ARGUMENTATION FOR MY STUDENTS

"Pokemon Go should be banned/haramized because it is produced by Freemasonry with a secret agenda."

Do you agree?


SAMPLE RESPONSE

ARGUMENT
Some people agree with the above arguments in view of the following premises:

A) they detected masonic symbols in the game. The game promotes darwinism which leads to atheism. Every freemason is an atheist.

B) The game has caused many accidents. Fans are so fanatic with the game to the extent that they even play it when driving or crossing roads.


COUNTER-ARGUMENT
However, some argue that it should be banned in view of the following premises:


a) Argument A above contains the barrier of stereotyping because it overgeneralizes that all freemasons are atheists. In reality, every member of freemason must prove his belief in God in order to be qualified as a masonic member.

b) Argument B above contains that fallacy of red herring because it diverts the issue from game to fans. The issue at stake is about the GAME, not about the attitude of its FANS. Every game and even religion has some fans who are fanatics and they have done stupid things but this does not necessarily means the game or religion concerned should be banned. If one is consistent, then one must also ban every game or even religion that causes harm to humanity.


REBUTTAL
After evaluating the argument for and against the banning of pokemon go above, I come to the conclusion that it should not be banned but precautions must be applied. This is based on the following premises:


a) I think that symbols should not be something to be worried about because it is every company, every organization does impose its symbols on its products. However, the authority must make always make sure that symbols in Pokemon go do not promote negative attitudes such as violence, extremism, materialism.


b) Islam allows entertainment. But since one of the maqasid shari'ah is preservation of nafs (self), then one must have enough data that playing pokemon causes a significant increase in the number of accidents before one bans it. Since so far no solid research has been done on C&S of pokemon where statistics of accidents are supplied with proper analysis, I proposed NOT to haramize pokemon go.  But in view of its bans in Israel, South Korea where it is not allowed in certain areas, I think we should not fall into the fallacy of false alternatives where one has to choose either haram or halal. I think we also have the 3rd alternative i.e. makruh. This I choose to impose a soft makruh on the play of pokemon go. We need to give up minor benefit in order to avoid major harm.  We need to give up the minor benefit of entertainment, of exercise thru playing pokemon go. This is to avoid the major harm of letting a foreign company invading our personal privacy and getting latest pictures of some important areas in our country.