Anti-Anti-Pokémon
Welcome to the Anti-Anti-Pokémon Section. To begin, please select a section below:
AAP FAQ
What is Anti-Pokémon?
Basically, it means people who are against Pokémon, hence "Anti-Pokémon".
What is Anti-Anti-Pokémon?
Using the phrase "Anti-anti" counters the word "anti" thus Anti-anti-Pokémon (or AAP for short) are people who counter Anti-Pokémon people's arguments. It is not a notion for people that dislike or hate Pokémon haters per say. It is merely a person who defends and counters the negative Pokémon arguments brought upon by Anti-Pokémon people.
Are Anti-Pokémon and Pokémon Haters the same?
While I do use the terms interchangeably in this AAP guide, they are not always the same. An "Anti-Pokémon" person may be prejudice, but may not always discriminate against Pokémon fans themselves. In contrast, it's thought that the term "Pokémon Hater" is someone who both has prejudice thoughts, and discriminates against Pokémon and Pokémon fans. This is not always the case, and it can be the other way around (i.e. Active or Timid bigot Anti-Pokémon or Pokémon Hater).
What is the purpose of AAP?
Really, our goal is to highlight and counter arguments that are brought against Pokémon by Pokémon Haters. Also, we're to clear up misconceptions they may have about Pokémon.
Who started this whole AAP thing?
I cannot really say for sure who started AAP, but it's been around for about the past five years at least. There are many strong advocates of AAP who have been with AAP such as Dragonfree of The Cave of Dragonflies, and Kim's We all live in a Pokémon World are both avid supporters of AAP.
What does the term "flaming" mean?
In this case it means a hate-based argument between Pokémon lovers and haters. Usually both parties can be guilty of irrational arguments that leads to
profanities, racial slurs, and just utter nonsense. Flaming is greatly looked down upon by Anti-Anti-Pokémon. Campaigns such as Dragonfree's "Stop The
Flaming" is one example of those greatly against it. 
Pokémon Misconceptions and Counters
- Pokémon teaches nothing but violence.
- 77% - enhances strategic thinking
- 76% - promotes positive values
- 68% - improves memory skills
- 60% - increases mental agility and awareness.
- Pokémon battling resembles cockfighting.
- Pokémon is gay, homo, (insert other derogatory word here).
- Pokémon is just a waste of money.
- Pokémon is a dead fad.
Not true. While it may "seem" like the only point of battling is to defeat some other Pokémon, cooperation and teamwork are used by both the trainer and Pokémon. The trainer and Pokémon work together to succeed together in battle. Trainers may be battling to work out how to capture a wild Pokémon, or devising a strategy for defeating another Pokémon trainer. What's more, battling is Pokémon's form of exercise and Pokémon never "fight to the death".
Building bonds with your Pokémon is probably the most important thing Pokémon teaches. Being able to work together as partners and friends are great skills Pokémon teaches.
In fact, a parent survey on the benefits of Pokémon was conducted by Nintendo a few years back. A random sample of 2,098 parents were asked, the results showed:
1The term "cock fighting" is sometimes associated with Pokémon battles. However, cock fighting is much different from Pokémon battles. Cock fighting involves "specially bred birds" that fight usually to the death for "purposes of gambling and entertainment" (US Humane Society 2008). As mentioned above, Pokémon never battle to the death, and never has gambling been a part of Pokémon battles. Money is rewarded in the games as income to buy items, but in the anime, financial gain from battles is non-existant. The real reward of Pokémon battling has merely been for experience, capturing other Pokémon, and defeating other trainers.
If you're a Pokémon fan like me, you've all heard this one before. Really, this is just a flame not to be taken seriously. Using the word "gay" just in a derogatory sense, or the literal meaning demonstrates your typical ignorant response when a person doesn't like or hates Pokémon.
It's a hobby that people like, and most hobbies do cost money in some way. Pokémon is a franchise with a latent function of making a profit after all...
