Animal Cruelty?
Some Pokémon haters claim that Pokémon promotes animal cruelty, referring to how Pokémon are captured and made to fight each other. The basic argument is, "If YOU were captured and held in a ball and then forced to beat up your own species, would you like it?"
However, this is a dangerous comparison. Pokémon are not animals, but they are not humans either. Humans would indeed not like that kind of a situation, but who is to say that Pokémon don't? In fact, there is solid canonical evidence that Pokémon enjoy battling. This evidence will be discussed in this article.
Let us use proof by contradiction. If Pokémon did not like battles, what would happen? We know the following facts from canon:
- Pokémon are extremely powerful - whether they've got scythes for arms or the ability to breathe fire or produce earthquakes, most Pokémon would be very easily capable of at the very least defending themselves against a typical trainer - a completely unarmed human child.
- Pokémon can and will disobey orders, as shown numerous times in the Pokémon animé when Ash's Charmeleon/Charizard simply went to sleep during battle or breathed fire into his face.
So now, we can see that Ash's other Pokémon battle for him even though they clearly could disobey if they wanted. The same goes for all other trainers' Pokémon. Therefore, Pokémon clearly do not mind being used for battling.
But many will not stop here and have another theory: What if Pokéballs or badges are actually controlling the Pokémon's brains and preventing them from disobeying unless they are powerful or strong-willed (which Ash's Charizard would be)?
However, this will not work either. If we observe Charmeleon/Charizard's behaviour closely, he does not try to escape from Ash when he disobeys; he merely goes to sleep or in some other way indicates that he can't be bothered to battle. He is simply way too relaxed to seem like somebody who has been held prisoner and brainwashed for years. He also sometimes does obey, and other Pokémon sometimes disobey, without any appparent change of behavior. And take Pikachu - there is no Pokéball that could be controlling him, and he started obeying Ash when Ash saved him from the Spearow, not when Ash got his first badge.
But do Pokémon like their trainers? Definitely. First we can take Pikachu, who upon being released in the episode Pikachu's Goodbye returned to Ash because he would rather go with him. It is obvious that if Pikachu did not like Ash, Pikachu would not have returned.
The other, more general example is the episode Island of the Giant Pokémon. There we have Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Ekans and Koffing separated from their trainers - and what are they doing? Panicking. Worrying. Crying. Drinking. All because they think their trainers have abandoned them. Since it causes them so much depression, we can logically assume that they've not just been given a chance to escape from their enslavers, but actually been taken away from some of their best friends.
But why would the Pokémon like it, then? There are many theories. Mine is that the Pokémon simply like power - who doesn't? - and are highly competitive species by nature. They therefore fight each other, also in the wild, to make themselves strong, and as humans are often better at strategic thinking than Pokémon aside from that allowing for more teamwork and co-operation, many Pokémon like the idea of having trainers. The ones that don't simply stay off public areas where trainers are around.
Of course, that is only my theory, but nonetheless it is clear that trusting and loving one's Pokémon is a vital concept of the Pokémon franchise and in general Pokémon training, the way it is presented in canon, has very little in common with cockfighting or any other cruel activity towards animals. Various fan fiction, for example, chooses to ignore this aspect of canon in order to create more suspense or interest, but the morality of some fan-made interpretations of the Pokémon world does not at all necessarily represent the morality of the concept itself. Playing Pokémon does therefore not carry any message of animal cruelty.
Page last modified February 07 2006 at 00:46 GMT
