Here Are The 50 Worst Legal Things That Should Be Illegal, As Shared In This Online Thread
Just because something is technically legal doesn’t automatically make it good, moral, or fair for consumers and regular folks alike. It might mean that the law simply hasn’t caught up to reality, that there are glaring flaws and oversights in the legal system, (or that sneaky lobbyists conduct clandestine operations to sway the system in the favor of their multi-billion dollar clients).
There are tons of small things that annoy us in our day-to-day lives. Like receiving unsolicited email subscriptions. Being unable to unsubscribe from spam without jumping through more hoops than a show dog. Being forced to pay a ‘convenience’ fee for, well, pretty much anything. As well as realizing that the person you helped vote into political office isn't fulfilling the promises they made. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of some truly unpleasant practices that are still prevalent in 2022.
User u/cucutz fired up a very interesting discussion on r/AskReddit after they asked the digital crowd to share their thoughts about completely legal things that should become illegal. We’ve collected the most interesting insights to share with you Pandas. Scroll down to read them all, and don’t forget to upvote the posts you agree with. Have the redditors missed something that you think is atrocious and needs to be banned? Be sure to share your opinions in the comments, Pandas.
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Forcing women to give birth.
Increasing the volume on commercials by 20 goddam decibels.
One of the things mentioned in the r/AskReddit thread concerns receiving unsolicited emails. And it's a great example showing us how the lines between privacy and vulnerability to marketing have become blurred in recent years.
Look, we’ve probably all been there: you start getting emails from random people, clogging up your inbox with paragraphs about weird products, news that you never wanted to get, and offers that simply don’t interest you. The fact of the matter is that your email can end up on some ad or PR agency’s list without you having come into contact with them at all in the past. It happens far more often if you’re even a semi-public person and your contact info is visible somewhere on a company website or on social media.
Child beauty pageants.
Gross and probably the reason of a lot of mental health issues as adults.
Politicians making medical decisions. They really do make cr*ppy doctors.
Remember when it was first suggested (by a politician ofc) that instead of terminating, an ectopic pregnancy should be re-implanted into the womb? Which is medically 100% impossible, but they insisted that it's possible, and this is still an existing myth in some circles? Yeah.
Declawing cats. I’d rather have my cats scratch my face off then ever putting them through that much pain.
It's not just their nails. It's similar to removing the whole distal bone of fingers and toes
Load More Replies...Don't adopt a cat if you can't train/handle their scratches on furniture n' stuff.
Cats won't scratch your furniture if you have scratching posts for them! I have 4 cats and all of my furniture is in perfect condition! (Well mostly, except for that slight sag in the sofa where my husband sits. LOL)
Load More Replies...Here is the US, it's (unfortunately) legal, but there are a lot of veterinarians that won't do it because they see the practice as cruel. They're right.
I declawed my first kitten 15 years ago because I didn't know how painful it was for them,& the vet never said anything to me about it beforehand! I still have her,& I feel SO horrible about it!I was SO stupid!I didn't get a second cat until 2019. That cat I adopted from a rescue,& he was they *think* about 8 years old, and I knew he wasn't all that well, but I wanted him to have a good life. After I got him I found out he had bad eye infection, so he had to have this $2000 eye surgery. But I got it done for him. A few months later I found out that he had Cancer. The vet oncologist thought that giving him radiation would save him. It was $5000. We did the radiation, but 3 months later the Cancer was growing rapidly and I had to put him down. I only had him a year, but he was the most special pet I ever had. All the nights curled up next to him in his favorite bed, and all the syringe feedings & meds were worth every moment with him. Now I have such a soft spot for special needs cats.
aw that's so sweet of you to adopt older cats. It's what I want to do, it might cause a lot of pain for me but the cats will be so much happier I believe it's worth it
Load More Replies...The ONLY reason I could ever conceive of that'd make it okay by ANY stretch of the word is if the cat scratches itself bloody because of some incurable condition the symptoms of which can't be regulated effectively. We only realized recently that one of our cats is allergic to some uncommon additive in certain brands of cat food, but before we figured out what was (likely) causing it, he was scratching his ear bloody all the time. Despite the best possible care we could give him (and consistent vet visits), by the end the entire side of his little head was bald and full of wounds he made himself. Thankfully we and our vet have found a way to manage it and he healed very nicely, fur is growing back too, but when it was at its worst.... as much as I abhor the practice, it did flash through my mind that maybe it'd be kinder to declaw that one foot, because there was a very real danger that he'd damage his eye, get a piece of litter or some bacteria in the wound, and lose an eye, or worse.
