As we approach the 10th anniversary of Pokemon: The First Movie, we must solemnly remember that long before politicians were warning parents of Manhunt and Carmageddon, everyone was worried about the evils of Ash Ketchum and his cuddly cohort Pikachu [via Everything is Terrible]:
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmNb3xJFzkc 400×400]
What starts off as an admonitory speech about Pokemon quickly devolves into a tirade against Dungeons and Dragons, prime-time television, and the Internet. At this point, I’m eager to cite Poe’s Law, the adage which claims that it’s impossible to parody fundamentalism without someone mistaking it for the real thing. But it’s unlikely that this sermon was a farce on radical Christianity because the man who gave it delivered it in the ’80s, long before we all fully recognized the power of “trolling.”
Without knowing it, this nameless pastor may have initiated the two-decade-long trend of politicizing video games — a trend which Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, and Jack Thompson eagerly followed. When it comes to theology and public policy, video games have had a hard time escaping the vise-grip which once confined the likes of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Manson. As time moves on, however, the public has grown to view video games as simple, harmless entertainment. While the crazies of the world have selected new, equally innocent victims to harass, I’ll always cherish the words of this pastor: “Pokemon is a game that teaches children how to enter into the world of witchcraft.” I’m speechless.