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Saudi Arabia Revives 15-Year-Old Ban On 'Zionism-Promoting' Pokemon (timesofisrael.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Clerics in Saudi Arabia have renewed a 15-year-old ban on Pokemon, following the release of the highly popular augmented reality version of the game, Pokemon Go. According to Reuters, the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars reaffirmed a 2001 ban on the game. The Times of Israel reports: "While fatwa no. 21,758 makes no mention of the latest iteration of [the] game, it does list many sinful aspects of Pokemon. Firstly, the game is seen as a form of gambling, which itself is forbidden. Secondly, it encourages belief in Darwin's theory of evolution, and thirdly, the fatwa says, the symbols used in the game promote the Shinto religion of Japan, Christianity, Freemasonry and 'global Zionism.'" The ruling says: "The symbols and logos of devious religions and organizations are used [including] the six-pointed star: You rarely find a card that does not contain such a star. It is associated with Judaism, the logo and sign of the State of Israel, and the first symbol of the Masonry organizations in the world." Pokemon Go has been such a success that it has already doubled Nintendo's stock price after launching just two weeks ago.
Keep inviting Shariah advocates in and we'll get legislation like this soon enough
"Senior"!
Are they trying to keep us from the Rare Desert Pokemon?
with all 21,757 other fatwas or you will be stoned to death in accordance with the prophet's will. That is all.
I read this and I'm just shaking my head at how incredibly ludicrous every word in that statement was.
If it weren't for the fact that millions of people live under the oppression of this sort of thinking, it would actually be funny.
When will these people finally join the 21st century and stop basing their entire lives around this bullshit?
Israel: "Palestinian territories; gotta catch em all!"
Table-ized A.I.
Ban all of these people from the United States.
an ill wind that blows no good
Wow, such insanity. Clearly Pokémon Go is promoting a Lamarckian Theory of Evolution, not a Darwinian Theory of Evolution.
"You saved 1968." - Ms. Valerie Pringle to the crew of Apollo 8
It's not even Lamarckian Evolution. This is much more metamorphosis than evolution. Despite the probable willful ignorance, I wander if they take issues with insects.
Everyone trot out your brainwashing complex and make ignorant statements about other cultures while ignoring analogous patterns of thought in our own
Pokemon Go has been such a success that it has already doubled Nintendo's stock price after launching just two weeks ago.
Well good luck maintaining that bubble, Nintendo, now that people can't openly play Pokemon Go in Saudi Arabia. Time to start shorting NTDOY and hoarding gold.
Nothing posted to
if the Middle East had their way, we would still be in the Dark Ages.
We're gonna ban Pokemon, but it's cool to beat your wife or jail folks for "insulting" Islam and other ludicrous nonsense.
How can a modern World leader, look them in the eye and not just bust out laughing ? How on Earth does anyone take them seriously on anything ?
Unless they pull off a miracle, the entire Middle East will be instantly forgotten once our reliance on oil dries up.
They really have nothing to fall back on.
They are stuck with their heads so far up their collective butts they refuse to accept anything new that differ even slightly from how they lived a thousand years ago.
It seems strange that such a strong faith can not stand against the threat of a kid's game without the help of force.
Unless the force is more a matter of control operating under the guise of faith.
Perhaps a way to the truth is the following:
Genesis 41 tells the story of Joseph and the wisdom of keeping a storehouse of grain for the people to guard against 7 years of famine.
I wonder how believers in the Quran feel about this.
Although corrupted by translation and time, the basic story still rings true.
In today's world, the grain stores might be the sovereign wealth fund and the famine the current oil situation.
If so, then the wealth fund belongs to the people and is only held in trust by the government.
Is this consistent with how the fund is being used?
Would it be possible to put a "gym" or whatever in the hell, it is on the location of the Kaaba in Mecca?
Not to single anyone out, could we also drop a few on various religious sites around teh world?
"Firstly, the game is seen as a form of gambling, which itself is forbidden. Secondly, it encourages belief in Darwin's theory of evolution, and thirdly, the fatwa says, the symbols used in the game promote the Shinto religion of Japan, Christianity, Freemasonry and 'global Zionism.'" The ruling says: "The symbols and logos of devious religions and organizations are used [including] the six-pointed star: You rarely find a card that does not contain such a star. It is associated with Judaism, the logo and sign of the State of Israel, and the first symbol of the Masonry organizations in the world.""
For the good of humanity, let's all hope that Trump finds some excuse to sack Saudi Arabia and permanently deprive it of any assets, power in the world, and religious influence in the region.
