How on Earth did this happen?

When it comes to customizing cars, there are numerous avenues that one can explore, and besides internet trolls, these types of individualization offend nobody. You want to upgrade a McLaren 765LT? No problem. You want to make a Mercedes G-Class uglier? Go ahead. But what about your license plate? Most people will never modify their cars more than by adding a personalized plate, and for the most part, that’s perfectly okay. But it turns out that not everyone can be trusted to use common sense and be decent about this, and a couple of personalized plates that got past the DMV and were approved are evidence of this.

Anchorage Daily News

While some people will choose to put an adaptation of their own name, a funny pun, or a car’s pet name on these plates, one Hummer H2 owner decided to post plates that can conservatively be described as offensive. With plates reading “3REICH” – a reference to Adolf Hitler’s infamous Third Reich – and “FUHRER” – a reference to Hitler’s self-assigned title. The plates were spotted on the vehicle in Anchorage, Alaska, and it’s a miracle that the DMV didn’t notice either choice. It’s even more astonishing that both got approved for use by the same person; surely someone would have made the connection and denied approval for such insensitive vanity plates, right?

CarBuzz

CarBuzz

Well, perhaps the person working at the DMV on the day that these plates were processed was tired or just ignorant, but the approval of these scripts has caused a furore. Furthermore, conservative Anchorage Asembly member Jamie Allard defended these plates as harmless foreign words that “progressives have put a spin on”. Unsurprisingly, he was removed from the role and the DMV has promised to be stricter about processing vanity plates in the future. It’s just shocking that the plates were allowed in the first place, especially when various attempts at the word “poops” were rejected. Maybe a license plate referring to a dump isn’t so bad when others refer to someone who took a dump on the world. Do better, DMV.

Gallery