Pokemon and animal cruelty!? Questions about Humanity's Relationship to Nature

                                                     

(Image taken from www.peta.org)

I remember first reading about the controversy between PETA and Pokemon back in 2012 and thinking... 'Are you kidding me?'. Perhaps i was biased, after all, the Pokemon series has been and always will be one of my favorite series of video games.

For the uninitiated, Pokemon is a series wherein you capture and train Pokemon (analogues of animals in our world) and pit them against each other in a bid to become the best Pokemon trainer there is... Wow, reading that summary really does make it seem as though the series seems to condone animal violence.

However, i feel that this interpretation of the video game is fairly extreme and unreasonable. Beyond the fact that Pokemon is simply a VIDEO GAME, i view the relationship between Pokemon and trainers a mutually beneficial, similar to how our human society has domesticated animals, providing a safe environment in exchange for benefits from the organism in question. Furthermore, throughout the series, it has been reiterated constantly that groups that exploit Pokemon for the own selfish means are viewed as the villains of the series. Therefore i feel that PETA view of the Pokemon series is fairly extreme even if there was some truth to it.

However, I feel that the real world is a far more nightmarish place compared to the Pokemon work.

(Animals kept in fairly inhumane conditions, where they spend all their lives being caged up. Source http://revolutionaryecology.com/2015/05/05/animal-liberation-a-revolutionary-imperative-part-2-of-2/)

Why is it in the real world we can consciously treat animals and other living things in such a manner? Viewed as nothing more than livestock.

Are organism simply commodities for us to exploit? I've read that perhaps the reason why we can treat animals in such a manner is because we view them as 'lower beings' that are separate from us. This disconnect of humanity to nature is something that allows us to treat other inhabitants on earth as nothing more than resources.

(Our disrespect to Gaia extends beyond animals but also our forest. Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/rainforestactionnetwork/5680734393/in/album-72157626632532618/ )

To me, it is pretty clear that we as a species have overstepped our bounds and members of Planet Earth. From stories about abused circus animals to the destruction of vast tracts of our rain forests. The situation in the real world seems a lot more dire than the image conjured up by PETA on our exploitation of the environment.

While we ponder upon the question about how we view the environment, we should also ask ourselves the way forward. How should our attitudes be towards nature and our environment?

I will definitely talk more about it in the future as we highlight various other issues.

Till Next time

Hi everyone!

I am Alif, a Y1 Environmental Studies major studying at the National University of Singapore.

The aim of this blog is to combine my 2 passions together.

The Environment and Video Games

While seemingly an unorthodox combination, i am of the strong belief that video games, like every other forms of fiction has a say on environmental issues that affects us.

Therefore it is with this belief that i wish to share my passion in order to create awareness through the medium that i love.

So grab on your controllers and recycling bins and come on a journey of video games view through the lens of a budding environmentalist

Cheers,
Alif

(photo taken from http://minecraftbuildinginc.com/mother-of-trees-largest-ever-and-a-town/ )