There are little coverings that fit over their nails to stop them from scratching. I'd do that before ever putting a cat through a declawing. My first rescue cat was one that someone did this to. His personality changed so much after the fact that they didn't want him anymore and put him up for adoption. They told me he was so depressed that he wasn't eating anymore. Saddest thing I ever saw and I knew I just had to make it better for him...well as best as I could without being able to give him his toes back. :(
Load More Replies...It's starting to not be super popular in the US anymore either. A lot of vets will not do it. Both of my cats are not declawed and they have been fine for the most part.
It's not fully legal in the USA. Maryland and New York it is illegal.
Load More Replies...It's not so much the pain because they knock the cat out when they do it. It's the fact that, when cats use a scratching post, it's not only to sharpen their claws, it's to stretch their backs and muscles so they stay flexible. And for all of those saying "My cat is an indoor cat only." If the cat should escape out of the home, it needs a way to defend itself until it can be found and brought back.
It can leave cats with chronic pain for the rest of their lives, it's not just the pain from the surgery.
Load More Replies...Since when? Not that think it shouldn't be, but my understanding is that its only NY and MD.
Load More Replies...I've never had a cat declawed, but the two girls I adopted a couple of years ago were already declawed. It makes me sad to see how they walk differently than cats that haven't had it done.
I've been clipping my cats claws since we was 3 months old. He's 7 and it doesn't hurt him. I use the temptation treats afterwards, and he gets excited when i pull out the nail clippers.
I am illiterate regarding this, kindly enlighten me. I have seen a lot of people clipping their cat nails, is it the same as declawing? They say that the nails always grow back. I am sorry, I don't know much about this, neither do I own a pet.
Clipping a cat’s claws is similar to cutting your own fingernails. It doesn’t hurt the animal and is necessary because claws grow in a curve. Clipping prevents them from becoming too long sharp. Declawing is removing the whole claw and is akin to cutting off a human’s fingers at the first joint. It essentially deforms a cat’s paws and can cause health problems. It’s also a very, very painful, and totally unnecessary, procedure that is rightfully considered animal abuse by many.
Load More Replies...I hate that we still call this "de-clawing". You're not declawing them, you are ripping off the last joint of their paws. For all the nonsense PETA put us through over the years, I have yet to see a poster of a child with the distal phalanx of each finger cut off and maybe bloodied gardenshear in the background. If that sounds gory and horrific to you, let me be the first to congratulate you on achieving the correct perspective on this monstrous practise. I don't believe in heaven or hell, but people that hurt animals make me wish I did.
It’s illegal in a handful of US states with several more trying to pass legislation. In California, it’s illegal by city or county, which just means some monster has to drive 30 minutes to another city or county to find a greedy vet willing to do it.
it also makes them anxious so they're likely to become biters and denies them the means with which to protect themselves.
Whoops. Should have kept reading before I went on my rant above in the cropping ears one
I think it is illegal in most parts of the US. That or veterinarians will just refuse to do it because it is inhumane.
nope. It should be but only illegal in 2 states. Most vets refuse to do it though in most states so the legality is kind of moot.
Load More Replies...THIS! It's not like cutting of the edge of nails, like we tend to do to ourselves, it's the literal amputation of all their fingertips. People who do this should, people who pay for it, people just accepting it, not intervening when some delusional AH demands this torture to be done against their cats ... should all rot in hell. As a realist, I don't think waiting for this to happen is a reasonable enough way to get it through to them - ridding these sad excuses of human beings of the tools they use to inflict such misery seems reasonable enough to me - chop off their fingers, for a start, doesn't seem overreacting to me, but is, kind of, aide in order of the cats' self defense they cannot execute themselves due to not even being able to handle scissors before - let alone afterwards... Chop off their fingers, no anaestetics to be given, and also no fücks to be given.
My parents declawed my cats, but I only agreed that one should have been. The one was Sammy and he’d been abused by his previous owners (we stole him) so he was aggressive to our other cats. He’s much better now but I’m kind of glad he was declawed, otherwise he would have caused some serious injury to our older cats.
I adopted a cat who was already declawed (would never do it myself) and she is genuinely the sweetest little angel of a cat. However in some cases you’re correct, it can cause some cats issues, especially as they get older.
Load More Replies...This will be unpopular, but for people with cancer, or who take immune suppressant drugs, it is the only way they can have/keep their cat. After a transplant my mother has had her cat declawed. It's a difficult choice, but the cat is cherished, and has a wonderful life.
