When in Rome, do as the Romans do. This old adage applies to all of the enticing places we've visited or have yet to visit. The same goes with full force for restrictions.
There exist certain prohibitions that may sound absurd since they have to do with normal everyday things but some governments have found in them a solution to pressing societal problems.
All we can do is follow them. The site MentalFloss recently presented the most far-fetched restrictions.
Computer games are banned in Greece
What would happen if the United States government decided to ban computer games? We can get an idea by looking to Greece. In 2002, the Greek government passed a law banning all and any types of video games.
The law encompasses everything from solitaire to consoles. All digital games ended up prohibited. The law was passed in an effort to limit Internet gambling but due to bureaucracy it was written very ambiguously.
And so due to the inability of the Greek lawmakers to differentiate between video games and gambling, all computer games were banned. What followed? Furious protests of course. Consequently, the law was deemed unconstitutional. Interestingly, the law does still exist but is not enforced.
Want to time travel? This is not allowed in China!
Asian manners have always seemed strange to the West. The Chinese government injects an additional dose of strange in its aim toward the perfect communist society. Time travel itself is not banned in the socialist republic but its representation on the screen is.
According to Chinese officials, movies with such a plot encourage feudalism, superstitions, fatalism and the belief in reincarnation. Another absurd ban in the far Eastern country has to do with anything related to rebirth. But it has a slightly more logical explanation. Its goal is to decrease the influence of the Dalai Lama.
It is not a good idea to be emo in Russia
The emo style is banned in Russia. In 2008, the Russian State Duma passed a document titled "Government Strategy in the Sphere of Spiritual and Ethical Education". With it, government legislators want to limit the spread of this subculture. According to them, it encourages depression, social alienation and suicide.
Cell phones were banned in Cuba until recently
This ban has been lifted but until recently the island nation had a complete ban on cell phones. The goal was to limit American influence on the island.
Kinder chocolate eggs are banned in the US
In the country with the most firearms per capita, it is chocolate eggs with toys in them that are seen as highly dangerous. The ban on the treats was imposed for fear that children might choke on the small pieces of the toys. In 2014, US customs seized 60 000 Kinder chocolate eggs.
