Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
And if I had to walk the world to make you fall for me I promise you, I promise you I will.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
English AP Homework
Dear Landover Baptist Church,
I do not agree with your argument stating that the popular Pokemon franchise is a tool of the devil. Pokemon is a long-going franchise that has provided countless children around the world with happiness and entertainment. The shows promote friendship among humans and animals (represented by the Pokemon characters). As humans work together with their Pokemon, they also represent teamwork in a positive manner. Teamwork is not only shown between human and Pokemon, but between human and human as the protagonist of the show travels alongside his friends, all of them helping each other out as they continue towards their goals. The notion of a goal is also a positive idea to put into children's heads-while Ash Ketchum's (the show's protagonist) is working towards competing in the "Pokemon League", the main championship in the series and the highest level a Pokemon trainer can reach, a child watching the show could then form their own goals. They could start working towards a good grade on a test, to increase their skills at a sport they play, to devote time to a hobby. As they see Ash Ketchum working towards his goal of becoming a great Pokemon trainer, they will be inspired to work harder at their own goals. The idea of having friends along to support you in such a journey is even more positive, as they will be encouraged to form strong, healthy relationships with their peers, such as a group children playing soccer together on the weekends in the local park to become better soccer players, and thus do better in the soccer league they participate in. Children also bond over having things in common when at a young, formative age, and playing Pokemon together is a great way to do that. With such things as figures and stuffed toys, children can work their imaginations by dreaming up all sorts of adventures for their Pokemon characters to participate in. However, you stand firm on your position that these Pokemon are not innocent forms of amusement for children, but rather, messengers sent by "Satan" to corrupt the youth of our nation.
You state that in your church, your pastor informed children from ages two to ten that Pokemon were "evil" and "sent to the planet by Satan himself". This pastor then led said children in a mass burning of Pokemon cards, games, and toys, violently skewering the small toys on a "40 inch sword" and then roasting them over an open flame. He also employed a flamethrower to effectively burn a pile of the toys. It states the five year old son of this pastor was encouraged to violently rip apart, then spit upon a Pokemon toy, and that the other children at the gathering were encouraged to chant things such as "burn it", "chop them up", and "kill them all". For children of such a young, impressionable age, being told of the "evils of the devil" in such a way cannot be healthy towards their mental psyche. Instead of focusing on violence, hatred, and destruction--the very things your "devil" is said to promote, should not a Christian church focus on the messages of the Christian good? Rather, love, friendship, and acceptance? Showing children that the only way to rid a world of "evil" is to go out and destroy it in such a violent fashion will have damaging effects on them later in life. If they see another child at the playground or at school playing with Pokemon cards, will they employ violence on that child? Children follow the example of their elders, and if they see someone they believe to be a role model and someone whose example they should follow, when a role model so frequently shows violence and hate as a way of defeating ones' adversaries, the children will apply that to other aspects of their life, becoming wholly cruel and destructive towards what they believe to be "wrong"--even something so innocent as a stuffed toy bearing the brand of being a Pokemon.
While you may not approve of the toys and the message you believe they have on your children, there are irregularities posed in your argument. Pokemon has not been around for twenty years, the series was first introduced in 1996 and did not reach the United States until 1998. Your story of the boy and the supermarket sounds similar to an urban legend, if such a phenomenon really had occurred, there would have been substantial media coverage, and if Pokemon had somehow really been behind such an event, they would have been outlawed at once. However, this did not happen because the characters are indeed nothing more than that--characters--and it is impossible for such beings to appear in real life, much less for a small child to be able to control such a powerful demon as you state appeared. In truth, the worst thing a misbehaving child could do with a Pokemon would be to softly bat at his parent with one of the plush toy--perhaps, if they were feeling particularly violent, they would give their parent a paper cut with one of the trading cards. But the Pokemon did not cause the child to misbehave--the child chose to, being upset over not being able to have gum at a checkout counter of a supermarket. Whether a child is enthusiastic about the Pokemon series or not, they will misbehave upon being denied such a thing as a sweet snack--it's simply the nature of children.
You also state that Pokemon are a way to show a child that they can become a "powerful evil force" and "don't have to listen to their parents". However, in the television show, the main character is shown to have a very positive and obedient relationship with his mother--she who uses Pokemon to help her in the garden herself. You again state that children use their Pokemon toys to do such things as "kill their parents in the night"--but again, you provide no substantial evidence to support your claim. As stated in my previous paragraph, if Pokemon were really the evil and vicious demons you claim they are, they surely would have been outlawed long ago, or at least have been giving warning labels or something of the like. You also state that upon hearing the names of the Pokemon "Abra" and "Kadabra" as his children talked about the toys, one of your pastors proceeded to stop the car that he and his childre were driving in, destroy the action figures his children had with his hands, then repeatedly run his car over and over the toys, crushing them to bits. You state yourself that the children looked on "teary-eyed"--now, let me ask you, when has reducing a child to tears ever been a healthy way to treat them? Instead of resorting to such violent methods, your pastor could've calmly explained to his children why he did not approve of them playing with the toys, gently remove them, and then replace them with something else for his children to play with--not smash his children's playthings to bits in such a rash way.
Your closing argument states that Pokemon are turning children into followers of the devil by playing with their Pokemon toys--but really, isn't it you who are promoting the actions of the devil? Instead of promoting the hate and violence that your devil is said to feed off of, instead be an example. If you do not approve of the Pokemon franchise, then keep your children away from it. Buy them other toys, have them watch other shows, but do not poison their small minds with hatred. Instead, be an image of the God you are supposedly trying to emulate, and be a peaceful, loving role model to your children and to the others in your parish who are undoubtly observing you and following your example.
Pokemon+crazy Christians=WIN.
I am going to get an A+