Kansas schools ban Pokemon. NOT!

by Kyle Orland { Apr 6th 2007 at 1:45PM }

This is your friendly neighborhood rumor debunker, letting you all know that, despite what you may have read presented as fact elsewhere, the Kansas school board has NOT banned Pokemon products for promoting evolution content, as was amusingly asserted in this Daily Gaming News article.

Evidence to this effect (in rough ascending order of persuasiveness):

The AP and other national news organizations failed to pick up the story, despite obvious newsworthiness and popular interest.
National news outlets also failed to pick up the supposed church-led "Pokemon burnings" that supposedly led up to the decision.
The "Calvary Glorious Christ Church Militant and Triumphant Baptist Temple" mentioned in the article turns up exactly one Google result -- the article itself.
The Kansas School Board web site makes no mention of such an action.
The ACLU web site makes no mention of the alleged lawsuit against the school board.
The title bar on every page of Daily Gaming News includes the phrase "Seriously Satirical."
Everything on the Daily Gaming News site is an obvious joke, from a preview of Dentist Dentist Revolution to Latin textbooks containing a guild naming chapter.

Remember, just because April Fools Day is over doesn't mean we can let our guard down when it comes to picking out fake stories. Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for accurate game news.

[Thanks, Keavin]

Tags: ban, debunk, false, fool, kansas, pokemon, rumor, school

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ken @ Apr 6th 2007 1:51PM

Nice photoshop job!

Todd @ Apr 6th 2007 2:07PM

I love that pic. Awesome! Kudos!

Panadero @ Apr 6th 2007 2:07PM

PikaCHEW indeed.

Raynre @ Apr 6th 2007 2:09PM

I just can't stop staring into its soulless eyes... O_O

hvnlysoldr @ Apr 6th 2007 2:13PM

This reminds me of that Dueling Analog's comic of Pikachu dreaming Ash was barbecued by Charizard.

Jango311 @ Apr 6th 2007 2:17PM

I live in Kansas! Thats one thing helpful...
But I'm Home schooled sooooooooo I can't help you there...But I'm sure you would get your DS/GBA/GBC taken away if you caught playing Pokemon in class!

Lewis @ Apr 6th 2007 2:22PM

A family friend of mine is in some sort of religion that bans anime because it's "the devil's work and only brings satanic thoughts"

I died laughing.

hvnlysoldr @ Apr 6th 2007 2:37PM

So as a zombie the only natural thing to do is go onto a weblog and post how you died of laughter?

Chris @ Apr 6th 2007 2:45PM

Ha, hvnlysoldr you win funniest lame joke of the day. That made me lol.

Ken @ Apr 6th 2007 3:25PM

You're on fire hvnlysoldr lol.

Andrew @ Apr 6th 2007 3:36PM

I'm always surprised when people pick up one of these articles as truth. I thought that the "Seriously Satirical" at the top of the page, the "Believe what you read here at your own risk" at the bottom would be dead giveaways.

And I don't know a major (non-Christian) news outlet that would make reference to God killing dinosaurs for their rampant homosexuality. Ah well, there's one born every minute.

hvnlysoldr @ Apr 6th 2007 3:36PM

Stop drop roll. AGGHHHH! It's only spreading!

Spirit @ Apr 6th 2007 3:47PM

I remember maybe 3-4 years ago, I went to an alternative school.. they had Pokemon banned there. If we were good, we could play video games (we couldnt bring in our own, just the ones they had there), and in Super Smash Brothers, we weren't allowed to pick Pikachu! (But we could pick Jigglypuff... I believe it because he wasn't as representative of Pokemon as Pikachu....

Steve @ Apr 6th 2007 4:43PM

It goes the other way too. A few years ago when I was moving from PA I heard on the news that the state was planning to ban discussions that challenged the theory of evolution. The basis was that if they allowed discussions that challenge the theory in schools that it would open up the topic of religion. Gotta love it when our schools ban the questioning of science.

Dig @ Apr 6th 2007 6:46PM

Man, I wish people would stop hating on us Kansans. Although religious zealousness and anti-videogame politicians are our main exports, I wish we could just have the vague midwestern stereotypes of farming and cattle. Oh well.

Kevin @ Apr 6th 2007 11:21PM

Weird, my school banned pokemon like 10 years ago or whatever when i was in 5th grade.

Frosty @ Apr 7th 2007 1:23AM

Meh. I'm Northeast Kansas and we have been making major strides to get more moderate people in the School Board here. To the point of a previous post... the other side (Evolution fanatics) are just as crazy as Religious fanatics. There needs to be room for discussion so that are kids can figure this stuff out on their own instead of taking the words of fantastic fanatical fanatics.