France Nags Psychological Violence to Quit

The New York Times reports today that France's National Assembly approved a proposal that would make psychological violence a punishable crime. The article addresses varying opinions about whether or not the crime can be proven, citing the vague definition of the behavior as the proposed law is currently written. Sure, it's vague, because it's a difficult thing to articulate. Yes, it's definitely going to be hard to prosecute, but at least it's bringing attention to a serious issue, and hopefully is a step toward making victims safer...

Of course, the first time I heard about this in January, it was far from serious. My beloved liberal media made fun of the proposal—albeit on a comedy show. But still. NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me really got this all wrong, referring to the proposal as a law against nagging and an example of government "intruding on the lives of its citizenry." Listen to the bit here.