Iran bans buddha statues

[Angrboda]

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
— H. L. Mencken

Governments that can't persuade by doing right by their people will often attempt to distract from this fact by trying to look like they're doing something.