After poring over reams of anecdotal evidence and conferring with numerous experts, including my two dogs and a squirrel in the backyard, I have come to the conclusion that the Internet is to blame.
No, I don't mean that it's the Internet's fault that people are stupid, but rather that it's a textbook example of mob mentality in the digital age. Back in the 70s and 80s, if a person hated the game, what did he do? He'd wail and moan to his buddies, and he'd say stuff like, "Man, we should sue!" Then his buddies might agree, or they might shoot him down. Or maybe he'd just think better of the idea and tell himself, "Man. That was a stupid thing to say. Back to the game." But, apart from conventions, there wasn't really a lot of crosstalk.
Then came the Internet. And newsgroups. And the people who came up with such gems as "Man we should sue!" could finally talk together en masse, and one guy would be so emboldened by the crowd to throw the first cup of soda, and eventually, what started as people getting together to share love of a game turns into a pack of frothing soccer fans who are tearing down goalposts and beating each other up.
The Internet makes communication a lot easier. But there is a dark side. For every ENWorld there is a 4chan. And the 4chans are so pervasive and cancerous that their memes and idiocy extend out to blanket the entire world.
Suffice it to say that the Internet makes being an idiotic ***hole infinitely easier.
I'm willing to take the OP at his word, though, that this is a mental exercise, much like those "What If?" comics I used to love to buy. But the idea of a lawsuit because of 4E is pretty laughable, especially since, as mentioned above, it would provide the exact opposite effect that the plaintiff would desire.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
