Daily Archive for April 16th, 2007

Jack Thompson blames video games for Virginia Tech shooting

Jack Thompson, the ambulance chaser extraordinaire, has done it again.

Gaming blog Kotaku.com reports that hours after the Virginia Tech shooting that left 30+ students dead, Jack Thompson somehow has managed to search the shooter’s apartment, talk to his friends or just plain old see the future. All this before the police even had the identity of the shooter figured out, mind you. And all this before anything about the shooter has appeared on the news.

He’s claiming on Fox News (who else) the shooting was caused by video games. Nice work scumbag. Just as nice work from Fox News. Whatever are you going to air next? Maybe David Duke commenting on the significance of Jackie Robinson to American history?

Those of us who are familiar with Jack Thompson’s modus operandi saw this coming the minute the news about the shooting hit the news. Jack Thompson is just playing a pretty standard number’s game. He’s really a statistician at heart.

He’s made a career out of blaming popular culture for all the evils of today’s world. But he doesn’t pick his targets at random, he works quite methodologically and definitely has studied the famous S-curve phenomenom. He’s always chasing it, and always, always attacks something that’s just made it into the mainstream and is repeatedly in the news. He’s just maximizing his profits. It’s a smart move from an ego-whore like himself.

In the 80s it was about rap music. When that became passe he picked another target, video games. When it becomes old, he’ll pick something else. It’s guaranteed.

By picking targets popular enough he knows at any given time a certain percentage of Americans are enjoying doing whatever he’s attacking. The more popular, the better his chances of capitalizing on blaming his target for anything under the sun. Think about it. What young adult these days has never played video games? The number is fast approaching zero. And Jack Thompson knows it.

What surprises me is how none of the massmedia outlets haven’t caught up to his game yet. It’s so obvious even a moron should get it.

Video games did it. Sure.

-TPP