Are You Freaking Kidding Me?!?! Please Allow Me to Vent

Photo by Hugh Clarke

UPDATE:

Many thanks for your concern which is well understood. Please be assured that the Embassy took appropriate measures immediately. @PoPville

— German Embassy (@GermanyinUSA) August 15, 2017

“Dear PoPville,

I’m a big fan of your website but I believe this one (german diplomat truck) is distasteful. Would you post it if it were a Spanish diplomat? Feels like you’re just using this one to bash someone German.

Also, since the license plate starts with an ‘S’, this means it’s not a diplomat, the S stands for staff. Therefore the post is actually wrong.

Would you please take it down?”

Well it’s been a minute and maybe it’s all this rain but I’ve reached that boiling point so please allow me to vent. Let’s take this point by point:

Would I post if it were a Spanish diplomat?

Yes I would. I would post if it were an Israeli diplomat. I would post if it were an Australian Diplomat. I would post if it were anyone with diplomatic license plates. Keep in mind I’m not scouring the highways for objectionable license plates, bumper stickers etc. This was a query sent in by a reader.

Feels like you’re just using this one to bash someone German.

Make no mistake, I am very sympathetic to the many Germans who have been victimized over the years. As a matter of fact, my father in-law’s entire German family (except for his father, who later went on to serve in the U.S. Army) was killed during World War II because of their religion. Of course they were killed by fellow Germans but let’s stay on track. I genuinely admire the current German government very much and especially respect all they have done recently to welcome refugees into their country.

Also, since the license plate starts with an ‘S’, this means it’s not a diplomat, the S stands for staff. Therefore the post is actually wrong.

This was acknowledged in the post. A direct quote from OP’s letter:

“The internet says diplomatic license plates in the US are issued in a specific letter format, which identifies this car as a non-diplomatic staff member (S) for Germany (LW)!”

Would you please take it down?

The German Embassy was alerted to the post both on twitter and facebook. They have not made any comment. Should they do so I would be happy to update this as well as the original post.