The Bizarre Reason This Politician Is Burning Pokemon Cards
What happens when you combine a politician, parenting, and Twitter? It might sound like the start of a bad joke, but one Republican politician brought the situation into real life by jokingly saying that they burn Pokemon cards as a punishment for their kids. Meet Liz Mair. If you're a political guru and don't recognize her name, don't beat yourself up — she's worked as a communications strategist since 2008 with a diverse background in both US and UK political work. Most notably, she worked on John McCain and Sarah Palin's presidential campaign according to her website.
On October 14, she tweeted out that Twitter was getting "really boring," and that she may try to "deliberately" tweet "crazy and offensive" things to get people fired up. The very next day, she did just that and tweeted about how she's found a new punishment for her child: "burning Pokemon cards." In a follow-up tweet, she mentioned that the punishment was bestowed because her child wouldn't eat his food, and that the 7-year-old was too skinny and "needed to put on some muscle." While the joke was obvious to Mair and people familiar with her timeline, many Twitter users weren't impressed and were quick to express that.
The joke fell flat
The biggest takeaway many users pointed out was that this form of "parenting" only harms kids and leads to disowned parents in the future. Even comedian Seth Rogan got in on the Twitter action, as he jokingly tweeted out to "save the valuable ones so they can pay for therapy when they're older."
Rogan had a point — Pokemon cards are worth more than many people think. They generally keep their value as well, even when expensive cards get rereleased, since many people collect them rather than just use them in actual play. Rapper Logic spent over $220k on a Pokemon card last year, and its value has probably only increased since.
Many Twitter users realized that Mair was joking, but it still didn't impress them. One Twitter user pointed out that "the line between reality and satire is blurry" with a picture of Mair's original tweet about Twitter becoming boring. Another user responded by calling the punishment child abuse. While Mair might have meant the joke as just that — a joke — many were upset because the politician made light of a problem that can be toxic and damaging. Mair didn't seem to understand people's concerns, as she continuously tweeted that people were taking the joke out of context and not getting it.