Bizarre Things You Can't Do in America

Be Amazed

Science, Society & Culture, History, Leisure, Documentary

5 • 710 Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Every country has one or two weird laws that seem to make absolutely no sense. But the USA has way more than its fair share. This is, in part, due to the US's federal system, which gives local governments more power to dictate their own legislation. The sad fact is that many archaic laws exist because of the personal views and experiences of lawyers and politicians.

Often, they were simply written to control the general public back when they relied heavily on laws to dictate their behavior. Some of these rules concern public safety and decency and probably made a lot of sense when they were written. But others probably never made sense. So here are some bizarre things you can't do in America.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Every country has one or two weird laws that seem to make absolutely no sense.
0:05.3	But the good old US of A has way more than its fair share.
0:09.4	This is in part due to the U.S. federal system, which gives local governments more power to dictate their own legislation.
0:16.5	The sad fact is that many archaic laws exist because of the personal views and experiences of lawyers and politicians.
0:23.6	Often they were simply written to control the general public back when they relied heavily on laws to dictate their behavior.
0:30.6	Some of these rules concerned public safety and decency and probably made a lot of sense when they were written.
0:36.6	But others? Well, I can't imagine that they ever made sense.
0:41.1	Let's explore some of the most bizarre things you can't do in America.
1:01.9	You're listening. You're listening. You're being amazed. be amazed No underwater whistling in Vermont.
1:08.1	Vermont has several bonkers laws, but the silliest one by far is that it's illegal to whistle underwater.
1:10.3	The reason for this rule is to protect marine life
1:13.1	as whistling near marine mammals such as dolphins or whales can interfere with their echolocation,
1:18.8	leaving them stranded. This makes it extra bizarre since even though Vermont has over 800 lakes,
1:24.4	it has no access to the ocean. Vermont is a landlocked state, so why they need
1:29.6	this law is a mystery. Whistling needs both air inside and outside of your mouth, so common
1:36.2	sense would tell you that it's impossible to do it anyway. Police are allowed to bite dogs in
1:42.1	Ohio. In Paulding Ohio, police have a strange and special power that cops and other parts of the U.S. aren't lucky enough to have.
1:51.0	They are allowed to bite a dog if they think it will calm the dog down.
1:56.0	It's unclear where this law originates from and there don't seem to be any examples of police officers
2:01.1	taking advantage of the rule. And I mean, why would they? I can't see how biting a dog would do
2:06.0	anything but further enrage it. Bear wrestling is illegal in Alabama. In May 1996, the Alabama
2:13.7	Senate voted 23 to zero to make it illegal to conduct bear wrestling matches for profit.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Be Amazed, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Be Amazed and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.