Could you please explain how cat claws affect people with cancer, or who take the drugs you mentioned? Genuinely curious
Load More Replies...EEEEEE I'm getting downvoted. You could just tell me to delete it if you don't like it lol. I'm not gonna be a b***h about it. Also for context, I said "America am I right, he, he, he" I didn't mean it to be anything insultful or whatnot. I simply meant that it's mostly Americans who do this and the "he he he" was sarcasm. So I'm sorry if I offended anyone :)
Load More Replies...🙄 I just rolled my eyes so hard I can see out the back of my skull.
Load More Replies...We’d all probably love it if we were expressly asked if we’d like to subscribe to email lists from a company before they start sending us their newsletters like a bolt from the blue. And sometimes, the ‘unsubscribe’ function (which might take up to several steps) isn’t enough to get them off your back. They keep contacting you. Over. And over. And over again. In short, unsolicited mass marketing is annoying, and unsolicited bulk emails are the devil.
In the United States, for example, it’s perfectly legal to send out unsolicited commercial emails. There are some restrictions, however. Meanwhile, anti-spam laws appear to be stricter in the United Kingdom, and breaches of regulations can lead to fines of up to 500k pounds (around 568k dollars).
Not being able to unsubscribe to something using the same method you used to subscribe.
It all comes down to the need for stricter privacy and information-sharing laws. It feels like a huge invasion of privacy when someone you don’t know starts offering services you don’t need. We see enough ads on billboards and on the TV, thank you very much.
Don’t get us wrong, the people sending those marketing emails are just doing their jobs and we’re sure most of them are perfectly decent folks. But boundaries have to be drawn. When you get an email, you expect it to be important, informative, or entertaining. What you don’t want is to have your time and energy wasted by a poorly-disguised ad.
I think paparazzi should be illegal to be honest.
Stop liking their pictures and they go away… but people want these pictures. Bit like factory farming and cheap clothes… if there wasn’t a demand then it would go away.
Catching wild animals and selling them as pets. Hermit crabs, parrots, and many fish still fall in this category and are going extinct because of it.
It should be illegal to blatantly lie to voters while running for political office. We call it fraud and jail people for lying in order to gain financially. Yet we call it normal and allow politicians to lie in order to gain votes for political offices, offices which not only benefit them financially but also give them enormous amounts of power to benefit and detriment others.
Then we wonder why political office seems so often to attract the most fraudulent, sociopathic, and dishonest among us. We basically have a neon sign over our political system saying, “If you enjoy committing fraud and are a pathological liar, please apply here… we will let you deceive as many of us as you possibly can for more money and power than you can dream of.”
If I lie in a job interview and get caught out, the company has the right to fire me… should be the same in politics. Don’t do it!
Overselling a plane and putting people who BOUGHT tickets on stand by.
Tax avoidance by the rich and by corporations.
Amazon avoided £150m in corporation tax in the UK one year simply because their sales are booked in Luxembourg.
American anti-abortion organisations protesting outside my country’s clinics and hospitals. Go away you f*****g cretins. Your views aren’t welcome.
People marrying minors.
If children under 18 are too young to venture into contracts, too young to smoke, too young to drink and too young to vote, then they are too young to marry.
Fireworks, so many injuries every year and basically selling explosives to morons.
Tipping! Restaurants and other businesses shouldn’t be able to get away with holding their customers “socially hostage”. People shouldn’t be forced to provide the salaries of employees they did not hire, simply to avoid looking like an a-hole. The practice is criminal.
Some American corporations - and it’s ALWAYS the greediest ones - are trying to import it into New Zealand. Luckily everyone hates it so it hasn’t taken hold.
Tax exemptions for religious institutions. How is that not a violation of separation of church and state.
For profit prisons.
Corporations owning single family homes
Also, sale of my data. I should not have to opt out for a company not to sell my data I should have to opt in
Contracts signed by parents on behalf of their child still be enforceable once the child comes of age.
Taylor Swift and Lilly Allen are the big famous examples of this, but it happens to loads more who don't get big enough to get the media attention.
They did not sign the contract. Forcing an adult to live by the rules in the contract they did not agree should be classed as a form of slavery.
Also, making it so hard to get out of conservatorships. I saw a Netflix episode on this (before the Spears one happened) and it was heart breaking and so frustrating. These people were so obviously of sound mind.
Family vloggers, and any other kind of of making kids famous on social media. They have no privacy, no protections in place, nothing.
Some Place Under Neith podcast just did a fantastic series about this and I really recommend giving it a listen.
