The Worst Thing That Is Legal

The truth is, no matter how nice it would be, we simply can’t rely on everyone to just be a nice person. There has to be a specifically defined set of rules and regulations that we are all required to follow by law.

Spoiler Alert- people still do terrible things all the time. I think sometimes we can forget that you can literally follow every single law in the book and still be a pretty fundamentally terrible person.

What if I told you that some of the most nefarious things that people get away with all the time are actually legal? What if I told you that some villainous things aren’t just allowed, but encouraged. Celebrated even.

Today I’m going to be discussing some of the worst things that are perfectly and absolutely legal.

No, this is not a list of tips for how to be a bad person.

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Radio Advertisements with Traffic and Siren Sounds

67% of all radio listening happens in a vehicle. So you can’t say that radio stations don’t know that the majority of their listeners are operating vehicles.

Radio stations do in fact know this, and therefore when they really want you to pay attention to a particular advertisement, they’ll insert a couple of car crash sound effects or even police sirens in the background of the promotional message. You know, things that obviously grab your attention while driving?

Just picture this: you’re driving your car while aimlessly listening to the radio when all of a sudden you hear- POLICE SIRENS, CAR CRASH, BOOM.

I think “POLICE SIRENS, CAR CRASH, BOOM,” might just be the greatest thing ever written. Screw you Shakespeare.

No but seriously, the inclusion of these intrusive sound effects can actually be extremely dangerous, especially when drivers can’t tell if the sounds are coming from the radio or not.

There are a lot of terrible ways to die, but “Car crash by Starbucks Ad” is pretty high up on the list.

Children’s Beauty Pageants

Trigger Warning- discussion of sexual assault, pedophilia and death.

Have you guys ever heard the story of JonBenét Ramsey? She was a 6 year old child beauty queen that was murdered when an intruder entered her family home, sexually assaulted and murdered her.

Even worse- her killer was never found. What made this case so special was the fact that at the tender age of 6 years old, JonBenét Ramsey’s mother had entered her in a series of beauty pageants, which awarded her a certain unwanted local celebrity.

Beauty Pageants are infamous for attracting the attention of pedophiles, as they objectify and sexualise children from an extremely young age.

Even in the search for her killer, a video of JonBenét Ramsey running around a stage wearing next to nothing in full makeup with hair extensions was broadcast all over American television.

The very manufactured image that most likely killed her was even exploited in her death. Her killer has not been found to this day.

Some beauty pageants even require children to participate in a swimsuit competition section, where they are judged based on who looks the best in a two piece. There are a lot of supporters for child beauty pageants, but there’s absolutely no way you can defend this. It’s honestly just extremely creepy.

Studies have shown that thrusting a certain sexual identity onto children before the age of adolescence can lead to psychological abnormalities such as depression, eating disorders, body image and self-esteem issues.

Photography Laws

Everyone knows that the paparazzi suck. We’ve all seen those ‘funny’ videos of celebrities being literally harassed by some dude with a camera.

I’m going to give you a hypothetical situation.

You’re a celebrity. You’re walking down the street with your children when some random aggressive man shoves a camera flash in your child’s face.

It’s obviously distressing isn’t it? let’s take it a little further- say you maybe like the picture and decide to post it on your Instagram! I mean you went through all the agony of having your privacy invaded without your permission, you might as well get a good post out of it right?

However, the photographer can then SUE you for using their so called ‘art’ without their permission. Let me make this clearer to you: a random dude can show up at your kid’s school and hide behind a bush, take a picture of them eating lunch or whatever, without their or your consent.

They don’t even have to tell you about it.

However, you’re not even allowed to take legal action, because according to copyright and privacy laws, if you enter a public space you’re “fair game.”

What is this, the Hunger Games?

A representative for the National Press Photographers Association said, “There’s a big difference of taking a picture and the use of a picture. If I take a picture of someone on the street they don’t really have a right to tell me that I can’t take their picture. They can ask nicely, ‘Hey, would you mind not taking my picture?’ But they can’t enforce it, because there isn’t a law.”

And because the photographer owns the rights to the picture, they can use it to affirm a journalistic narrative, post it on their website, or even sell it to magazines and newspapers for millions and millions of dollars.

I literally cannot comprehend how this is legal. It’s glorified stalking.

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Thank you for reading! Share some of your views in the comments- I would love to hear from you! What’s the worst thing that is legal, according to you?

This post was inspired by this Reddit thread.

What’s your opinion on the topics I discussed today?

You can check out my last few posts here:

• The Scariest Things That Actually Exist
• borrowed poems from an anonymous- ‘Expressions of Love’ and ‘Experience’
• The Horror of Surveillance
• Pet Peeves
• Happy Panda- Random Blogger Interviews

Until Next Time.