. So instead, I'll just send it to all the major American news networks in an open letter and hope that you see and read it. I'll also post it on all the online forums I go as well, and I'll post it on all my personal webpages. I want the entire world to know how much of a jerk you are, and that you're the only person on Earth that I truly do not like.

My name is Peter Pascoal. I'm a 21-year-old Catholic gamer, and proud of it. I attend the University of Advancing Technology, one of the top 5 Game Design schools in the world, and I'm majoring in Game Programming. I plan on making video games for a living, and I enjoy what I do. I've played violent video games for as long as I can remember, and I've never killed anyone. For the most part, I don't even believe in resorting to physical violence.

You, Jack Thompson, make me sick.

Peter Pascoal
firefly_pdp@hotmail.com