This happened a few days ago, but it just came across our Twitter feed. Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias is on a quest of sorts; a few days ago he took a photo of a BMW without the proper tags and apparently submitted it to the state, where it was given a case number. The social justice angle here is that someone who owns a BMW obviously has the funds to maintain proper tags.
Another member of the marginalized BMW owner community who evidently lacks the financial resources to maintain legal tags on his vehicle pic.twitter.com/6HGmUyz8i7
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 7, 2023
Isn't this technically doxing?
You should at least blur the plate number.
— Nemesis 2023 (@Nemtastic1) April 7, 2023
You don’t have a privacy right to avoid exposure of your illegal activity!
Put valid tags on your car and I won’t tweet pictures of your license plate number. https://t.co/Rr8rsWOYtr
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 7, 2023
That sounds like extortion.
Not all heroes wear capes https://t.co/4D1SRxZeTl
— Ahmed Al Assliken (@assliken) April 11, 2023
Why does this bother you?
— Harrison Krank (@HarrisonKrank) April 11, 2023
— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) April 11, 2023
You got a lot of wedgies in middle school didn’t you?
— Katie Scarlett (@Katiescarlet2) April 11, 2023
You really don’t have anything better to do?
— Rene Rodriguez (@_renerodriguez) April 7, 2023
This is cowardly actually. There could actually be a legal reason why they didn’t get the plates yet. In many states they are behind in getting plates to ppl.
— Renegade Cowboy🐾🐾 🌊⚓️🌊🐾🐾 (@Rene_gadeCowboy) April 7, 2023
Narc
— Ryan Baker (@denkai) April 11, 2023
My new tags have been in my glove compartment for 8 months. You’d have a field day with my car, lol.
— Tooth Doc, DMD (@ToothDocDMD) April 11, 2023
— ACME's #1 Customer (@Zaphod_Erisberg) April 11, 2023
I see you’re back to your harassing ways. Has it occurred to you there might be good reason for this? Mind your own business. You must be the worst neighbor in DC
— Guillermo Mena🇺🇦🇵🇷🇺🇸 (@GuilloMena) April 7, 2023
You’re a little old to be a hall monitor.
— DrM 🇺🇸 (@DrMagnolias) April 9, 2023
Don’t you have like 4 months before you can even be pulled over for that in VA?
Likely why you see so many of these expired tags that ruin your day.
— Jared Carver (@JC_AFC) April 11, 2023
You are one of many reasons I am glad I no longer live in the DC area
— James Whomever (@JamesWhomever) April 10, 2023
If you look at the date on the plate itself, it’s very likely that he has not yet received the official plates in his mail. What you’re doing could technically get the police to show up at your house.
— Nitzkiah b’ Avigdor Czarnecki ✡️✝️🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@Nickidewbear) April 10, 2023
Not sure when the last time you bought a car was, but this could very easily come down to the dealership not filing the paperwork on time or DMV. Ours was delayed by 2 months due to issues with true DMV not having the staff to process our plates in an orderly manner.
— Bekim Haliti (@bekimhaliti) April 7, 2023
OMG are you kidding? You're that petty and that much of a virtue signaler…were you wearing a brown shirt when you reported this car?
— Renaissance Warrior (@anton_luru) April 11, 2023
You realize that is a temp tag right? Car was probably brought in February and the tags haven’t come in. DMVs are backed up and people are still waiting for tags. It’s a known issue. Maybe if you’ve researched the issue, you’d know instead of jumping to a conclusion.
— Kristoff Lehmann (@KrisLehmann45) April 11, 2023
What if it’s a member of an underrepresented and historically marginalized group and you just initiated an interaction with the police? You basically are having them murdered here. Probably the most racist thing I’ll see on Twitter all day 🥺
— Luther Broadsword (@Broadsword_Luke) April 11, 2023
Good point … this Tweet could make marginalized groups feel less safe and get trigger-happy armed cops involved.
By the way, he explains why he’s doing this here; we didn’t read it, but you can if you want:
For the larger policy argument about this — enforcing license plate rules is important for road safety but also for general crime control.
The proliferation of fake tags was downstream of Covid shutdowns and we need to stop it. https://t.co/TLj4C4mVH3
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 7, 2023
***
Related:
Matt Yglesias claims media gets zero social status/self-esteem from being blue-checks and HOO BOYhttps://t.co/Oc5RgzSEfk
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 3, 2022
Join the conversation as a VIP Member