Incorrect. It is very apparent after over a decade that Pokémon is still alive and well. Take Pokémon Diamond and Pearl for example. These games sold over one million copies in the US within just 5 days after its release on April 22, 2007. This has been "a faster rate than any previous Pokémon games since the franchise's U.S. introduction, almost a decade ago" according to an April news update from Pokemonelite2000.com (2007). Many older fans who had grown out of Pokémon may consider Pokémon to be a dead fad, but it is apparent that Pokémon is still alive and well, for the current generation of games is selling even stronger than the first generation games were. Another study from Pokémon USA, Inc. by NPD in March 2007 shows that more than nine out of 10 kids, ranging from first graders to high school seniors (ages 6-17), are aware of the Pokémon brand itself (Pokémonelite2000 2007).
Why should I care?
So, let's suppose you're a Pokémon Hater reading this. You're probably wondering why you should even care about what some webmaster who created a fan site about Pokémon has to say. After all, you may be egocentric about your views on Pokémon. Yeah, you hate it; there's no way you'd ever even consider playing the games. Maybe you like to harass others who do play, and maybe you wish Pikachu would burn in hell? It may be an exaggeration perhaps, but it's ok if I haven't changed your mind in the slightest bit.
Really, everything mentioned above is just something to think about. The purpose of AAP is not to necessarily "make" you see our logic behind our arguments for Pokémon, but rather to understand that there are people out there like me who feel strongly for Pokémon. Surely you have many hobbies of your own you feel strongly about? Well, surely you wouldn't feel too great if someone harassed you about it. Really, what gives someone the right to bash what someone else truly likes and cares about? I think that's what it ultimately comes down to. "The Golden Rule" states to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". This is an applicable ethic code that anyone can relate to. Just think about it before you forgo bashing a Pokémon fan or site: how would you feel if someone disrespected what you really care about?
Why we like it
I can't speak for everyone as to why we like Pokémon; there are probably hundreds of reasons. But I'll just go over a few.
First and foremost, the Pokémon characters themselves are of course a major reason why we like it. Every Pokémon fan is bound to have their favorite Pokémon for one reason or another. A lot of Pokémon such as Pikachu for example are cute and appeal to many. Others many prefer a more aggressive tough Pokémon to be uber dominant on his or her team. We love training them, teaching them moves, feeding them, showcasing them; heck, Pokémon are our partners, friends, teammates, etc. We just really care greatly about them no matter which character we like the most.
A lot of people love Pokémon for the battling and training. It's a major part of the Pokémon games after all. There's a lot of challenge coming up with new strategies to make your Pokémon team the best it can be. If you really get into it, Pokémon training is a lot of quantitative work in distributing even experience to each of the Pokémon stats. We want to train our Pokémon to the best of our ability to come up with an effective team in battle. Changing around move sets and completing over Wi-Fi against others is another great reason why we love it for the battling.
A lot of fans love to bring out their own creative potential by drawing fan art of their favorite Pokémon, or creating their own Pokémon stories by writing fan fiction. The Pokémon games and anime further help fans to develop their own creative works.
I think the best reason why older fans are still fans is because of the sentimental value of Pokémon. This is what I grew up with as a kid, and the memories are still with me. Waking up way early Saturday morning to watch the Pokémon anime on TV, or hanging out for hours with my friends playing the card game until we could play no more. It's things like that you never forget; it's what you've loved and grown up with that sticks with you for your entire life. All the lucid memories of past Pokémon adventures, and all the good times with Pokémon now and beyond is why we love it.
Sources:
1 Pinkie, Pichu. Pichu's World - Benefits of Pokémon." Pichu's World. 2007. 6 Dec 2008 http://pichusworld.net/benefits.php.
2 The Humane Society of the United States, "Cockfighting Fact Sheet ." The Humane Society of the United States. 2008. 6 Dec 2008 http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/animal_fighting_the_final_round/cockfighting_fact_sheet.
3 Webmaster, Pokémonelite2000. "Pokémonelite2000 - New Archive - April 2007." Pokémonelite2000. 27 April 2007. 6 Dec 2008 http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/pnews07_04.html.
4 Webmaster, Pokémonelite2000. "Pokémonelite2000 - New Archive - June 2007." Pokémonelite2000. 19 June 2007. 6 Dec 2008 http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/pnews07_06.html.
