Pokemon Go: Ridiculous or ridiculously fun?

Pokemon Go has swept the nation and it has separated a nation between the ones who get it and the ones who don’t.

Pokemon Go is a mobile app that makes you get out and explore communities to find virtually hidden Pokemon characters. (If I have to explain Pokemon, you’ve been too far under a rock for the past 20 years or so.)

On social media and newscasts, reports are showing people are going above and beyond to track these Pokemon characters down. So we asked our debaters: Pokemon Go: Ridiculous or ridiculously fun?

Ridiculously fun

So an app is getting people to get out of their homes, walk a community and play a game? And we have trouble with this?

Sure, Americans and those throughout the world have taken this game too far when they are committing crimes or trespassing on people’s property to play the game. I get that. What I don’t get are the hypocrites who say we need to get our “fat” and “lazy” kids off the couch and out to play. We get them out to play a game like this and what happens? You make fun of them for playing a game you might not agree with.

Sit down and shut up, haters. Hopefully some of you will let people who are playing along play the game, while others will continue to bitch about lazy people, make fun of them when they do get out and then finally look for the next thing to criticize people about. While we’re out playing Pokemon Go or any game for that matter, work on the more pressing issue of your need to be miserable.

Ridiculous

Pokemon Go. It’s RIDICULOUS. It’s JUST simply absolutely ridiculous. There’s no other word for it. The fact that we even have to talk about this is mind numbing.

A bunch of grown ass men (and some women, unfortunately) wandering around like lunatics trying to “catch Pokemon.” Yeah. Say THAT sentence out loud and try not feeling bad about yourself.

One of the arguments I’ve heard is that Pokemon Go “gets people out and moving and exercising.” Ok, pump the brakes there Richard Simmons. They’re moving at a pace just above a brisk walk, they’re not even breaking a sweat. We’re not reinventing the wheel here.

Another point brought to my attention was that Pokemon Go “gets people interacting with one another, helps people to make friends.” I have SEVERAL problems with this sentence.

FIRST off we’re going to cause an uproar over the whole bathroom thing but we’re ok with Pokemon Go? The “friends” your children are meeting are 30 year old accountants and insurance adjusters and office workers who are out at all hours of the night trying to “catch a jigglypuff.” Let’s let that sink in for a minute.

Also, if you’re playing Pokemon as a 30 year old man you’re not going to have friends. And that’s the big misconception here, is that Pokemon is stupid. I mean it IS, but the problem we’re facing isn’t that children are running around playing Pokemon; they’re children, that’s their job, to do dumb crap and look back on it in 20 years and laugh at themselves. The issue is that there are adults, with jobs, and responsibilities, and mortgages. Playing Pokemon. No wonder no one takes America seriously.

Pokemon is s stupid, dumb fad that yes, will die and be forgotten about in the next few months, but in the meantime have a little self respect for yourselves, delete the app, and make room for more important apps like the “Celebrity Height Check” app. Because knowing that Tom Cruise is 5’7” and Morgan Freeman is 6’2 is not only interesting, it’s important.

This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Pokemon Go: Ridiculous or ridiculously fun?."