But more hypocritical than the double standard Americans have established to judge Islamic people, it's the hypocrisy of perpetrating precisely what they deem unacceptable for the Muslim leaders, exact moral standards of decency on its people. The socially conservative right (which includes such ostensibly liberal figures as Tipper and Al Gore and Joseph Leiberman who championed decency standards for television, films and music) has historically campaigned, although ill-fatedly, for the banning of art. Rudolph Guliani threatened to withdraw funding for the Brooklyn Museum for a piece of art he considered unsuitable for the population. Jerry Falwell castigated "Teletubbies" for including a gay character, identified as such by its symbolic purple color, its hand bag accessory, and its antennae twisted into a provocative triangle. A locale in the state of Texas indicted a comic book store owner for carrying "Legend of the Overfiend," which he had even responsibly sectioned off in an area marked "for adults only."

It comes down to the notion ingrained in moral elitists the world over that they must save people from themselves, an impossible goal that any AA counselor would refute as a legitimate way of healing, or any drug war opponent would claim only fuels the problem. It is a fallacy that taking away the output of prurience and violence will cure the world of prurience and violence, akin to the idea that by cutting the string off of a hot air balloon it will cease to be buoyant.

But it's this philosophy, entrenched in a majority of voting Americans, that commands the world stage. Thankfully, the United States Constitution has consistently landed on the side of freedom of expression despite litigious troglodytes daisy chaining defendants through the legal system like a magazine of bullets through a howitzer.

And who are the more intolerant? How many anime titles fuel gung-ho patriotism that intrinsically pre-judges other cultures? How many anime titles shove minorities into stereotypical roles in a misguided attempt at realism? How many anime titles cast blacks, Hispanics or Arabs as honest to god villains? Who do they cast as the villains? Americans.

David Schechter of Los Angeles also responded to the April 24th LA Times article: "Think of how much easier it would be to achieve peace in the Middle East if these same Arab leaders devoted their energies not to legislating against Pokemon but to solving the problems of their growing poor and uneducated populations."

To close, with Mr. Schechter's comments as a model, think of how much easier it would be to achieve any progress in the United States if these same US leaders devoted their energies not to legislating against entertainment but to solving the problems of their growing poor and uneducated populations.

Pokémon © 1997, 2000 Nintendo, CREATURES, GAME FREAK, TV Tokyo, ShoPro, JR Kikaku, Pokémon, Pikachu and all other Pokémon character names are tradmarks of Nintendo.