If a Law Conflicts with Reality, then the Law brings itself into Disrepute!
Man, I'm glad we don't have any of that craziness here in the US...
...damn
This is where Turkey is headed now too, after the staged coup which was used as justification for purging tens of thousands of secular leaning judges, teachers and soldiers.
Better known as 318230.
So Kafkaist Evolution.
We are truly at a wonderous age: when a video game creates more wealth than black sticky stuff that comes out of the ground. Oh, and I'm tolerant of Shintoists, Freemasons, Christians and Jews (all of whom make it a priority to be tolerant of others). I would not trust any religion that was younger than 1500 years old though. Less than 1500 and its just a made-up cult created by people who felt disenfranchised by the already-established world religions (read sore losers). You could even expect them to plagiarize more than Melania Trump (and then try to argue that everyone else is illigitimate, go crazy with guns, try to blow up everyone elses sacred sites, etc). If their philosophy were worth anything at all (if it truly were truly backstopped by God), then God could protect it and wouldn't need extremes: guns, suicide bombs, intolerance of others, shouting others down, destruction of others sacred sites, etc. If however it was a work of fiction, then there is no Godly support. Its a fraud and a fake and you will need guns, bombs and intolerence, because its illegitimate and God will be against it. Those following it will suffer greatly, God would make where they gather in mass a hot firey place, there would be great suffering, there would be sacrifices and killing, death would surround them, because God would be angry with them and they would be an abomination to God. Just sayin.
Wow, you had to go further than all the other racists idiots of this page, good job.
There are at least six laugh-out-loud nuggets of comedy gold in the article summary alone.
I'm sorry, but that just sounds a lot like a Guru Meditation message on the Amiga. Amazing that people actually follow this kind of thing...
why we're friends with these guys? Oh yeah, cheap oil for our cars. Well I guess it's either that or the bus...
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
see Harry Potter movies because "they promote witchcraft". Yes, he was an adult and father of three sons.
I know, it looks and sounds weird, but I believe you mean Kafkaesque. Unrelated, but also weird, is Picassoid.
Distract, but still die.
Just because it has been condemned by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars doesn't mean people won't be playing it. As I walk around Riyadh I can see many people playing Pokemon Go, so perhaps not such a big deal as some of the posters make out.
When anything gets popular, all the hacks come out to ride on it's bandwagon of attention.
This must be some law of the internet, surely.
Anyway, suck it religious leaders. For once, something has got better hypnosis powers than you have - and by that I mean Psyduck.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Well certainly no one would PAY for it, in the condition Hamas and the PA have put it in.
The reality is that it's a barbaric 6th century ideology that controls every facet of your life.
Kowtowing to them and letting millions of migrants into our countries is perfectly reasonable!
I wonder what silliness is included in the other 21,757 pronouncements
The wording of that statement was "Time of Israels" invention. When you read the actual ban, it's because the original Pokemon game, is a gambling game, teaching kids to bet cards to win cards.
The "zionist" blah blah blah, is just Times of Israel adding an Israel angle to everything.... oooo the poor Israeli's....everything is about them..... ooo let them go kill a few more thousand Gaza people because their world is so harsh..... the usual Israeli bullshit.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/07/20/top-saudi-clerics-ban-pokemon-go/87330916/
Wow, such insanity. Clearly Pokémon Go is promoting a Lamarckian Theory of Evolution, not a Darwinian Theory of Evolution.
We are talking about a people who don't build any buildings with triangles in them, just because the triangle is a symbol of Christianity (it represents the father, son, and holy spirit). And who ban words with the letter 'X' in them because the X resembles a cross. I don't see why we should have any expectation of rationality out of that bunch.
Clerics in Saudi Arabia can go fist themselves with a cestus.
They sound completely insane
Haven't you noticed, muslims are often completely insane? So frequently one will attack people, saying that it is for Islam, but then everyone will say "it wasn't really, he's just insane". And there's the way that they go around murdering people n completely different countries just because someone drew a picture, made a film, or wrote a book they didn't like.
Wow, such insanity. Clearly Pokémon Go is promoting a Lamarckian Theory of Evolution, not a Darwinian Theory of Evolution.
I think it's just the word evolution they don't like, it's clear they don't understand the concept under any guise. I wonder if they'd have called them transformations they would still have the same beef.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Do people in SA raf slashdot?
Requiem for the American Dream
At least it would fulfill every criteria in the ICD-10 F22.0 definition of delusion if religions were not explicitly exempt. Because, well, what's the difference between a delusion and a religion except the fact that a lot of people have the same delusion?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
But worshiping people nailed to crosses that die and respawn after 3 days is fine.
