Richmond, VA – The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday recalled a license plate that appeared to have coded references glorifying Adolf Hitler.
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The vanity plate, which read “14CV88,” was the subject of complaints after photos were posted online.
The “88” is sometimes a coded reference to Heil Hitler, as each word begins with the eighth letter of the alphabet.
The “14” is thought to stand for the number of words in a white supremacist credo. The “CV” is an apparent reference to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations was among the groups offended by the plate. The truck bearing the plates also featured graphics of the Confederate flag and the phrase “Everything I ever needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11.”
DMV spokeswoman Pam Goheen said the specialized plate, which featured the logo of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, was issued in March 2009. She declined to specify the county where the plate was registered. After reviewing the complaints, Goheen said a DMV committee determined that the letters and numbers could reasonably be construed as racially or ethnically disparaging.
And therefore? First, I’d say that virtually no one seeing that plate would read it as a reference to Hitler. As a software developer, I’m quite familiar with the idea of using numbers to represent letters (to a computer, everything is a number), but I had to read the entire article to understand the extremely veiled references. Second, who cares? The plate belongs to an individual, who is guaranteed the right to free speech. I don’t see how the State has a right to recall the plate on this basis. Third, why are Moslems upset about a reference to Hitler? If anything, he had the same dream — wiping out Jews.
no ones arguing the factual basis of the plate or words on truck. everyone knows its true. the problem is the that its being aired publicly.
That is absurd.
Wait a second, there’s no connection between the Confederation and anti-semitism! The Confederate States of America had a Jew named Judah Benjamin as its secretary of state, secretary of war and attorney general!
Benjamin was so well liked that he was twice nominated as a member of the US supreme court, although he declined twice, and had served as a US senator before the war.
A famous remark of his, said on the senate floor to an abolitionist senator who accused him of being a Jew with Egyptian principles was that “It is true that I am a Jew, and when my ancestors were receiving their Ten Commandments from the immediate Deity, amidst the thundering and lightnings of Mt. Sinai, the ancestors of my opponent were herding swine in the forests of Great Britain.”
All this does is get the real anti-semites even more excited. Let it rest already instead of jumping on top of every little stupid thing.
America has gone insane. You don’t have to make a gantze ta-ra-ram from every moron on the street. I think this comes to show how scared everyone is from this total political correctness. The DMV knows how sensitive the people have become and they are just not looking for trouble. Its a shame that people just don’t grow up
if they wouldn’t recall this plate im shure not even a 1/5 of people who know about this now would know about it.
My agreement with the graphics on the back of the pickup far outweigh any problem I may have with the plate.
There is a web site – I don’t recall the name or URL – devoted to weird license plates, and Virginia is noted for having more than any other state.
well this license plate business is silly, but i think many would agree with the banner on his truck… I did not see any Muslim groups stand up and denounce 9/11 immediately after the fact. What I did see were Muslims dancing in the street in countries around the world.
thank you.
Interesting… does anyone notice that he’s parked in a handicapped spot and doesn’t have a handicapped license? That’s reason enough to take away his license!
Most probably, Virginia , like NY, screens vanity plates for nivul peh and racial offensiveness. It is usually done when the tag is applied for. This one slipped through, so they are correcting it leachar maaseh.
It would be interesting to knowif any other of the 49 states have banned this combination as well.
What happened to free speech????
The license plate is state property, not his. They have the right to take it away. This person still gets to keep his racist truck. Freedom of Speech was not violated.
Stopping someone from celebrating Hitler? Just who do the DMV think they are… HITLER?