In the face of Jack Thompson's reprehensible capitalizing on today's tragic events at Virginia Tech comes a bit of good news: the State of Louisiana is reimbursing $91,000 in legal fees spent fighting the unconstitutional statutes passed to restrict the sale of video games to minors, Next-Gen reported today. As you might suspect, it stings a little bit to shell out that much cash over a law that never should've been passed to begin with. From the article:
“This Court is dumbfounded that the Attorney General and the State are in the position of having to pay taxpayer money as attorney’s fees and costs in this lawsuit,” wrote Judge James J. Brady of the Middle District of Louisiana in his ruling. “The Court wonders why nobody objected to the enactment of this statute. In this court’s view, the taxpayers deserve more from their elected officials.”
Additionally, this latest development brings the total sum of reimbursements over fighting these unconstitutional laws to a tidy $1.71 million. That's right, taxpayers have shelled out almost $2 million to prove what most of us already know. As Judge Matthew Kennelly put it when he slapped the crap out of a similar law, "In this country, the state lacks the authority to ban protected speech on the ground that it affects the listener's or observer's thoughts and attitudes."
Listen here, Jack: as much as you'd like to believe otherwise, gaming does not propel average men and women into fits of unstoppable violence, and your opportunistic crapspouting on today's tragedy doesn't make that any different. For the rest of all y'all, these next few days are going to be chaotic with debate over where to point the finger. The fellow responsible for the deaths of 32 innocent people can't tell us why he did it himself, so it's likely that the rampant speculation for which the American media is known will undoubtedly lead the (rightfully) angry mob to the gaming industry's doorstep.
As the debate heats up (as it invariably will), we should leave our Jack Thompson hate at the door and try our best to provide those looking for answers with a response that is measured and reasonable. Let's meet this terrible day and its aftermath with civility, strength, and a reaching towards mutual understanding. There's going to be a lot of eyes on us tomorrow; let's show them what kind of people gamers are.
[Via Next-Gen]
Contest:
10:24 PM on 04.16.2007
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