Skeptologic

A while back I had created a category called “Cranks and Nut jobs” in which to put people who could be classified as nothing but wacky. I had not written anything for that category yet and it seems fitting that the first person who gets the honor is Jack Thompson. Thompson, the Florida attorney who has made it his mission to blame everything that is wrong with the world on video games, has been recommended for enhanced disbarment by the Florida Bar. If this goes through he will be prohibited from applying to practice law again for 10 years. I say so long and good riddance.

Let me reveal my bias here right from the get go. I love video games. I have been an avid gamer since the very first time I dropped a quarter into an Asteroids game machine at a pizza place in the early 1980′s. I have owned most game consoles over the years and lots of PC games. Currently I play a lot of World of Warcraft when I get the chance. So I really take exception when this ambulance chaser runs around the county saying that violent crime is being caused by violent video games with absolutely no evidence to back up his claims. I would accuse him of confusing correlation with causation, but there simply is no correlation between violent video games and real world violence.

Thompson walked out of the June 4th hearing on the matter after the judge refused to let him read a statement of objection he had prepared. This “statement” does not sound like something written by a professional attorney, but rather like the rambling manifesto of a nut job living in a shack in the woods. Since his claims never had any merit I just wanted to say welcome to my blog Jack, you sir are a crank.