Yeah, I know that kind of loony.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I banned Pokemon because I thought it was shit.
I didn't even need to reach into the ether and draw parallels with it supposedly promoting Zionism.
Fucking Pikachu, I somehow knew he was up to no good but now I have proof?
I think a review of Zionist promoting things should be conducted so we can ban them all...although, I do wonder...
If religious people in Saudi believe god created everything, who are they to say god does not prefer people choose to be pure rather than use the evil, Zionist promoting pokemon?
Next step for Saudi, ban thinking. They already did all the thinking for you. Don't worry about it.
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
Where's the part where this lady calls upon you to die?, by stoning? by beheading?
What you clearly highlighted was a lady concerned with the influences of a cultural thing she does not understand upon her children. She's clearly been told a bunch of stuff by people she trusts/believes and is passing these warnings along to people who CHOOSE to listen to her. I do not agree with her, but so far she's more tame than your average Al Gore follower ranting about Global Warming (whoops! sorry, Climate Change) and demanding that everybiody obey climate edicts and that anybody who disagrees be silenced.
Get back to me when there are Methodist extremists beheading people because they were heard singing a show tune, or Episcopal extremists crashing airliners full of innocent civilians into skyscrapers, or Buddhist extremists shouting "Nothing Matters!" as they detonate their suicide belts in shopping malls, or when community church extremists round-up all the little girls in town and spirit them away to be "converted" and then "married" to their soldiers leaving Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama and other obviously superior and intellectual experts to "#bringbackourgirls" as their most-effective response.
Yup...all religions are obviously the same... to morons who cannot be bothered with facts or details.
But they aren't. We truly are the only animal smart enough to believe in fairy tales.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Islam does NOT mean "peace". That faux-definition has been peddeled to unsuspecting western populations by their elite opinion makers for many years in support of the globalization projects they are all comitted to. They need their populations to not fear Muslims as part of theproject to erase all borders to the wealthy and powerful can move money and labor around the world as easily as possible so they can make themselves even richer.
"Islam" actually means "Submission" and the leaders of that faith freely admit that when they link it with "peace" they mean that there will be globalpeace AFTER everybody on Earth submits to Islam and agrees to convert to Islam, or live under Muslims as second-class citizens with few rights, or die. Oh, and there are entire categories, particularly gays and atheists, who are not entitled to a choice - they MUST be killed.
They must suck at trigonometry then.
I believe the word you are looking for is "Masonic."
I have no idea what this fatwa has with bricklaying.
You rarely find a card that does not contain such a star. It is associated with Judaism, ...."
Pokemon is a video game.... there are no cards....
Also, what is the deal with countries passing Anti-Semitic laws targeting to ban the practice of Judaism?
There should be a global embargo against such countries, which have no respect for human rights....
since early Egypt and much earlier.
Christianity has got nothing to do with triangles, squares, other shapes or any other symbol except the cross.
Even the cross was actually used by the Romans to punch people, and the Christians found it to be an good symbol for an anti-Roman movement.
I have been in Saudi Arabia, and it has many buildings with triangles and masonic-like symbols...
I would rate your comment as funny, not insightful.
21758
The reasons stated for banning are, in this order: gambling, evolution, use of religious symbols of other religions ("six-pointed star of Judaism", "the cross", "angles and triangles - Masonry", "Symbols of the Shinto creed").
So... the "Zionism-promoting" thing is invention and interpretation of Times of Israel, as neither Zionism nor Israel are mentioned in the fatwa.
Other than that, the entire thing reads like any other religious edict of any religion - detached from reality, one leg in conspiracy theories and religious paranoia, other leg firmly cemented in mental issues.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
My GF was told that, possibly by one of her relatives. I gather from some stuff she'd said that some of them are religious loons.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
They sound more like a crazy man's forum rant
I found it quite funny that you wrote punch instead of punish =)
"When you see your likeness, you are pleased. But when you see your images which came into being before you, and which neither die nor become manifest, how much you will have to bear!"
Prior art, by about 1800 years.
Does sound more Darwinian than Lamarckian, though, true, and accurately capturing the eventual social controversy. Got to catch them all.
~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
...is just about as much fun as Catholicism.
So frequently one will attack people, saying that it is for Islam, but then everyone will say "it wasn't really, he's just insane".
