China Hates Religious Freedom, Voodoo Hooey
Topic: World News

What do you do when your country's teenagers grab a trend that has religious implications and run with it like the wind? If you're China, you ban it.

The country recently banned the use/sale/possession of voodoo dolls, fearing political implications of the old hooey magic and religion. The government claimed that the dolls, which are purchased mostly in the poorer areas of their countryside, promote feudalism and feudal beliefs through superstition. What drove them to this is the burgeoning market of anti-voodoo doll voodoo dolls, which are sold to ward off possible spells and the chance of having thousands of needles poked into your stomach.

"We have been told we will be fined and even imprisoned if we continue to sell voodoo dolls," says Huang Xiaoli, a saleswoman in a toy store in the Xidan Mingzhu Market. "The police are serious," she adds. "This is not like pirated DVDs, where the authorities say 'Do not sell these,' and then look the other way while people sell them."

So how will the nation of Jamaica react to this? Tough to say. All we know is that we should look at the possibility of finding a China-shaped doll and poking a knitting needle into the heart of where Shanghai would be located at and see if the city doesn't explode. We doubt it, but that would be ironic as hell if it worked.


NEWSWEEK via MSNBC