Well this is impressive. On the same day that I was writing Part One, saying how Pokemon Go looks set to be the Donald Trump of news, this bombshell dropped.
Saudi Arabia's top clerics have renewed a religious edict that warns against playing Pokemon. The edict notes that a six-pointed star in the game, for example, is associated with the state of Israel and that certain triangular symbols hold important meanings for the Freemasonry. And here I thought conspiracies were only for crazy people.
The story gets even weirder. Crosses in the game are a symbol of Christianity, while other symbols are associated with polytheism, says the edict. Alice in Wonderland is looking sane by comparison. And if you think the Saudis are the only ones, read on.
Russian authorities have also weighed in on Pokemon Go, saying that it resembles Western intelligence agencies and the Devil himself. To be exact, Franz Klintsevich, the first deputy chairman of the Federal Council’s Committee on Defense, said: “There’s the feeling that the Devil has arrived through this mechanism, and he’s simply trying to ruin us spiritually, from within.”
It is interesting to note that even with talk of "politically destabilising effects" Pokemon Go is not banned in Russia. Yet.
In Indonesia, governor Made Mangku Pastika of the Indonesian island of Bali has prohibited public officials from using the augmented reality game. Pastika recently told the Tribun Bali, “If they [public officials] jump on the Pokémon bandwagon, then there’s no need for them to ever come back to the office again.” Well at least this makes SOME sense, though a bit extreme.
And then we move to the first world countries. Australian authorities have declared that “I was collecting Pokemon” is not a legal defense” for people charged with trespassing. Funny, I was just mentioning that in Part One. Kudos to them for reacting swiftly.
The next part is hilarious, and also related to trespassing.
The Australian police also urged Pokemon players to stop trying to catch Sandshrew in the Darwin Police Station. “For those budding Pokemon Trainers out there using Pokemon Go—whilst the Darwin Police Station may feature as a Pokestop, please be advised that you don’t actually have to step inside in order to gain the pokeballs,” they wrote on Facebook. As police stations are considered public places, I can see the problem in trying to make people leave without incident already.
Portugal is the most moderate when it comes to Pokemon measures. As part of list of commonsense rules for playing Pokemon Go, the Portuguese police have warned Pokemon trainers not to hunt Pokemons while driving, since it’s too hard to do two things at once. On their Facebook page, the police also posted a message saying: “Don’t go hunting alone” and “don’t enter private property, it’s a crime.” So far they have not reported any Pokemon related arrests yet.
I have only covered a few countries in Part Two. Some are rather minor points, like Portugal's take on phone driving. The Middle East looks dead set against it already, for dubious reasons. It will be interesting to see further developments as
more people start to play. Check back in a week for Part Three.
Written by Don
