Re: offensive vanity license tags (no real Audi content)

["Michael & Christine" <mlindner@netquest.com>]

:> I'm planning on getting PANZER for my Suburban.  It may offend a few, but I
:
:'Tank' is certainly an appropriate label for a Suburban.
:Just why would a German word as such be offensive?


You know, I've asked myself that very same question.  Probably something to do
with the Holocaust.

ZYKLON is a very offensive tag, it's directly associated with the extermination
of 6,000,000 people.  PANZER should *not* be.  But to some it is....any
correlation to the German war machine may be (mis)construed as Nazism, or
racisim....which is why some avoid the subject.  I am not Jewish myself but many
of my friends are, and I live in an area where there are a *large* number of
Jews.  Believe me, the Holocaust is a touchy subject, rightly so.  But there
seems to be consensus that *all* things German are to be avoided.  And I just
don't see it that way.  Many Germans fighting in WW2 had no idea what their
government was doing with the "Final Solution", and a good portion of the
regular armed forces were NOT Nazis.  (I am excluding the SS in this, as they
were considered Hitler's "elite" personal Army.)

Personally, I don't think ZYKLON is something I would put on my licence plate.
And I can see how it would offend millions of people.  But I will fight to the
death for your right to put it on your licence plate if that's what you want.
That may sound absurd to most people but the belief in that liberty is the basis
for many of the freedoms we take for granted today.  That's why we have the
ACLU.

PANZER shouldn't offend.  But it probably will.  *sigh*  Not everyone is as
thick-skinned and open minded as me, so....I guess they'll have to deal with it.

Okay, I better get off this soapbox before someone kicks it out from under me...