Pokemon is a disgusting universe...

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The way I see it is like boxing or martial arts. They fight because they enjoy it, and their trainers are like coaches.
 
Dude isn't this debate pretty much... the basis for the entire plot of Pokemon Black and White?? The entire storyline pretty much revolves around the issue of whether training Pokemon is cruel or not. Team Plasma's goal is to "liberate" all Pokemon, much like how animal rights groups like PETA promote "animal liberation". N repeatedly shares his views with the player character, allowing you to really see where he's coming from. He views Pokemon battling as a cruel sport, and Pokemon training as a cruel practice, capturing Pokemon against their will and forcing them to fight each other... I mean, naturally BW doesn't go very far into the aspects of violence and ethics and Pokemon sentience, but it's pretty much the same argument going on.

And the interesting thing is, it flips the issue around. Team Plasma presents the idea of the Pokemon world... without Pokemon training. You are literally fighting Team Plasma to prevent the realization of that goal, a world where Pokemon mind their own business and humans leave them the hell alone (something the OP suggested as a better alternative in an earlier post). BW, rather than dabbling in the argument between whether Pokemon training is ethical or not, takes the alternative and invites you to think about it. Team Plasma speaks of separating humans and Pokemon in a positive light, while Gym Leaders, in confrontations with Team Plasma, describe the bonds trainers share with their Pokemon. In one scene, Bianca's Munna is stolen by Team Plasma, and once reunited both the trainer and the Pokemon are overjoyed. Even N, in his interactions with the player character, starts to have second thoughts. At one point he even says he regrets that some trainers and Pokemon will have to be separated; he points out that clearly you, the player character, and your Pokemon are close companions.

BW focuses on the sense of friendship and union between trainers and Pokemon, explaining that capturing and battling Pokemon is not a means of cruel disrespect for the Pokemon but a means of building a bond between the trainer and the Pokemon. They work together as equals. Which is something Pokemon in general has always made apparent, I think. It's not a series about human trainers with Pokemon slaves on the side. It's a series about human trainers and their Pokemon companions growing and learning together. And all that corny junk.

I think if you try to take Pokemon and look at it in a realistic manner, trying to square it with the way people and animals and fighting work in real life, of course it's going to look all kinds of sick and wrong. But you have to keep in mind that this is a fantasy universe, and these are fantasy creatures. It's a friendly simplified world, and Pokemon training is a friendly simplified sport. And, probably most importantly, Pokemon are not animals. Morals and ethics regarding real world animals do not translate to morals and ethics regarding Pokemon. They're friendly, wacky, and apparently sentient creatures that just so happen to enjoy fighting each other for fun.

SO REALLY, more to the point, Pokemon has already addressed this issue, in depth, with Black and White. I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it!
 
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Alright. You know Ash's Charizard? At first he doesn't respect Ash, and choose not to fight. If pokemon didn't like their trainers, they could just ignore like charizard.
 
I did feel bad about the whole concept of "catching" them and what not, but in this universe the Pokemon all seem very aggressive- they go as far as to attack young kids even if they step into one patch of grass. Pokemon are proven to have more intelligence than the common animal of our world (they even seem to understand human speech in some cases), so it could easily be assumed that they are aware of what they are doing. With fear of being attacked it seems logical for one to bring a tamed Pokemon to protect oneself. A lot of Pokemon do seem to LIVE for battle, but that certainly would not be my favored use for them in the universe. I would probably enjoy the role of a Professor or scientist to learn more about why they are genetically built to battle even from egg birth.

There is also the option of running away and releasing Pokemon as well, and in the 1-2 episode I did watch on the anime, most Pokemon seem to run free. The ones that did have trainers seemed to appreciate having a "master" to watch over them. Ash for one I heard is known to release his Pokemon into the wild after some time, apart from his beloved Pikachu. I believe they have their own police force to prevent the abuse of Pokemon as well, yes?
 
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iLike2EatPiez said:
Pokemon are not animals
Click to expand...
Yes - I would like to further explain this.

Well...explaining is a waste of time. This is a quicker and better way to explain it:

Spoiler:


Here, it clearly states that Pokémon are not biological animals. So this means that your comparison from Pokémon battles to animal fighting has these problems:

1) The premise is entirely wrong.
  • Pokémon: Pokémon battles are fought for many different reasons. The most common is for self-improvement, and the second most common is fame.
  • Animal fighting: Animal fighting is fought for one reason: money. There is no fame or self-improvement to be earned - it is simply a gambling match.
2) The bond between trainer and trainee is completely opposite.
  • Pokémon: The Pokémon usually respects the trainer, as can be seen in all main series Anime and Manga. Also, a "happiness" indicator and "happiness"-induced evolution and moves like Return in all the main series games shows that there is an incentive to have a bond with the Pokémon (i.e. trainees).
  • Animal fighting: There is no incentive to bond with the animal (i.e. trainee). In fact, it is the opposite - there is always a chance your animal may die in a match, and not just temporarily - forever. So if you don't develop an emotional bond between you and trainee, the faster you can overcome grief and start training your next subject.
3) Pokémon are not animals.
Spoiler:
 
The "Pokémon aren't real" argument doesn't really work here, as it's questioning the morality of containing Pokémon in relatively small objects and using them to battle each other, not whether they're real or not. Just saying.

Anyways, I feel like the way you described it, is for Pokémon trainers where really bad criminals would lie. Obviously there are people that catch Pokémon completely against their will, and use them for battle even though they don't want to, but such behaviour against Pokémon isn't something that most trainers either do or want to see, and it doesn't appear to happen often at all. Pokémon could probably been interpreted that way if all you had seen from the franchise were the first two games, however the newer games brought happiness and such with you to determine how well a Pokémon actually likes you, and the anime is bringing it in a lot how trainers do take good care of their Pokémon, and how the trainers that don't aren't exactly liked. Furthermore, it shows that Pokémon usually aren't obedient out of fear, but because they actually wanna fight for their trainer, which makes the whole enslaving thing completely false. Yes, they do give a fight and struggle, but that is probably just instinct and to kind of test out the trainer, rather than it's a struggle to avoid being caught. Of course there are roaming Pokémon that mainly flees from you, though I don't have any argument for that :/

But yeah, Pokémon are far from animals being enslaved and used to battle against each other for humans' sick enjoyment.
 
Pokemon aren't really forced to battle, you know that right?

And when was the last time a dog fighting ring got busted, and they found pokemon cards lying around? It doesn't promote anything other than that playing games with funny looking creatures is cool. Kids who play cowboys and indians dont turn into racial predaters, do they?
 
Yes, I totally agree. After all, it's not like a Blastoise with Hydro Cannon can't completely obliterate a 10 yr old kid to a smear on the pavement if it truly didn't want to battle in the first place. Oh wait.... -.-
 
screw the one who started this thread!!

if you're a hater, why join here?!
 
Hey, welcome to PC but please don't insult other members or revive threads older than a month. Both are against the rules. :( I hope you understand! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
 
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