This law is prohibited

A new law was just passed in the small country of Lithuania.

It is called the ‘Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information’, and includes “the propaganda of homosexuality [or] bisexuality” one of the things which is harmful to young people.

Now, some people read this and think "great, another backwards law in another backwards country" while others think "great! finally some country is standing up for family values!" But I think in this case both sides, whether in support of gay rights or against homosexuality need to be wary of this law. Here is a translation into English of part of what the law aims to forbid, taken from a message board at http://www.lithchat.com/culture-etc/is-the-new-law-in-lithuania-really-homophobic.html

"

But 4.1 is fascinating in its own way, since it provides the roadmap. It provides the cheatsheet in which we see what kinds of information the Lithuanian government feels are inappropriate to expose to minors. Here’s a quick translation I’ve done of what’s not allowed:

1. Anything pertaining to psychological or physical violence, torture, injury, or killing of people or animals;
2. Anything showing intentional destruction of property;
3. Anything depicting corpses or mutilated bodies save in situations of identification;
4. Anything of an erotic nature, including sexual yearning, invitations to bump, depictions of the sexual act, its simulation or any kind of sexual satisfaction, sex organs, sexual accoutrements;
5. Anything causing fear or horror;
6. Anything encouraging gambling, cames of chance, or the fantasy of easy winning;
7. Anything encouraging the use of drugs, tobacco or alcohol, including their manufacture or commerce;
8. Anything encouraging self-mutilation or suicide;
9. Anything that promotes a positive image of criminals or crime;
10. Anything that models criminal behavior;
11. Anything that mocks someone;
12. Anything that mocks or denigrates someone based on nation, race, gender, family, disability, sexual orientation, social standing, language, religion, beliefs or views;
13. Anything interpreting the paranormal;
14. Anything that advocates homosexual, bisexual, or polygamous relationships;
15. Anything that encourages the denigration of familial relationships and demeans the importance of family;
16. Anything using dirty language or gestures;
17. Anything that explains how to manufacture, acquire, or use explosives, drugs, or anything else that can harm life or health;
18. Anything that encourages malnourishment or hygienic and physical passivity;
19. Anything that shows hypnosis or a séance;
20. Anything outlined in section 6."

Again, many people are debating the issue raised in point #14, but a few people have started to bring up the concern of having a government decide for its people exactly what is appropriate for them and what isn't. From a qualitative research point of view, I think the wording of #5 especially, and also the points that use words like "encourage," are particularly problematic.

When you do qualitative research, you have to be really careful and clear about how you define your terms. You can't say that "the interviewee felt threatened", you have to say "the interviewee expressed feeling threatened" because you can't claim that you know a person's internal state of mind. Sure, you can add observations of behavior and a survey of the person's state of mind and maybe even some measure of heart rate and then have a stronger case for saying the person actually felt threatened, but you can never be sure. This is what makes research on people really hard.

So let's look back at #5, which prohibits
"Anything causing fear or horror"

This one is going to be a problem for us, people. Because if I round up only a few of the things I know have cause fear or horror in kids I've met (ha, ha, or at least seem to have, given their behavior since I can't know exactly their state of mind!), I'd say that it's looking grim for: Santa Claus, clowns, brussel sprouts, death, and in the case of one niece of my friend A's....Chuck E. Cheese. Ok, Chuck probably scares more than just one kid. Oh, and of course, we'll have to get rid of the dark. The dark is always a problem.

Lucky for us light pollution is well on its way to solving at least that one!

Wait a minute - If this law causes fear in kids it may have to go, too. Huh. What a shame.