Something that I have read and did not agree with was a blog post about Pokemon. Pokemon is a children's television program that involves a young boy name Ash, journeying the world to catch creatures known as Pokemon. Pokemon are creatures that possess unique powers such as having the ability to control the elements and evolving to become stronger. Ash is on a journey to become the Pokemon master. The blog was trying to explain how Pokemon is evil or satanic. The author of this blog insists that Pokemon teaches children violence and encourages animal cruelty. He goes on to say that it is the work of Satan, that Satan is influencing children to become "evil". The author speaks about children becoming possessed by these "evil" Pokemon spirits. His example was that children were acting as if they were Pokemon themselves. I can honestly say that every children in their lifetime has played "pretend" before. Children have the tendency to pretend to be their idols or something that they are interested in.
The author goes in depth with how children become violent toward one another over the Pokemon card game, and that the card making companies only care about marketing and money. I do not agree because children will fight over any toy, regardless of what form the toy may be in. I mean toddlers fight all the time over toys like firetrucks. So does that mean that we should ban actual real firetrucks since the toys "promote" violence? I also think that it is unfair to generalizing that all kids will hurt one another over Pokemon. You rarely hear kids wreaking havoc over silly card games or t.v. shows. Companies market products that they think will get popular and that is exactly what they did. When children watch Pokemon it is obvious that they will want toys from that show, like for a keepsake or to own something that relates to the series to show that they are a fan.
I think that Pokemon is being attacked because it is so popular, which is understandable. Anything that becomes popular also becomes a threat. Certain groups of people feel uncomfortable when they see a fad becoming widely popular. They feel as if it will grow to the point where it will take over the world. What I mean by taking over the word is that the fad will have great influential power over it viewers. They get the notion that its viewers have been brainwash. In my eyes, it is nothing of the sort, kids watching the show are just interested, and just think about their favorite Pokemon and what kind of adventures that they would be having with their Pokemon. I also do not agree that it is an obsession that is out of control. Everyone has an obsession, this may be a bad comparison, but it is like having a crush on a girl/boy. You cannot stop thinking about the person, but does that mean that you are obsess and out of control? No, you can obsess a bit, but you would have to distinguish whether it or not it is a healthy obsession. And once again, we should not generalize one child's out of control behavior to every child in the world. It is not an unhealthy obsession if kids are also socializing with their friends about the show and who their favorite characters are. The children interact with each other by playing pretend, and in a way, it is getting the kids off the couch to be physically active.
And finally, it seems to me that the author of this blog does not research Pokemon well enough to see that the show teaches moral values. This show promotes companionship with the Pokemon and their trainers. In the show Ash has at countless times shown that he truly loves his Pokemon by taking care of them, letting them make there own choices and has never used force or shout at his Pokemon. His Pokemon seem to care for him as much as he cares for them. I truly hope that the author of this blog will have a second opinion about Pokemon in the near future.
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