Satanism in Pokemon

[Meeka]

Okay. I was thinking of posting this in off-topic because I'm not entirely sure this is real, but I've decided not to because other views may not match my own, and what I think is ridiculous may offend someone else. I'm just curious as to what other people think of the article, it's not my intention to bash the writer, website, or beliefs of the writer, but I found this completely at random and I personally could not help but be amused by the entire thing. That being said, religious beliefs aside, there are some good points on marketing and advertising. I'm just curious as to what other people think, it seems like someone is taking pokemon way too seriously here, and I'd also like to note that this article isn't new or controversial or anything like that, and I'm posting it here mostly to be safe.

http://www.cephasministry.com/save_our_children_pokemon_booklet.html

[Oniya]

I could only get down to the second article before I started worrying about excessive eye-rolling damaging my optic nerve.  I then Googled the names of the two authors I'd seen, and they both do have somewhat extensive web-footprints, mostly talking about the dangers of pop-culture phenomena to children's immortal souls. (I saw one of them had a page on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I didn't go any farther on that, though.)

They strike me as being right up there with the Jack Chick alarmists that insisted that D&D was going to damn us all to hell.

With all the genuine issues that religious officials could be focusing on to better mankind, like world hunger and poverty, concern over a video game seems a bit shallow.

[Meeka]

I agree. It may be because I'm not religious as the author is, but the whole thing just seems silly. I don't see how Pokemon could shake anyone's faith, even a child's, and it seems like imagination is being confused with satanism here. Pokemon are no more evil than any other mass-marketed piece of pop culture. Let the kids play with their pokemon, geeze. Their purposely marketed to be cute and cuddly and appealing to kids, and while their advertising may be devious in that it does it's best to convince kids that they need more, this is what all advertising does for it's target audience.

[Oniya]

Well, if I recall correctly, the 'Gotta catch 'em all' thing was a part of even the very first game - the challenge was to capture one of each Pokemon within that limited environment.  It's expanded into the toys and additional cartridges since then, but wasn't especially 'money-grubbing' at the time.

[Meeka]

Right. That was sort of the point of the game wasn't it? I mean it had story, sure, but capturing the masses of pokemon and training them was what the game was really about, right?

[Rinzler]

If it's not a Poe (Poe's Law: that it is impossible to distinguish a parody of fundamentalist religion from the real thing) then it's a perfect illustration of a comfirmation bias made within the context of an all-pervasive world view.

A paranoid schizophrenic could look at Pokemon and conclude, by the same token, that is shows exactly why the CIA want his brain.

It's a load of old toot, in other words.

@Oniya - I see you've had the dubious pleasure of reading Jack 'Islam is a catholic plot! Evolution is a Catholic plot!Atheists are a Catholic plot!' Chick too.

[Meeka]

In a way, I sort of feel bad that someone believes in the corruption pokemon can cause to youth so strongly, and for the poor kids who aren't allowed to have fun things. I also feel bad because this is the sort of thing from a small group of people that make a much larger group of people seem less intelligent than they deserve.

[TheGlyphstone]

I like how they described Pokemon as being a 'gateway' into Magic cards, like we're talking about hardcore drugs.

[Oniya]

@Oniya - I see you've had the dubious pleasure of reading Jack 'Islam is a catholic plot! Evolution is a Catholic plot!Atheists are a Catholic plot!' Chick too.

Actually, it was the infamous 'Dark Dungeons' pamphlet that introduced me to Jacky-boy.  Because yes, when my character misses the trap, I don't get to make a saving throw vs. Poison or roll up a new one for the next session.  My mother actually wanted me to talk to a priest about my D&D 'problem'.   I told her I would, if she'd spend an equal amount of time talking to one of my fellow players.

Never happened.

[Old Lady Willow]

They're just games. Harmless, fun. I played my first pokemon game when I was like, six. And I played them for years, they ended up being a big part of my childhood. And you know what? They've had no affect on my religious views what-so-ever.
Really, I find it hard to believe a non-existent yellow rat that goes 'pika?' can have any harmful affects on anyone.

[Rinzler]

...My mother actually wanted me to talk to a priest about my D&D 'problem'...

Really??!! Blimey, that's...well, that must have been weird. I never got any hassles from my parents in my RPG days, but then again they were usually too busy sacrificing goats to Abaddon whilst screeching out dark and eldritch blasphemies from the Necronomicon, so...

[Meeka]

I skipped right over the Pokemon cards and started with Magic. It was a mistake though, Magic turned out to be an even more powerful gateway collectible card game and it wasn't long before I found myself experimenting with new and dangerous activities like Shadowrun,  Call of Cthulhu, and other horrible things.

[Rinzler]

I skipped right over the Pokemon cards and started with Magic. It was a mistake though, Magic turned out to be an even more powerful gateway collectible card game and it wasn't long before I found myself experimenting with new and dangerous activities like Shadowrun,  Call of Cthulhu, and other horrible things.

Speaking of Cthulhu, here's very cool Jack chick parody featuring the damnable elder god itself:

http://foo.ca/wp/chick-tract-satire/who-will-be-eaten-first/

[Oniya]

Really??!! Blimey, that's...well, that must have been weird. I never got any hassles from my parents in my RPG days, but then again they were usually too busy sacrificing goats to Abaddon whilst screeching out dark and eldritch blasphemies from the Necronomicon, so...

It was - I would have thought that they'd be thrilled that I wasn't locked in my room with my nose in a book.

[Rinzler]

^^I was more into painting the Citadel miniatures anyway, so I would have had the double damnation of D&D and idolatry.

Hmmm. 'Double damnation of D&D and idolatry.' That's almost poetic.

In any case, another Jack Chick parody for one's amusement:

http://www.yourmomsbasement.com/archives/2006/11/galactus_is_com.html

[Inkidu]

I played Pokemon and I'm Christian. What gets it in trouble with the more fundamentalist people is a really semantic word choice. Evolution. (I believe in evolution and God... please don't throw rocks.) I think it's a really iffy translation thing. In Japanese the word that means evolution also means, metamorphosis and no one at Nintendo bother to look up metamorphosing... plus it was aimed at ten-year-olds!

Though I have to admit sometimes Jigglypuff can look like the spawn of hell itself especially when it's sleep spamming you to no end.   

[Oniya]

Though I have to admit sometimes Jigglypuff can look like the spawn of hell itself especially when it's sleep spamming you to no end.

*snicker*

The article that I read was more focused on the idea of 'summoning' the Pokemon to fight for you being equivalent to summoning a demon than the idea of the 'mons 'evolving'.  That's what puts it firmly in the jurisdiction of either 'looney' or 'too much time on their hands' for me.

[Callie Del Noire]

You know.. I used to keep one of the 'd&d is bad, you know.." pamplets as a bookmark in my gaming  book. I always felt that DnD got a bad rep, particualry after I discovered CoC and my eternal overlord the King in Yellow..

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

[Meeka]

When I was in school it was bad enough that Magic and DnD made you a geek instantly through association. I can't imagine being a geek and a demon loving satanist at the same time. Although, not all demons are bad I suppose, there's a lot of cute demons in DnD...

[Missy]

The whole bit about the evil foreigners from across the sea who don't worship our god was enough to let me know how much validity these people's bias posses.