Pokémon Go, despite being an instant hit, isn’t beloved by everybody. But the inevitable backlash has been surprisingly reasonable, for the most part. Solemn memorials are less than enthused about being Pokestops, restaurants are banning players who don’t buy anything, and people are generally asking players to stick to public spaces and be polite. But we all knew somebody was going to be a little more, ah, abstract in their objections, and Rick Wiles is picking up the torch.
Wiles is the kind of person who runs a website called “Trunews,” which should give you a rough idea of what you’re dealing with here. He’s also a pastor, and discovered Pokémon Go when he saw what he thought was a man taking photos of his building and called the police. You’d think he’d be relieved it was just somebody playing a silly game, but once he discovered what the game was about, he decided it was the work of Satan:
“The enemy, Satan, is targeting churches with virtual, digital, cyber-demons,” Wiles said, before adding: “I believe this thing is a magnet for demonic powers.” Wiles went on to claim that “Pokémon masters” may soon start “telling people to kill people in those buildings” in order to catch more Pokémon, comparing the use of the App to Philando Castile’s girlfriend use of Facebook Live to live stream the aftermath of Castile’s shooting by a police officer, which he said might have been staged.
You know, when you say “cyberdemons,” we think of something substantially more dangerous than a Weedle. But we doubt Wiles has played much Doom, either.
Joking aside, Pokémon and the right wing haven’t exactly gotten along in the past, mostly because of the fact that Pokémon can look vaguely demonic. You’d think capturing demons and forcing them to defeat other demons would be a bit more popular, but apparently not. We guess Nintendo and Niantic will just have to console themselves with their stacks of cash.
(via Right Wing Watch)