http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4077212/Aryan1-licence-plate-all-about-love-not-hate


Lady gets her boyfriend a personalized plate. Years later some knuckle head complains.

I like NZs transportation authority for backing the owner of the plate.

kind of dumb on her part to not realize what it said. There are other variations of his name she could have tried, or something else. I don't know..if I was Andrew I wouldn't want that on my car anyway.

This is not even a debate. Silly people getting offended over this kinda stuff.

I don't think it's silly to be offended by it. I think it's perfectly reasonable that a person sees "ARYAN" and thinks of the word rather than "A. RYAN".

Don't get me wrong, if the DMV said she could have that plate, then it's her right. I just think she could have used better judgement to come up with something better.

I used to work at the DMV and there was a whole list of words we wouldn't allow on plates. Usually there were exceptions granted if it was a form of a persons name (like this case). I'm not saying she should have been prevented from getting the plate since it was clearly his name...just that it was rather naive to not think of the consequences, and then act shocked when people are offended.

I think those that jump to conclusions and get offended before knowing the story are the ones that need help.

And for those that are offended by a word need to get a life. There are much larger things in life to worry about then what someone has on their car.

Even if the plate did have racial implications so what. Like was stated in the article had it said something like "Maori pride" no one would say a word.

I hate double standards. I'm glad to see that the transportation dept isn't caving into zealots.

Guess we'll just agree to disagree. I'm not really one to be politically correct, and I find a lot of "questionable" plates really funny. I don't have problems with innuendo or anything. But I draw the line at racial and religious ones. I don't think someone should just "ease off" when they see a plate that references the greatest mass genocide the world has ever seen. Nor should someone back off if they see the "N" word or some other racial plate.

Yes, it was the guys name and as I said, she had a right to use it then. But I think she should have used better judgement if she seriously wrote "ARYAN" on the plate application and didn't think that someone might take offense to it. Just as much as it was her right to get that plate, it's everyone elses right to give her a hard time about it. It goes both ways.

Just my two cents. I don't think we are going to change each others minds. Just hope everyone here keeps their plates humorous and not questionable!

EDIT: Had to address the Maori pride thing..that's totally different. From the little research I did, Maori appears to be one of the original cultures of New Zealand. Much like our Native Americans they were colonized and forced to assimilate to european culture when settlers arrived. Aryans on the other hand is a made up culture mostly associated with Nordic countries. There is technically no "Aryan" race..that was something made up in the late 1800s. And Aryans are of course most closely linked to the Nazi movement which killed millions of innocent people through genocide. So yeah...not really "just like Maori Pride" at all.

Would you find a plate that said JAPAN1 offensive?

No, because Japan is a modern day country, not a mythical race associated almost exclusively with Nazism. Japan has many meanings, mostly innocent. Aryan only has one real meaning, and it's hateful.

Would most people find "HITLER1" offensive? What about "FAGGOT"? What about any other racial slur? The N word, "JAPS", "CHINK", etc. What if someone poked fun of 9/11? Would that offend you? Sorry for the language, I think those plates would all be inappropriate. Even if the plate belonged to Frank Aggot, he should probably think about the repercussions of using that as a plate and understand that it would offend people.

Things dealing with mass death, racial, sexual, or religious connotation...I think those are legitimate things to be offensed about. Having your plates say "BOOBS" is just funny.

Japan was just as hateful and brutal towards the chinease as the Nazi's were to the Jews.

Here's just one example

In six weeks 300,000 chinease were killed just because they could be.

http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm

Take a gander at this
http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/massacres_pacific.html

If your gonna hate on one you have to hate on em all.


Why was Germany(Nazis)villified and the Japanease not?

I'm sorry you find a few letters offensive. Their is Neo Nazi's out there in this country. Do I agree with them no but you do have to respect their freedom of speach.

You want to bitch to their face or the owner of the plate that's fine.

But because you find the plate offensive does not mean the govt who promises freedom of speach should pull the plate back because a couple people are offended.

Personally I think people should be able to put what ever they want.

People should be able to put what ever they want. At the same time say what they want on the airwaves. To a point of course if your slandering some one or threatening bodily harm wouldn't be allowed. But vulgar language sexual inuendos so what.

I have no problem with curse words. To me I find em boring and over used. The purpose is to "shock" some one. Where's the "shock" when those words are used in just about everyday life other then radio and tv.

Agree with Herc... There was an article posted on my work newsgroups recently that suggested it was a good idea to be morality police, made me sick...
http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/E...-Tolerance.aspx

Yeah Herc, I figured you'd go there. It's still apples to oranges. When you hear the word "Japan" what is the first thing you think of? Probably a modern country with millions of people, electronics manufacturer, crappy cars, etc. Nanking is probably not even in the top ten list of things you would associate with Japan.

Now ask someone about "aryan". I guarantee you Nazis, neo-Nazis, judaism, holocaust, genocide, etc will top the list.

Your analogy is like comparing "USA" to the N-word. One is a modern country that may have done bad things in the past. The other is a specific word that is hateful and has connotations SPECIFIC to a hateful period in time when large numbers of innocent people were injured and killed. The two examples are not even close.

If someone had plates that said "POLPOT" "STALIN" "KKK4EVA" or something along those lines I would feel it's inappropriate too, and I would expect people to feel offended. Those plates would be glorifying very hateful things.

Do you guys even see the line I'm distinguishing here, because if not, this conversation is completely pointless?

Please note I have several times respected their freedom of speech. I said because it was the guys name, they obviously had a right to use it. BUT, my point is that it's insensitive and I feel no pity for this lady and the hate she's getting. I don't buy her story that she was so naive she didn't realize what the abbreviation spelled. I feel it was stupid of her to use that combination of letters to make a very negative word. Stupid as it was, it was her choice. As I said above, she exercised her right to the plate, now others (myself included) can exercise our rate to call her a moron.

The point I've been trying to discuss with you is when you guys said it's silly that someone gets offended over this word. THAT is my beef, not what the government should do. I think people have a legitimate reason to be upset with this plate just as much as this lady's boyfriend had a legitimate reason to use the plate (though I think it's silly that she uses the plate now even though it's not her name, but maybe she doesn't have the money to change it).