Brickbat: CYA

Jonathan Kotler is suing the California Department of Motor Vehicles for denying his request for a personalized license plate that would read "COY-W." Kotler is a fan of the British Fulham soccer club. The club wears white jerseys, and fans chant "Come on you whites," which is often abbreviated COYW. The DMV says the slogan could be perceived as racist. But Kotler notes that the team's owner Shahid Khan uses the phrase and that at least half the team is non-white.

Comments

[Mickey Rat]

Sometimes a color is just a color.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Reminds me of a sociology class I took where the professor said, "calling colored paper, "colored paper" was racist". I dropped that class.

[Juice]

It's paper of color, bigot.

[D-Pizzle]

That reminds me of the story of NBC sports coverage of the Winter Olympics some years ago. The higher-ups at the network insisted that all announcers and reporters refer to all black athletes as "African-American," without exception. The problem: Not all black athletes at the games were American, leading to situations where some athletes were referred to as e.g. British African-American skater so-and-so. Of course, this problem could easily have been avoided by not referring to race at all, but that would have gotten in the way of the many "feel good" stories with which NBC liked to bombard their viewers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

We didn't declare our independence just to 200-some years later have our feelings hurt.

[Still Curmudgeoned (Nunya)]

Would Come On You Crackers be ok?

[Marcus Aurelius]

Only during fraternity hazing rituals

[Inigo Montoya]

I’m surprised California DMV people are that up on British soccer. And Fulham isn’t even as well known a team as, say, Manchester United.

Makes me wonder if he went out of his way to explain to these drooling bureaucrats what COYW stands for, after explaining to them that English football actually means soccer and they when they play on a pitch, it just means on a field. Sometimes the less explanation you give, the better.

[DaveSs]

A lot of DMVs will not approve unless there is an explanation

[Conchfritters]

I’m fairly certain MAN-U wouldn’t be allowed either.

[ColoradoKook]

Thanks for helping me name my new bar.

[Rockabilly]

The word 'Trump' is hate speech and must also have a trigger warning.

Details to follow.

[Longtobefree]

I suppose that it 'might be' that 'some people' take all the white space in the new reason web design as racist - - - - - -

[Eddy]

You don't want to trigger the poor prisoners who have to make these license plates.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Reason clipping the article at 100 or so words? No "to be sure" or other sniveling? It's a festivus miracle!

[Careless]

Your first experience with brickbat?

[Bramblyspam]

What about New Zealand's rugby team? You know, the "All Blacks"?

[Uncle Jay]

Political correctness is a cancer not only to people who love free speech but to every sane person alive.

[KerryW]

So I guess the license plate "FYTW" is a no-go as well.

As for how they know its meaning, my guess is that they Google every vanity plate for hidden (or not so hidden) meanings.

[Cyto]

So... I'm going to admit it. I didn't get it.

So I jumped down to read the comments and have one of you knuckleheads explain it.

I still don't get it. I'm gonna have to read the article...

[Cyto]

Ok. I did it. I actually read the article.

Nope. I still don't get it.

The license plate is "COY-W", right?

How is that remotely racist. Or anything else. Coy W.? Some guy named Coy W.?

I understand that a British football club has the slogan "come on you whites", but that can't be the explanation, can it? You aren't telling me that some dude in the California DMV knows the slogan for a random British football club and simultaneously does not know that it pertains to the color of the jersey?

Nope.. I don't get it.

[Still Curmudgeoned (Nunya)]

Guy at work actually got the plate PWAGON. He kept it until his kids got old enough to ask what it meant.