10 Shocking Bans Implemented By Governments

No government in the world is perfect. We have all come to accept the fact that the entire structure of governance, whether it is capitalistic, communist, or anything else, has a lot of flaws attached to it. After all, these systems were created a long time ago, and the world has changed drastically since they were first conceived. Some governments, however, have been shocking in their approach, and have routinely executed some very bad decisions. Applying a ban on certain things is one way a government tends to assert their authority over the lives of people. Here are 10 shocking instances of ordinary things being banned by various governments:

Western Hair Cuts

Iran, a country that has several issues at hand, decided to ban western-styled haircuts in their country. Their local government is apparently displeased with the spread of western culture, and decided to take a stand by banning hair-cuts!

Valentine’s Day

Saudi Arabia believes that Valentine’s day is a violation to Muslim beliefs, which is why the light holiday is banned in the region. We can understand a country banning Valentine’s day because it is a pointless commercial activity that breeds consumerism, but this does not make any sense.

Gaming Consoles

China, one of the largest makers of electronics and gaming consoles, decided to ban gaming consoles because they believe that it has a negative affect on children. The purchase of non-console games however are allowed, and children there thoroughly exploit this loophole.

New Baby Names

For some truly absurd reasons, Denmark has a ban on new baby names. Parents need to have their child’s name approved by the government before the can endow it to the boy or girl. Right now, parents have a short list of 24,000 names to choose from, and any names that aren’t on the list require special permission.

Reincarnation

That’s right! China has a ban on reincarnation without prior consent. Although this does not mean anything to anyone in reality, the only reason this ban exists is so that China can control one of the strongest beliefs of the Tibetan Buddhists living in the region. How evil is that?

Small Breasts In Porn

Australia is the only country in the world that has a ban on the use of small breasts in porn. They believe that the chest size is directly connotative of underage children for some reason, and therefore they decided to ban all of it.

Avatar In 2D

This is another one to China. The country decided to ban ‘Avatar’ in 2D and only release the film in 3D. This is because they believe that the plot line is too reflective of American policies and they wanted to keep this propaganda out of their country. As the number of 3D theaters in the country are far less than the 2D ones, this nearly worked out as a full-blown ban of the film.

Accidently Banning Video Games

Greece managed to impose an accidental ban on video games when they were trying to lower the rates of electronic gambling. Apparently the legislation was so poorly worded, that the ban not only covered electronic slot machines, but all electronic gaming devices. Fortunately the mistake was brought to attention and the ban was lifted by the end of the year.

Emo Clothes

Russia decided to take a stand against emo’s; as if enough people weren’t already making the lives of these kids miserable. The country wanted to lower their national suicide rates and decided that deterring children from dressing like emo’s is one way of doing so.

Marmite And Ovaltine

Denmark decided to impose a ban on advertisement of all fortified foods in order to preserve the health of its citizens. This means that advertising breakfast cereals, Ovaltine and Marmite is illegal in the country.