# KY Resident requests "IM GOD" license plate. KY refuses, resident sues **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 23, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842 "2016-11-23T21:46:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842/61 "2016-11-29T17:48:11Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > Yeah, only protect non-provocative speech! Someone’s feelings might get hurt! The first amendment should only protect speech that offends no one! > > :rolleyes: Freedom of speech means freedom to be a dick. That doesn’t mean you _should_ be a dick, just that the government shouldn’t stop you. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842/62 "2016-11-29T17:59:22Z")
So religion and “IM GOD” plates were in poor taste and could lead to confrontations with other people. [But a stance on abortion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Life_license_plates)is not in poor taste and certainly won’t lead to confrontations with other people? I call bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842/63 "2016-11-29T19:05:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > There is a large, large difference between being provocative and being a dick. > > Stop conflating “feelings getting hurt” and “doing things with the sole intent to harm others.” There is a huge difference. My aunt who says something that offends my cousin is different from when my cousin insults my mom in an attempt to get me to punch him. > > I already explained this in the post you quoted. You don’t need to use strawmen tactics if you have a good argument. > > Throw in the mockery, and you’re practically conceding that I’m right. Nope, just drawing a big circle around the problem in your argument. Who gets to decide if a particular statement qualifies as ‘being a dick’? The government? Fuck, no. The parties allegedly offended? Nope. There is no objective standard here, so you cannot exclude it from First Amendment protection. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842/64 "2016-11-29T19:38:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I think provoking confrontations is the real issue. Some Christian (and it will be a Christian, it will not be an Orthodox Jew, or a fundamentalist Muslim, however offended they may feel internally) is either going to forcefully rear-end this guy with his truck, or get out at a stoplight and ask him with a tire iron exactly what he means. Hilarity will NOT ensue, although blood might. > > So I can see that this might be sort of like shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater, when there is no fire. > > Ideally, no one would get so upset by this plate, but honestly, if people aren’t going to be upset by it, do you think the guy would still want it? He wants to be provocative, and the state is saying “No, you can’t be.” > > When I was 25, I would probably have been all up in arms about the guy’s civil rights, but I’m almost 50, and I just want to tell him that there are better things to do with his time. And better ways to get a concussion. I don’t have a bumper sticker on my car, but I do sometimes wear an atheist t-shirt to the gym. I’ve only gotten positive comments from religious people. I have friends with atheist bumper stickers, and they don’t get threatened or attacked. Has there ever been a case of actual assault in this country as a response to a bumper sticker (rather than just minor vandalism in the form of removing or defacing the sticker itself)? How many such cases in the last five or ten years? The gay rights movement has clearly shown that visibility is the best thing for promoting civil rights in society. > [@BigT](#): > > I likewise don’t accept the right to be a dick as the point of freedom of speech, let alone freedom of religion. It’s the same reason I do not support those trolling displays by Satanists. I think there is a bright enough line to draw here. > > There is just no way the right to be a dick furthers anything. Yes, you might be perceived as a dick in pursuit of a cause. But then the cause is what is important, and makes that freedom of speech. > > But when you do things just to provoke, all you do is make the world objectively worse. There’s just no good policy reason for allowing it. Why is “IM GOD” being a dick, but “In God we trust” isn’t? Would “NO GOD” be a dick message? What about “PRAY”? That one would actually be telling me what to do! I also strongly disagree that the Satanic Temple activists are just being dicks. You can characterize it as trolling if you like, because it is designed to provoke, to make a point and to bring a legal challenge confirming the separation of church and state and the rights of nonbelievers, but it is NOT meant merely to offend or cause harm. It is certainly in the support of a cause. I contributed to the ST because I support their stated principles and aims and I strongly believe that I have as much right to a government-sponsored monument promoting those principles as anyone else. Plus it looks bad ass. How am I being a dick? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842/65 "2016-11-29T19:42:36Z")
“Being a dick” is still considered a negative in America? You just established that any dick can dream of being president one day. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842/66 "2016-12-04T09:03:55Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > As an ACLU supporter, I’m always happy when I read about them spending my donation on a cause like this. > > ETA: I wonder if Trinidad/Tobego would allow a plate I’M GRUDE. Probably be banned… ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842/67 "2016-12-04T09:36:34Z")
In KY, could you opt for the “In God We Trust” plate, and personalize it with “THTS ME”, or “NOT ME”, or “I DONT”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ky-resident-requests-im-god-license-plate-ky-refuses-resident-sues/772842.md?page=3)