thanks for coming to my ted talk

In the Kofun period, as the early Japanese courts adopted Chinese culture, plant-type pokemon rose to social prominence, as Chinese philosophers glorified plant-type pokémon for their value in cultivating land, sustaining civilization, and promoting social harmony with their aesthetics (and, as would be later understood, chemical manipulation of the human brain). For this reason, the bulbasaur, a ubiquitous pokemon in China, was adopted as the chief pokemon of the Japanese imperial courts, despite the creature being alien to Japan. Later Japanese emperors would enshrine the mountain-carving Korean Blastoise and, much later, the European Charizard as equal symbols of Japanese cultural reach, but Bulbasaur always held the position as the primal pokemon of Kanto.

This “plantmania” did have a literally toxic knock-on effect, as the Kanto population of plant-type pokémon are entirely poisonous, unlike those found in other regions (including the imported Sinnohan Tangela; note that Tangela only dwells in a patch of grass near the aging port of Pallet Town, and in the Safari Zone). This led to a disproportionate amount of power concentrating in the hands of the psychic-training mediums in Kanto society, including the notorious “shadow regime” of the Itako of Mt. Osore.

Due to the psychic stranglehold on Kantese politics, the people were unusually ignorant of Ghost-types (with their existence only confirmed with the Sylph Co.’s work at the end of the 20th century), and Dark-types had been completely exterminated from the region despite their presence in neighboring Johto (with the dark variants of Kantese pokémon establishing roots in Pacific Island chains such as Alola).

Oda Nobunaga introduced Steel and Dark-type pokémon into the region in his attempt to unify Honshu and wrestle power from regional psychic priesthoods; While these types remained in Johto, their population never stabilized in Kanto and faded quickly after Nobunaga’s death in Honnō-ji at the hands of Akechi Mitsuhide‘s Portuguese Charizard Kapadokya.

At the end of the Kofun period, the Emperor established a rule to curb similar excesses; the peasantry could only own normal and bug Pokemon, while those of the merchant class could use water and flying, and no more than three. The other types, especially the “heavenly,” were the domain of the nobility; a noble could train up to six pokemon, but they must be of the type of their house. The Dragon-class was the sole domain of the Emperor and his household, who alone could raise pokémon of any type, without restriction. The Dragon-class privilege was later extended to the shogun in the Tokugawa period, leading to the eradication of the Fairy-type from Japan, with most local varieties of those species bred into normal-types.

This legally enforced connection of the poke to the symbolism of the noble and imperial houses lead to their conceptual merger with the Japanese system of heraldry, the mon.

In the Kamakura period, Johto became a major cultural and commercial center, as its rich soil allowed the production of Apricorns, which could be ritually altered with carving and mercury inlaying to seal away pokemon in a small, weightless space. These sealing spheres allowed the development of a far more efficient and mobile pokémon warrior class, leading to the ascension of the pokésamurai and a strong ronin underbelly, with Minamoto no Yoritomo generally acknowledged as the first pokemon master.

I occasionally encounter well-meaning people who, upon hearing of my anxiety disorder, take it upon themselves to “help me face my fears.” They know a little bit about exposure therapy, so they figure that if they just tell me “You can do it! It’ll be fine!” and throw me into the anxiety-provoking situation, I will conquer my fear.

One of the biggest examples of exposure therapy working that I’ve heard about is with people who are afraid of dogs after being attacked or bitten, usually as a child. Their exposure therapy involves being slowly introduced to other dogs, often therapy dogs that are trained to be calm. It works, not because of the type of therapy, but because their fear isn’t based in the way their brain is physically built.

Using “”exposure therapy”” for things like forcing autistic people to listen to loud sounds until they stop reacting to it isn’t therapy, it’s torture. It doesn’t make it easier for us, it just makes us learn how to hide that we’re uncomfortable and in pain, and also that those putting us through it are not to be trusted.

“Psychotherapists treat arachnophobia with exposure therapy, too. They expose people first to cute, little spiders behind a glass cage. Then bigger spiders. Then they take them out of the cage. Finally, in a carefully controlled environment with their very supportive therapist standing by, they make people experience their worst fear, like having a big tarantula crawl all over them. It usually works pretty well.

but then suddenly ZOOP

The only argument I’ve seen for hating them is: "they sting and it hurts" (yeah horses can kick you in the face and kill you, Sharon, but I don't see them getting demonised) which isn't even a PLAUSIBLE reason for all the wasp hate. I'm sure it's incredibly painful, so I get the fear,really, I do...  But I've had wasps literally land on my nose. On two separate occasions (both in secondary school. Gangs of kids on lunch break with food + trash cans = wasp buffet). 

I stayed still, and calm, and wasn't stung either time. 

Now I’m aware that can be difficult to do during a moment of tension but TRUST ME. A wasp that stings you when you’re standing perfectly still and calm had been aggravated somehow and was gonna stick you anyway, staying still is the only way you’re gonna get out of this without swollen appendages. And like, if you have more fitting concerns re: wasps, such as allergies, then it's even MORE important that we lessen the stigma around them because when someone who is allergic to wasp stings sees a wasp the LAST thing you want them to do is panic-slap.