I know of a few families that have done this and the kids grew up being unable to tell the difference between online reality and offline reality. They also have absolutely no respect for other people's privacy or boundaries.
This used to be illegal but advertising for prescription only drugs.
Insider trading by elected officials. Absolutely blatant abuse of power and funneling of wealth.
Government bailing out banks and airlines with taxpayer money
Depends on the airline. Spent a bunch of money doing stock buybacks? Yeah.....no thanks. Had decent financial practises and got screwed over? Doesn't sound that bad. Banks almost always fall into the first category.
Gerrymandering. How the hell is it just for a politician to pick their constituents? It results in more extreme candidates and disenfranchised voters who got packed or cracked.
Congress owning stocks in any industry or company they regulate, take money from, etc. Corporations donating to political campaigns. Advertising prescription drugs to customers (the US is one of the only places this is still legal).
Illegal in Germany (and probably the EU/ Europe, but I can‘t say that for sure)
Paternity fraud and baby trapping. They're sex crimes and should be treated like any other sex crime.
Absolutely and yet another reason men should be responsible for their own birth control.
When I go to a doctor and they suggest a test or procedure (an X ray for example), I should know how much I will be obligated to pay. I declined a procedure today the doctor suggested because I had no clue what it would cost ( I have insurance). It’s like going to a restaurant where the menu has no prices, except the “food” helps keep me “not sick or dead.”
People serving more than 3 terms in the Senate or 5 terms in the House.
Political campaign donations. All Political campaigns should be free to run. No one gets to advertise. Network TV Aires debates in prime time paid for by the taxpayer.
And just think how much nicer campaign season would be for the public if politicians could only afford a few campaign ads for a month or two rather than bombarding us with billboards, tv and youtube ads, website pop-ups, radio ads, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum for the entire year before an election. Not to mention that politicians might actually focus on doing their jobs once elected, rather than getting into office and immediately turning around to campaign for re-election.
Predatory Lending. This includes aggressive service charges/fees/etc.
Looking at mortgage companies that tried to get me into an adjustable rate-mortgage in 2010, right after the 2008 financial collapse, in which adjustable-rate mortgages played a big part in. I walked out of a few offices when they even mentioned it. Didn't even say anything, I just got up and walked out.
Payday loan companies.
this one definitely they are all predatory there have been tougher regulations brought in that capped the amount of interest and charges they could charge and a lot of companies went under because of it which shows that's how they made their profit if its a few days before payday and you need the help they can be not so bad bud they make it easy to get loans i had trouble before it was my own fault for taking them out in the first place but they made it so easy and at one point i had 5 loans with one company they should be illegal they are basically legal loan sharks.
Sending catalogs to my house without my permission. The quantity of paper that is wasted is unreal. We call to have them cancelled but they keep coming. I have to pay to have my trash collected where I live, so basically those companies are forcing me to pay to throw away their garbage that they created unnecessarily and there is nothing i can do.
Those stupid f*****g mini game ads for mobile games.
yeah either just let me play 3 levels and decide if I want to buy it, or make it chargeable upfront. I do not want to ever see adverts. Even worse: I pay for an app and it STILL shows me ads???
Factory farms
Disgusting, awful, and greedy. It makes me so sad and angry. Humankind are the worst predators on the planet. What can I do to refuse to support factory farming? Are there certain things I shouldn't buy so that I am not promoting this sick practice?
Big Pharma advertisements for medications.
Medicine should be something you research yourself or consult your doctor about.
It shouldn't be pushed by a goddamn commercial with puppies and butterflies while a family is laughing and playing in the sunlight, only for someone to rattle off 30 side-effects in a low voice, followed by someone saying "Ask your doctor about this."
Infant circumcision.
Subscription to an emailing list without a previous email confirmation.
Note: this post originally had 71 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
televangelists, they are not men or women of god they are profiteers, i am not religious at all but i have read the bible and no where does it say you have to pay to get in to heaven
Can I add dumb-tedious-clueless-stupid-idiotic activists? People who glue or cement their hands to the road, blocking traffics, ruin arts, endanger others. Are they ill-informed, following trends, have nothing better to do? At some point there should be serious consequences for this kind of stupidity
Artificial sweeteners in EVERYTHING including non-diet items. Give me the sugar, I don't mind paying for it, but stop using artificial sweeteners, they don't solve the obesity crisis and they make people with chronic illnesses, like myself, very very sick. At least give us a choice!
I had to stop drinking several of my favorite NON diet sodas because they put in artificial sweeteners.
