Dear PETA,
I wasn’t aware of the flash you made that demonified Pokemon until today so here’s something short and sweet.
I agree with some of your issues on animals. Animal abuse is wrong and yes meat industries as well as others need to change how they treat animals. But attacking a game and anime that I have loved since childhood is where I draw the line.
When I was younger, I had my uncle joke with me about how Pokemon were demons or that I was abusive and when I was little even I had vehemently argued against him. I had to be around 7, and I knew then that the games and show was about the friendships between Pokemon and humans and how we should treasure them. Hell Ash was electrocuted several times by Pikachu and he never once hurt Pikachu on purpose in retaliation. He even endangered himself to protect his precious Pokemon more than once. There isn’t a parallel between dog fighting and Pokemon battles. None. Kids know this. Kids understand that Pokemon are 1. Not real and 2. Deserve respect and care. Several games made it a point to show this. It was even said many times that letting your Pokemon faint a lot made them dislike you as a trainer. Which personally always made me paranoid about how much damage my team took.
I get it. You are trying to make a point to kids that animals shouldn’t be hurt. But you are missing the point of Pokemon entirely. Maybe if you took the time to watch it or play it fully, you could see that. It’s a fucking kid’s show/game. It’s meant to teach kids about friendship and shit. Not modeling future cock fighters. Why don’t you focus on actual issues and stay away from the things that try to give a good example.
Hell there was a new villain team that talked about Pokemon liberation and was the Pokemon equivalent of PETA. It made people in game question how they valued their Pokemon. In a world that doesn’t talk about meat too much or furs or any of those things. This is the same game that made me cry over the death of a Cubone’s mother by humans who were greedy. Same show that made me wish I had a Pikachu to go on adventures with and be friends with.
Pokemon actually gives a better way of teaching kids values than you do PETA. Maybe you could learn from them.
Or better yet, rather than demonify a series for children, how about use it as an example on how we should treat animals. Asking for their friendship and working with them rather than use them.
Sincerely,
A Pokemon fan from childhood.