I think you have this backwards. If a Muslim guy kills half a dozen people, the media headlines say "Terrorist Attack"! If a random white guy kills half a dozen people, the media story says "Another mass shooting by an insane guy." But the number of "insane guys" who do mass shootings outnumbers the number of Muslim guys-- thousands of killings by ordinary Americans, versus a handful by Muslims..
(source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-... )
A harder question is: why are Americans so terrorized, when the actual threat is trivial? http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2...
Do you not remember the moral panic in the 1980's over Dungeons and Dragons? Or the Judas Priest subliminal message trial?
All society's suffer from this sort of insanity from time to time.
WW3 will cleanse the world of such tyranny. We may not live to see it but given human nature it is not a question of if but when will happen.
The Pokémon franchise also has a huge trading card game that has been around since 1996. The 2001 fatwa would have included that form of the game.
The underpinnings of your religion must be pretty weak if it is threatened by such minor contrivances.
love is just extroverted narcissism
And HEY, look at that "swoosh" icon! Are they promoting the wearing of athletic shoes as well?
The pokemon collectable card game is the second most popular ccg in the world (after Magic). You can pick up pokemon cards at Target, K-mart, Walmart, or if you prefer ordering online, Amazon will sell them to you. They aren't exactly hard to find...
When the world stops trading goods with them. (ie: buying oil)
The only reason these countries have leadership who adhere to this nonsense is they use it to control their personal economic position in society. Run them out of financial capital and the incentive for philosophical control dries up.
"Haven't you noticed, muslims are often completely insane?"
Fuck off. There is nothing wrong with Muslims or Islam you racist piece of shit.
If someone is committing a terrorist act claiming that they are doing it because they are a Muslim or in the name of Islam it is bullshit. Islam is peaceful. They are either lying about being muslim/islamic or they are a Zionist stooge.
Thank you, I had forgotten the "they blame everything on the Zionists" to add to the list of muslim insanities. You obviously suffer from a lot of them
I think you are vastly understating the significance of triangle and cross symbolism.
Then again, not nearly so much as the Saudis. :P
My crazy catholic aunt did this. Harry Potter = Witchcraft and is bad. Narnia = good because christian allegory. Lord of the Rings = good because childhood memories of reading the books. D&D = Super Bad Witchcraft Evil. It still makes my head hurt to this day.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
Don't ever change!
Our expectations of you are zero and you never fail to meet that standard. Slow Clap!
Maybe it encourages belief in somebody's theory of evolution, but it sure as shit isn't Darwin's.
The timesofisrael where the original story appears has delivered malware in the past: https://blog.malwarebytes.com/threat-analysis/2014/09/malvertising-hits-the-times-of-israel-newspaper/
I just followed the link to that pokemon ban story, FF locked up, a dos window flashed momentarily on my second screen, I tried to C_A_D but nothing happened, so I turned off my machine unplugged my eth cable, and restarted, OS (Win 10 Pro) very slow to load, and while tray icons were loading, I saw one I had never seen before appear and then disappear. Yes this just happened, and it really sucks, 'cause I'm at work with a about 4000 other machines in the domain.
warn.
And who ban words with the letter 'X' in them because the X resembles a cross.
Shouldn't they be banning words with the letter "t" then? Or are they those obnoxious people that always use all caps?
got a citation for any of this? I'm just curious, because this is the first I've heard this particular myth.
Out of curiosity, could you point out which Arab letter is an 'X'? (You *do* realize, I trust, that Arabic uses its own script?)
I read this and I'm just shaking my head at how incredibly ludicrous every word in that statement was.
If it weren't for the fact that millions of people live under the oppression of this sort of thinking, it would actually be funny.
When will these people finally join the 21st century and stop basing their entire lives around this bullshit?
Which is the point of this kind of PR... the Saudis are brilliant at doing things like diverting attention to things like how women aren't allowed to drive or a pokemon ban which divert attention from the fact that Saudi Arabia is a brutal and repressive totalitarian Islamic regime that represses every type of freedom the West holds dear, tortures people, beheads people, invades neighboring countries to install and maintain governments that repress their people and also pays to export and support a medieval form of Islam that has directly led to the ideology that supports terrorist attacks in Western countries.
Saudi Arabia is undermining Liberty and democracy at every turn and US politicians are fine with it as long as they keep sending the checks.
ok, i give in. if he promises to nuke the saudis in the first 1 minute of his term, ill vote for him. but i need to see his tiny hands NOT crossing their fingers.
Yeah, that's pretty nutz, but this person was a different sort of loony.
just trying to protect the fact that Mohammed is really......A POKEMON