Load More Replies...People demonising others. I'm talking the extremists of any kind of group i.e. religuous people, vegans. If you don't obey their rules, you're not only beneath them, but actively disgusting. Extreme vegans I have to say are probably the worst for this because they are so damn smug about how "it's better for the environment". Actually, no. It's unsustainable for large amounts of the population, and a complete switch to a vegan diet overnight would ruin food security. Not to mention the majority of cute farm animals they're "saving" would go extinct without severe human intervention. And the worst kind of religious extremists (not including. like. terrorists) are those who use their religion as an excuse for bigotry or their own personal views. I'm not saying religion or veganism are bad. Just people need to stop demonising others because they don't agree. That's not going to convince them to agree with you, all it does is make you look like a pompous twat
This does of course go both ways, people in these groups should not be demonised for their choices either
Load More Replies...I know this isn't a "law" or anything but I'm talking about American school dress codes. I don't think every school does this but mine does: Females can't show their shoulders because it's "distracting" but they can have half their boobs sticking out for the public to see. Just saying, why???
Most of these already are illegal in my country. The US suuuucks.
Well this entire list was disturbing…I’m surprised that MLMs weren’t included unless I missed them.
Phone companies filling their stuff with bloatware. You don't go and grab a shopping cart and have it filled aready with all the own brand of the store so why should phones be filled with their c**p
Cinemas where you have to sit through 15 to 20 minutes of ads and trailers before the movie starts. Also people who show up late and make a big deal out of finding seats.
Trying to tie people to personality profiles like DISG etc. No it is not possible to predict people's behaviour by letting them take a 25 minutes test or watching their behaviour for a while. All it does is creating a self fulfilling prophecy by cementing a prejudice and focusing attention to behaviour that confirms the prejudices about them. Please stop this nonsense. There are countless trials that have shown there is no validity in the popular personality tests. It's pseudoscience and it hurts you and the people you interact with because it limits the way you look at them and interact with them.
televangelists, they are not men or women of god they are profiteers, i am not religious at all but i have read the bible and no where does it say you have to pay to get in to heaven
Can I add dumb-tedious-clueless-stupid-idiotic activists? People who glue or cement their hands to the road, blocking traffics, ruin arts, endanger others. Are they ill-informed, following trends, have nothing better to do? At some point there should be serious consequences for this kind of stupidity
Artificial sweeteners in EVERYTHING including non-diet items. Give me the sugar, I don't mind paying for it, but stop using artificial sweeteners, they don't solve the obesity crisis and they make people with chronic illnesses, like myself, very very sick. At least give us a choice!
I had to stop drinking several of my favorite NON diet sodas because they put in artificial sweeteners.
Load More Replies...People demonising others. I'm talking the extremists of any kind of group i.e. religuous people, vegans. If you don't obey their rules, you're not only beneath them, but actively disgusting. Extreme vegans I have to say are probably the worst for this because they are so damn smug about how "it's better for the environment". Actually, no. It's unsustainable for large amounts of the population, and a complete switch to a vegan diet overnight would ruin food security. Not to mention the majority of cute farm animals they're "saving" would go extinct without severe human intervention. And the worst kind of religious extremists (not including. like. terrorists) are those who use their religion as an excuse for bigotry or their own personal views. I'm not saying religion or veganism are bad. Just people need to stop demonising others because they don't agree. That's not going to convince them to agree with you, all it does is make you look like a pompous twat
This does of course go both ways, people in these groups should not be demonised for their choices either
Load More Replies...I know this isn't a "law" or anything but I'm talking about American school dress codes. I don't think every school does this but mine does: Females can't show their shoulders because it's "distracting" but they can have half their boobs sticking out for the public to see. Just saying, why???
Most of these already are illegal in my country. The US suuuucks.
Well this entire list was disturbing…I’m surprised that MLMs weren’t included unless I missed them.
Phone companies filling their stuff with bloatware. You don't go and grab a shopping cart and have it filled aready with all the own brand of the store so why should phones be filled with their c**p
Cinemas where you have to sit through 15 to 20 minutes of ads and trailers before the movie starts. Also people who show up late and make a big deal out of finding seats.
Trying to tie people to personality profiles like DISG etc. No it is not possible to predict people's behaviour by letting them take a 25 minutes test or watching their behaviour for a while. All it does is creating a self fulfilling prophecy by cementing a prejudice and focusing attention to behaviour that confirms the prejudices about them. Please stop this nonsense. There are countless trials that have shown there is no validity in the popular personality tests. It's pseudoscience and it hurts you and the people you interact with because it limits the way you look at them and interact with them.