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Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Tell Cooper No Thompson

Jack Thompson appeared briefly on Anderson Cooper's 360 last night.

I'm completely with Gabe on this one (scroll to bottom). I would love to ignore Thompson. I've tried. Problem is, the mainstream media continues to book him. Even as legitimate researchers kick this guy off the boat, the media continue to pony him out for fun quotes. As Gabe points out, Thompson can't even make a simple comment about Midway's Blitz and keep his facts straight. The NFL didn't want to license it because it was too violent? Right.

No more. If Jack appears on TV, it's time to tell the people responsible for giving him a platform that isn't appropriate behavior for a civilized society. You give people like Jack mental help, not an audience.

No more. If Jack appears on TV, tell them to stop. Tell them your opinion of Jack. Tell them it lowers your opinion of them. Tell them you won't watch anymore. If Jack is going to be on their show, then they lose viewers.

This is a copy of my feedback to Anderson Cooper 360:


I was very dismayed to see that Mr. Cooper featured Jack Thompson on his show, even briefly.

Mr. Thompson has become well known for his capacity to exaggerate situations, restate disproven facts and make outrageous claims.

This is a man who once said the President of the ESA was worse than Saddam Hussein. He has personally faulted Bill Gates for the Malvo killings. He has compared game consoles to brainwashing devices capable of making an army of "manchurian children".

His use of hyperbole and outrageous claims have led others concerned about children and media to publically distance themselves from him, as they realize he only lowers the bar of debate past rational levels.

For the record, the NFL did not refuse to license Blitz because of any of the content within the game. The NFL had already agreed to an exclusive license with Electronic Arts. Jack Thompson likes to make up these facts to support his arguments, because he has little else to argue with.

By having him on your broadcast, you weaken your credibility as a legitimate source of news. You just posed someone with false information as an expert, putting to question the show's ability to judge valid facts from fiction. Hopefully better judgement will be shown in the future.


Feel the same? Here is the form to let them know.

3 comments:

CtrlAltDelete said...

My fear is that if I write to them, I will go to far and disclose TOO MUCH information about how the man is a lunatic.

The media LOVES lunatics. Lunatics = high value commercials.

We need The Daily Show. We need Rob Cordrey to interview him, expose him as a hypocrite and a wacko and never again will the media touch him.

Brinstar said...

I'll write them a little note after work.

I let other people know about this, and they've sent some words to Mr. Cooper.

Josh said...

Brin, from I can see on StatCounter ... all I can say is ... you go girl. I think you've driven like half the traffic here today, and all right to Mr. Cooper's doorstep.