Darth Wong wrote:Gil Hamilton wrote:Everyone is armed. While guns don't seem to really exist in the land of pokemon, everyone seems to be carrying around and in command of some dangerous pokemon, which they can use to defend themselves and their loved ones and property against criminals.
However, the Pokemon appear to be the ONLY permissible form of private armament. Most Pokemon would be useless against firearms, which any criminal could use to wreak havoc in this fair city, seemingly defended only by children with Pokemon balls.
You
do know that several adults, including the police, also use Pokemon, right? And many of them are unafraid of guns.
Law and order is nonexistent (although I suppose libertarians consider anarchy to be "utopia"): the police officers we see never seem to interfere in the street brawls which routinely erupt between youth gangs, and no one even bothers contacting police when a Pokemon is kidnapped, which suggests that they're of marginal usefulness.
That's because more often than not, they just go right after the kidnappers in question, who are more often than not, Jessie and James. As Ash is the one with the most experience in dealing with the two of them(at least three years, with little breaks), he's the best to deal with them. The fact that there are often no police around(the majority of TR attacks take place between towns and cities), and that Ash usually can reach and stop TR the same day of the kidnapping help also.
When other members of Team Rocket(the competent ones) come up with something, the Authorities
do get involved, and are usually well into the investigation by the time Ash-Tachi arrive.
Justice is swift and criminals always succumb to "citizens arrest". The government and local authorities don't ever tend to succeed in fighting crime, it is always the well armed citizen that prevails in foiling evil schemes.
The "well-armed citizens" are always children armed with Pokemon; where are the adults and police officers with firearms?
Try the Safari Zone.
Look above. One episode of the series was banned in the US because they had guns in it.
In a short order, the side of law and liberty always wins. Even the very world seems to bend to the will of law and order, with the laws of physics routinely changing to punish and brutalize lawbreakers, case in point, even boxes full of ice can become powerful explosives when Team Rocket is in the vicinity (this actually happened once).
Actually, a successful enforcement of law means that crime is minimized, whereas the laws of physics in Pokemon invariably allow criminals to not only get away to commit another crime, but to survive even the most seemingly horrendous accidents, no matter how stupendously incompetent they are. In reality, the laws of physics in Pokemon seem designed to guarantee perpetual insecurity, disorder, and anarchy.
Those only apply to Jessie and James, who have 'Toon-level Character Shields. Other Team Rocket Agents don't get off that easily. It usually takes Giovanni himself to bail them out, something he only does for his best agents. The times Jessie and James have been arrested, they had to escape on their own.
Likewise, corrupt fatcat officials, such as the mayor of that one town, end up getting their comeuppance by the end of the episode and lose authority.
To be replaced by whom?
They never say. Ash-tachi are usually gone before that is sorted out. In the incedent in which it occcured, there was an election coming up, so I suppose the other guy won.
Small businesses and barter of services rule the day. In the world of Pokemon, small businesses tend to be the best kind and hold their own against large corporations. Case in point, the best charcoal doesn't come from the factory that mass produces it, but rather comes from the that guy who lives near the Ilex woods in Johto, who goes out with his Farfetch'd, cuts and collects the wood himself, and hand chars the bricks. Everyone recognizes this.
In the modern world, the best products often come from small-fry operations. But that doesn't change the fact that the big operations make and control all of the money.
That's where Sliph Co. and guys like Giovanni come in.
Anyone who is willing to work hard can be successful. No matter what your station in life, you can make it through hardwork and dedication. For instance, every time Jesse and James need a new giant robot for their schemes, you will often here them complaining about having to work some crappy jobs to pay for it. Likewise, being a successful pokemon trainer is obviously quite lucrative if you are good at it, as demonstrated by Gary Oak, who could afford to support a fancy sports car and a half dozen floozies (and they didn't look like cheap floozies either).
Actually, the financial success of people who contribute nothing of substantive value to society in the Pokemon universe is an indictment of its values. We are talking about a society which seems to revolve around glorified cock-fights, in which people train animals to fight one another for sport.
Actually, the focus seems to be as much, if not more so, on the Pokemon themselves. Many small businesses utilize Pokemon as messengers, weather indicators, batteries, heavy machinery, and many other duties.
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