If you are a Mississippian, or have relatives who live here that you speak to on a regular basis, then you'll know all about the new license plates we're getting this year. I've collected all of the license plates that I remember through to the new one so you can see and understand the woe. So, above, that was the first one I remember in the early 1980s. We had that one for awhile. There is no symbol in the middle, but we can all agree that the plate is pretty even, right? And though it's red, white, and blue, which I tend to think is over done, it really isn't a bad plate in its simplicity. Here are the next four. The left column top to bottom, then the right column top to bottom. My favourite, personally, was that top right one. We have a lot of pine trees here, but I like that the trees look like it's a view of the Pacific North West or even Japan. This was one that most Mississippians, that I came across, did not like. Oh there's also the ocean at the bottom. Obviously magnolia's for us being The Magnolia State, the lighthouse for The Biloxi Lighthouse (at the time it was one of two still remaining, now it's the last lighthouse in the state), and then the guitar for B.B.King/The Blues/The Birthplace of Music. I'm told in news sources that the people loved this one so much it stayed longer than five years. I like the blues and B.B.King, but I'm not big on musically themed things. However, all of us can agree that all of these plates are bright, colourful, cheerful, the art is good, and they're all centered. And here's the new one. First impression, don't even read the seal, but first impression, what are your thoughts? They're probably running the gammot of ugly and boring, as well as the fact that it's not centered. Why is it not centered? I have some theories and they have to do with the words. Now with the guitar one, there are words around it, "Celebrating Mississippi's Creative Culture". Is it important to see? No. Are you going to see those words while license plate spotting? No. And with everything centered up, depending on the numbers for the plate, it would be covered up. Was this a problem? No. Now we have this emblem on the plate. And while I haven't gotten mine yet, because it's not due until November, I've seen these out in the wild. All of them are askew. All of them purposefully made so that "In God We Trust" is not covered over. But, why? Even the word Mississippi is covered over. This isn't a national license plate, it's a Mississippi one, yet this doesn't say Mississippi at all. It feels personal, like whether or not you believe or like the words "In God We Trust" we're still going to shove it down your throat! Mississippians don't like that sort of thing. They don't like being forced into things. Many people that loved the idea of "In God We Trust" when it was announced last year are singing a different tune now, because it seems forceful, as well as the entire plate being the ugliest thing anyone could ever conceive of. The first article, from WJTV in Jackson states three things I find interesting. That people loved Lucille (apparently that was the name of Kings guitar, I didn't know), so that plate stayed around longer, that the colour is of the morning sun, and that "If you don't like the look of the new tag, there are many specialty tags to choose from... for a small annual fee, of course." First: We change the design every five years. If Lucille could stay longer, can this new one go away sooner? Second: Sure that's the colour of the morning sun... if you live on Lenar 6 in a galaxy far, far away! That's the colour of sadness and tears. (or a bandaid which another article states rather correctly). Third: That's bitchy. So, is this about money? Is the state government hoping that enough people will hate the design to upcharge to a more expensive plate? Because that whole line seems like upselling and smiling while they're kicking you while your down. I cut it, but in the ellipsis, there was a whole upselling section "You can support your favorite college, your sorority or a number of worthwhile causes", just to be followed by the snarky bit about "for a small annual fee, of course." OF COURSE! That's so passive-agressive it makes me want to spit. Even if it is all about money, it's also all about shoving something down your throat. Because otherwise why make everything off center so your agenda can be seen? I'd have problems if the line was from the previous tag and it was off center just so we could read, "Creative Culture." Why do they want those lines to stand out so much? What's their game? Because one is obviously up to something if they go to such great lengths to have something stand out so much. If we were a state who had a history of disjointed plates, I would just say, "Come the fuck on Mississippi! Get this shit straight for once!" But, we don't have a history of that. We have a history of aligned, and pretty, plates. So, (slits eyes) what's the deal. Really, honestly, what's going on with this plate?" The second article is from here in Hattiesburg, an opinion piece from the Hub City Spokes. He's not wrong in stating it looks like a bland (fabric) bandaid. He totally does. And he also brings up the excellent point of where in any of this mess is Mississippi actually represented? It isn't. We aren't the colour of a bandaid. I know this our state seal, since the latter part of the eighteenth century, but I feel like a tax auditor designed the tag. That's stereotyping tax auditors, but when that image comes to mind you think boring, standard, bland, and official. It may be our state seal but it's unimaginative and doesn't really grasp what Mississippi is, or who her people are. It's like they had one job and they half-ass'ed it. And besides why do they want the plate disjointed, people will just see a disjointed plate and assume, again, that Mississippians are stupid. Like we can't even get a license plate to line up correctly. Also, he makes a fair comment (and though he doesn't say it's being shoved down peoples throats, he basically does because you can tell he's beyond unthrilled about it). Most people here do believe in God. Even if you think they don't believe in God because he's not the same as your God, it doesn't really matter what you call him, most people believe in a higher power. But I understand that most humans do not think this way. They can't see it as a general higher power sort of deal. So, if they do believe in a higher power that has a name other than G-O-D, then they feel slighted. I don't even think it's the name really, I think it's the intention. Most Christians are forever screaming that their God is the only God and everyone else is wrong. Be honest with yourselves, you're probably a Christian who thinks everyone are heathens unless they are your specific Christian religion. That's a lot of negativity wrapped up in religion. Besides the fact that G-O-D and half of the Christian religion was taken from the Jewish people, but they can't see that. They just see privilege, right, and power. It's the Christian way or the highway, man. If you hate what you come from (in the case of those Christians hating on Jewish people) then you just look stupid. Don't you know where you came from? Why are you acting like yours is the only way? Don't you understand that it makes you look ignorant? It's like Baptist people hating Mormons and Mormons hating Catholics. I can understand the whole separate Catholic vs Protestant camps as that's been an issue throughout history (I think it's like kids on a playground fighting, but whatever). But there are even separate clubs in the protestant camp. I have to tell my converted to Mormonism in the 1970s father that the other protestants don't like him. He's not allowed in their tree fort, so why is he siding with them against other people; Catholic or non-Christian? Seems like the majority of people who were all for "In God We Trust" are those Christians. Ya know, Mississippi isn't just you, right? There are lots of people who have their own religions or don't have a religion. They're not heathens and they're not evil. They're people, but you want to shut them out, even though they are also Mississippi. It's called compromise and balance. The state seal isn't lovely, it's boring. Disjointing the line-up of the plate so that "In God We Trust" is never covered up makes the entire thing tacky. It's not classy. We're better than that Mississippi. Religion may be a part, and even a large part, of peoples lives here, but it doesn't and shouldn't represent us as an entire state. It's rushed, it's self-absorbed, it's not a good or accurate representation of this state, and the entire thing just looks terrible. Oh looky! There's new information on the license plate from. Just a few days after I made this post, this started being shared by the people I know who want a new state flag.
