How are there still people that thinking keeping pokemon is cruel? Shouldnt the fact that battling increases happiness, and that some pokemon evolve by happiness under our care, be enough to show them that they are clearly fine with it? Pokemon are intelligent enough to let us know how thet feel about the situatin though arent they

They are indeed intelligent enough, anonymous, but it’s unfortunately the capturing part of it that confuses most people. Oftentimes, people who are of this opinion believe that trainers enslave pokémon using poké balls, then essentially treat them as objects to collect. They see the poké ball as the equivalent to chains or a leash, so they’re convinced that pokémon can’t truly voice what they do and do not want in their relationship with humans. Moreover, they see the act of ordering a pokémon what to do (on the battlefield, for example) or treating pokémon as pets as reducing their identities to mere accessories to humans.

As much as I can understand this argument, I still have to disagree with the notion. Frequently, these opinions are founded on a misunderstanding; people often forget that humans and pokémon form a necessary symbiotic relationship and that poké balls are more like houses to pokémon than cages. I suppose it should go without saying (least of all because I’m certain I’ve covered this in an earlier post), but even disobedient pokémon choose to be with us. After all, one only needs to look at pokédex entries to realize that pokémon are not only fully capable of freeing themselves if they wish to, but they’re also fully capable of killing us if we pose a threat to them or their lifestyles.

Still, as I’ve said, I can understand the argument. In many ways, we humans have done quite a bit to harm our environment and encroach on pokémon territory via developing our cities and towns, so it’s easy to see us as an invasive species, in a way. Likewise, to be fair, many pokémon are near sapient or even far more intelligent than humans, so the question of whether or not it’s ethical to keep them and treat them as pets is still a valid one. For those reasons (and because often, it’s difficult to convince someone who holds this opinion that the act of capturing pokémon is not equivalent to enslaving them), I generally feel that it’s necessary to respect the opinions of those who believe training is wrong—so long as they respect the opinions of those who see nothing wrong with training pokémon. This, I admit, is why I was never all that comfortable with that Team Plasma nonsense that went on in Unova not too long ago. It’s one thing to believe pokémon must be free or to share your opinion with others. It’s another thing entirely to impose that view on others by force. Especially if you employ a strong dose of hypocrisy while doing so.