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Becoming evil

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Nekusagi

Badass office lady
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Okay... maybe this is more of a psychological question than anything else, but I was working on this character bio for an original character in a story me and Roxy are working on, and I started wondering what it is that would drive a person in the Pokemon universe to join one of the evil groups (Rocket, Cipher, Magma, or Aqua). I do have three theories:

1) The person was born into the organization (i.e., their parents were members, and they were more or less raised to be loyal to said group)
2) The person was forced/brainwashed into joining the organization. (a common scene in many fanfictions)
3) The person in question joined out of their own free will.

The first two are understandable, but it's number three that blows my mind most. Yes, I know that there are people in life who are less than moral, but I seriously don't get what would possess a person to basically sell their soul to one person who, at least in anime canon, more than likely will end up being a complete a**hole to them and values their welfare as much as they value a wad of lint. Even though it gets romanticized a lot in fanfiction, working for one of the organizations, in all actuality, would be a bitch.
Thoughts?
 
I'd say all three. As for the third one, deception may be involved or maybe the person has the false sense that they'll get money/power out of joining one of the Teams. I'm also under the impression that Teams Aqua and Magma are sort of cults, so maybe its members truly believe in their repsective boss' cause.
 
We know from the anime that Team Rocket actually pays *wages* to its members. One would assume that you'd get paid more as your rank rose as well. In that sense, it becomes more like a job involving Pokémon training, with some potential hazards (a lot of what you're doing may be illegal, and could put you in jail), and a good lot of side benifits (access to TR equipment, the sheer fun of being evil, etc).
 
I would think it wouldn't be too hard to convince someone with a weak mind to go to their side, or even to convince people that pokemon are merely tools for power. Greed is a very powerful force. I think Jessie and James joined TR because they were weak. They had failed at what would've otherwise been their life. Even Meowth succumbed to the same fate, even though he's a pokemon. Although I would believe those that truly believe what TR stands for, the ones that have no caring heart at all, possibly due to an especially hard life, are the ones that stand out in TR. As for TM and TA, they are evil to a lesser degree. They actually believe that what they are doing is for the benefit of all, but they are so extremist that they cause pain and destruction. I am not convinced that any of TM or TA are as genuinely evil as TR.

EDIT: I also know that people that are otherwise good can be forced to do evil deeds, given that they have no other choice
 
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Jessie and James weren't necessarily weak. Jessie became bitter to the world after it pushed her down so many times while James is on the run from Jessiebelle.
 
Well, the person probably says this: I want to work with pokemon, but training is just another way of going through life begging for coins from complete strangers. Yet, if I join Team Whatever, I get paid, get to do cool battles, and I get paid. Works for me!
 
Why?

People are capable of immense self-deception and are capable of dreaming up the most elaborate rationalisations for their actions. However, in practice, those who join TR do so for only three possible reasons:
  1. Money and/or power
  2. The whole "bad guy" mystique is cool, in their view, and they want part of it :sweat:
  3. They are basically thugs and the thought of actually being paid to hurt and terrorise people seems too good to be true
Butch and Cassidy, IMHO, are motivated by reason 1 while the Iron Masked Marauder is definately a 3.

Jessie and James are pretty much unique in that they don't fit into this list of options. With Jessie, Team Rocket seems to be an attempt to somehow live up to her mother's memory. James, on the other hand, seems to be one of this world's natural followers - he will follow anyone sufficiently strong-willed. In this case, he followed his old Pokémon Tech classmate Jessie into TR.

As Roses Ablaze pointed out, Team Magma and Team Aqua also have a significant number of 'cultist' members who believe it is their duty to devastate the world using Kygore or Groudon as those Pokémon are their respective gods and what they do is automatically correct. :eek:hdear: Unfortunately, that mindset is all-too familliar in this universe too. :-(
 
Well, I've always seen TR as somewhat cultlike too... Especially after that girl in the warehouse in FR/LG said that thing about how she put her faith in Gio....
 
Why do people join real gangs? Desperation! They need something and get sucked in. By the time they know what's going no, it's too late and/or don't care.
 
To expand on what Big Al said, people join gangs because they see no alternative in their lives. They don't have the education or opportunities to do otherwise. They see gangs are feared, have power in their communities if for no other reason than intimidation, and usually have money gained through illegal activities. Why wouldn't it be attractive to somebody without options?
 
That's my reason no. 1 - Money or power. When you don't have it and don't have any legitimate way to get it, you might consider taking the criminal path.
 
Blocked opportunity theory applies to a certain point. Why would you become a criminal UNDER SOMEONE ELSE, though? The team pays wages but apparently also charges dues, which when you think about it doesn't make much sense.
 
Protection and a sense of family are other incentives to join a gang. Mess with me and you mess with my homies.

As to paying wages and collecting dues a la Team Rocket, that seems too sanitized for me. But what do you expect from a show targeted at mostly kids?

In the real world, individual gang members can free-lance to an extent by robbing and terrorizing others, but it can only go so far before the community rises up against the gang. No, there has to be some form of revenue sharing in gangs. If a gang is dealing drugs for example, that money has to be distributed somehow if not in cash, than in material goods. Naturally, some will get more than others.
 
Well, yeah, desperation is the only other reason I could think of too. That's the reason my character in our story's in TR... she really was left with no other way to survive. But still, that's always come off to me as rationalization if nothing else.
 
Among other things, I agree with the family idea. Both Jessie and James had sort of lost everything, and Team Rocket was where they could feel they belonged.

As for the person being an ass... Giovanni's only that bad to Jessie and James. He's GREAT to Butch and Cassidy. Why? Jessie and James are INCOMPETANT.
 
I'd like to see how Giovanni treats Butch and Cassidy after the events of AG...
 
FabuVinny said:
I'd like to see how Giovanni treats Butch and Cassidy after the events of AG...
Click to expand...

What happens in AG?

I haven't watched regularly in a while... College means late friday nights and thus late saturday mornings... Also, I don't like May.
 
I haven't seen Butch and Cassidy in any of the dubbed AG episodes yet. Do they appear in a future episode? Or are you referring to the Hoso episodes?
 
I believe FabuVinny is referring to the Hosos, yes.

And Bard, in the Hoso Specials, Butch and Cassidy basically fail multiple times to steal Pokémon from people like Misty and Professor Oak. Granted, they still go about their buisness more professionally than Jessie and James, but they fail just as badly.

(BTW - You joined! Yay! Hi Bard. =D)
 
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