So Laurin Stennis is the granddaughter of the late democratic senator from Mississippi, John C. Stennis. People say he did a lot of great things for the county and apparently a lot of things are named after him (space centers, military ships, etc), except all I can seem to find is that he was a big supporter of racial segregation and knocked everything down (making a holiday in honour of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Acts, The Voting Rights Acts, etc), so I'm unsure where the "good" comes in. But regardless, his granddaughter, an artist, didn't set out the change the flag, but did just that. She's been promoting the hell out of that new design up there for a few years. I'm all for a new flag, because A] yes, our flag harkens to the Confederacy which is tacky; but also B] I've just always found our flag to be ugly, even before I fully understood the Confederacy or all that jazz. However, this flag just reminds me of Texas, which we are not, so I'm not thrilled about it. They'll get the 300 pr-orders easy peasy, because Stennis has already sold a ton of flags and stickers (which people are intending to put over their "In God We Trust" on the new plates. I have some problems with this though. First, I'm reminded of the snarky bit by the guy at the tax office in that one article about if you don't like it then buy a specialty plate, for an annual fee, OF COURSE. Which I figured part of this plate thing was to swindle more money out of people. So this seems slightly convenient and sneaky. Some states don't charge very much for a license plate because the bulk of the revenue comes from other sources. So you might pay $10 or $20. In Mississippi, for the basic tag, you pay based off a price considering how new or old your car is. If you read that second article, you'll notice the author said he'll be paying $800 for his new tag. He must have a rather new (possibly luxury vehicle). My parents pay $150 - $200 for their 2007 Cadillac. The Sister and I pay $40 for our 1997 Audi. For a specialty plate, they range from $30 - $50 (some are cheaper, some have a one time only fee, but most are annual and in this price range). If the author with an $800 plate price wants a $50 specialty plate, he'll end up paying $4,250.00. He'll have to pay the $800 owed to the state (doesn't matter which tag he's getting, I suppose one is really paying for the sticker that goes on the plate), plus $50 for the specialty plate right off the bat. Then do $850.00 for four more years. The Sister and I in the same scenario would be paying almost $450 for a five year period instead of the around $200 for the same amount of time. Which is where my second issue comes in. It's already expensive to get a new sticker every year (which is how Mississippi rolls). No one in this family has ever had a specialty plate. My mom had a personalized one, but that's only like $15 more at the time of obtaining a new license plate, it's not an annual thing, plus she only did that once in the early 1990s. So, if we've never purchased a specialty tag before, we're not going to start. While I technically don't care if people thinking I'm an asshole, they certainly will now, so you know that will be going around. It's a hot climate right now, like we're fighting The Civil Rights movement all over again. I agree it never really ended because contrary to what most people believe it didn't magically become better and now is all sunshine and roses. Black people did gain rights, a lot of good came out of that movement, but it's still been bad times for them through the years. But it's come up again. People are drawing lines "You're either for or against. No in between!" People with money will buy this new specialty plate with proceeds helping both museums, and they will judge people who don't have them. Well, if they're white and don't have it. But what most of the wealthier, white people don't understand is that a lot of people who want great things like equality for all, simply don't have money. I don't care, they can come at me (which they wouldn't because manners and all) & I'd tell them to fuck off. I know who I am and I don't need to use all the money that I have that should be spent on more important things than a car tag just to prove to other white people that I'm on the up and up. However, most people don't feel this way. Most people don't want to be talked about behind their backs for being "that" person when it's simply an issue of money. I think this is a straight arrow for this type of behavior, which doesn't seem good. It's not that Laurin Stennis is doing anything wrong. It's just the majority of her fan club that make issues. I didn't purchase a flag so I'm a bad person. Laurin Stennis didn't say this, but members of her fan club that I've met have said as much. I want a new flag for our state, but I don't want that one. If we didn't have a flag at all I'd be cool with that. Yes, I'm totally onboard for the current flag going away, but I'm not totally onboard with Texas 2.0. Plus, I'm not willing to pay $40 when I'm not a big flag flying type of gal. I don't want the American flag, I certainly never wanted the state flag or the Confederate flag, & I don't want this one. I bought a pirate flag once, for $1 because it was perfectly priced and I could use it for Halloween and National Talk Like A Pirate Day. I sold it at a yard sale years later because more than one older man stopped by this house, knocked on the door, and reprimanded me for having a pirate flag up. But, I was once reprimanded for wearing a blue shiny wig on Halloween, by an older man because to him it was just Tuesday and I suppose also because I wasn't a kid? Too much hassle with that pirate flag. It wasn't fun anymore.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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