"Mrs. Zelnick

Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Chairman’s Mother

New York, New York Via e-mails to intermediaries

Re:  Your Son, Strauss Zelnick

Dear Mrs. Zelnick:

Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don’t know), is Chairman ofTake-Two Interactive Software, Inc., whose most popular video games are the Grand Theft Auto murder simulator games banned in some countriesbut sold to children here.

Your son last week was reported to have said the following about Grand Theft Auto IV, due to be released Tuesday, April 29:

"We’ve already received numerous [GTA IV] reviews, and to a one, they are perfect scores. My mom couldn’t write better reviews…"

Taking your son’s thought, I would encourage you either to play thisgame or have an adroit video gamer play it for you.  Some of the lattergamers are on death row, so try to find one out in the civilianpopulation who hasn’t killed someone yet.

What you will see in your son’s game, if this iteration of GTA isanything like its predecessors, is incredible interactive violenceaimed at police officers (whom you can shoot in the head and see theblood spray), innocent bystanders (whom you can run over with your carjust for the heck of it), and of course the plentiful femaleprostitutes you can have sex with and then filet with a knife or stompwith your feet in order to get your money back.  Experts note that therecent plethora of cop killings is caused in part by your darling son’sentrepreneurial energy.  There are three policemen dead in Alabamabecause of Grand Theft Auto.  I was on 60 Minutes about it.  I hopeStrauss has provided you with a flat screen tv to see the grief of thebereaved families that fills the screen.

The pornography and violence that your son trafficks in is the kindof stuff that most mothers would be ashamed to see their son puttinginto the hands of other mothers’ children, but, hey, your son Strausshas recently assured the world that he is "a Boy Scout, everybody knowsthat."  I’d love to see the merit badges that Scout Troop handed out. Is there a Ted Bundy merit badge?  If so, your loving son deserves onenow.  It should be red and green, for obvious reasons.

With Passover having just come and gone, it is appropriate to note the following from the Old Testament, Proverbs 22:6:

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Mrs. Zelnick, did you train up your son, Strauss, to make millionsof dollars by pushing Mature-rated video games to children?  Any kidcan go right to little Strauss’ corporate web site and buy GTA IV withno age verification.  Strauss is even marketing the new Grand TheftAuto IV on World Wrestling Entertainment tv shows seen by millions ofkids.  If you trained up Strauss to do this, then shame on you.

But maybe the explanation for your son’s corporate sociopathy is to be found in Old Testament Proverb 29:15:

"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

Maybe you, Mrs. Zelnick, were so taken by your handsome son that youspared the rod and spoiled the child.  That would explain why he hasbrought you, by the way he presently acts, "to shame."

There’s another mother you would do well to talk to.  Mrs. Crump inAlabama had a son who was a police officer.  He’s now dead because ateenaged boy unwittingly trained himself to kill him on Grand TheftAuto: Vice City. She has a grief she carries every day that only amother can know.There are other such mothers in the heartland ofAmerica whose inhabitants your son simply sees as commercial targets.

Your son, this very moment, is doing everything he possibly can tosell as many copies of GTA IV  to teen boys in the United States, acountry in which your son claims you raised him to be  "a Boy Scout." More like the Hitler Youth, I would say.

Happy Mother’s day, Mrs. Zelnick, which this year is May 11, twoweeks after your son unleashes porn and violence upon other mothers’boys.  I’m sure you’re very proud.

Sincerely, Jack Thompson"

출저: Wired