Have you ever felt that way about something?

I am not the type to care at all, which is why I'm really surprised that I can't help but feel this way while playing the recently released Yokai Watch on the 3DS.

In case you don't know it, it's sort of a pokémon clone where you befriend these ghosts called Yokai and they fight for you. My problem is that in this universe you see Yokai influencing people to act in certain ways, to the point where it seems like no one is responsible for their own actions. Most side quests involve people doing something bad, such as saying mean things to someone else, and what do you know? A Yokai made them do it after all. Every. Time.

Now this game, like pokémon, at least in part aims for a young audience. It even has an anime that I think is coming out soon. Whenever I do another quest I can't stop thinking about what a terrible message this is for children, if you tell them that no one is responsible for anything, then how are they supposed to address their own flaws and try to be better.

The worst case I can think of is one in game moment where the main character's parents are at each others throats. Why? You guessed it, a Yokai made them fight. So here I can't help but think of the little 6 year old child with problems at home who blames himself, because if he could only fight the bad Yokai like the kid in his game and the anime he loves so much, then his parents wouldn't fight so much.

I'm probably overthinking this way too much, I'm sure it's fine, and like I said I usually don't care about this kind of stuff. So, have you ever felt this way? Where you watched or played something for kids and thought it was, though probably well meaning, a bit problematic?

A doctor, a lawyer, and a priest walk into an orphanage.

Suddenly, the building catches fire! Flames are everywhere, and the three of them find themselves near the entrance, ready to make their escape.

"But wait!" cries the doctor, "The children!"

"F*** the children!" shouts the lawyer.

"But do we have time?" asks the priest.

+1, that better describes my opinion than I ever could.

Writing that one down. XD

LOL
you win!

I find that the "think of the children" argument is misused to the point where I consider it to be a sign that someone is a bigot or at least misguided on some issue.

It's much like the term "Family"; if an organization has the word "family" in its name, it is very likely an organization that happens to consider non-traditional families abominations and fights against the rights of such families. (A traditional family is one where the children are raised by opposite-sex cisgender parents; a non-traditional family is anything else.)

The "think of the children" phrase reminds me of the whole scare tactics that social conservatives used to defeat Houston's HERO act (and similar cases); they say that men should not go into the restroom with girls, refusing to acknowledge the fact that trans women are not men, that trans girls are more likely to be harassed in the men's room than to be attacked, and they ignore the fact that trans men (people assigned female at birth but transition to male, complete with hormones that cause beard growth and other masculine features) exist.

(Also, note that bathroom scares were used to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment which would have added sex discrimination protections to the U.S. Constitution.)

Middle of the night, a child molester is dragging a young boy deep onto the woods.

The boy is crying his eyes out and shaking terribly.

Eventually the child molester stops and ask, "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

The boy says, "I'm scared!"

The child molester says, "Kid, you think you're scared, I gotta walk back alone!"

Now I know you're trolling. Somehow you can manage to turn absolutely ANY topic into a war on gendered bathrooms. What is it with you and bathrooms? Someone could make a post asking whether to go with wood paneling or porcelain tile for their new kitchen decor, and yet you'd spin it to be about the bathroom patriarchy. For fuck sake, give it a rest.

You're overthinking it. The game sounds cute. I believe yokai have a tradition in Japanese folklore and there are countless stories about yokai playing tricks on humans. And I mean, even though it's probably less rooted in our culture, we do have a tradition of fairy tales about e.g. household spirits or mischievous pixies that you can blame stuff on in Europe, too. I don't think the average six year old would take that seriously and apply it to their own family situation. Children are able to understand metaphors, too, and if they even try to find a moral in the game's stories, I doubt it would be "whatever I do, it's not my fault"; it could just as well be "if other people act mean, they don't always mean it that way, maybe they're just under a bad influence / in a bad mood". So this could also comfort them and help them empathize with others, but frankly I believe children will just perceive it as a nice (or funny) story.

But yeah, occasionally I have these thoughts, too. Like when I read a novel for teenagers with a heroine who started out strong willed, rebellious and independent and ended up a hopeless romantic who didn't find life worth living without the boy she fell in love with. Talk about coming of age. :P

I thought you're supposed to think of England, but whatever works I guess...

I wouldn't be too worried since kids going to be playing / watching this will at least have a basic understanding or normalcy concept of who is responsible for what.

Are kids really that sensitive? Blaming themselves for anything? 'Cause I remember, when I was a kid, I used to blame everyone else for the stupid things I did. First my cousin, then my younger brother. Sometimes they believed me, too! :D

I agree with the lawyer.

What we have today is nothing but garbage, slutty generation being raised by garbage, morally, culturally bankrupt parents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veMYmFpyNic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbYYiEukvlk