Gotta Hate ‘Em All: An Abuse of Pokemon for the New Year
Exactly as weird and sad as it sounds, Westboro Baptist Church abuses more Pokemon for their message. And that message is what it has always been: condemnation of the LGBT community. The Westboro Church, notorious across the U.S. for its hate-filled protests, took to social media to broadcast its latest medium.
Pokemon GO was an upside to 2016, its success stemming from the positive vibes of franchise fans. Additionally, millions of downloads made it one of the year’s top games, with more fun-filled updates expected to keep it strong in 2017. However, this latest ploy by Westboro Baptist has flipped the game on its head. Seems the game’s popularity expanded to those with an agenda. Whereas Niantic’s mobile game appealed across age and ethnic boundaries, it now serves for alienation.
“REPENT OR PERISH” reads the Jiggly Puff sign. The sleep-inducing songster is now employed for judgement. Unfortunately, this was not the extent of Pokemon abuse. Westboro decided to release several Pokemon GO images advocating damnation of others, Pikachu among them.
Yes, it would be nice if this were the last Westboro Pokemon GO abuse. But we can only hope. The same incident transpired back in July with Westboro, January 1st marking a resurgence of Pokemon hate signs.
Does this ruin Pokemon GO for the fans? We would like to know your thoughts, so feel free to comment down below. And stay strong, 2017.