IN THE United Arab Emirates, Saeed Khouri purchased a license plate reading "1" -- only "1" -- for $14.3 million on Saturday, setting a new world record for the most money ever paid for a personalized license plate, according to ABC News. While the money paid for the plate will go to helping victims of traffic accidents, its purchase nevertheless reveals something about humanity that may have been better left concealed within a randomly generated series of digits.
In the article, reporter Lara Setrakian describes the "oil-rich cities of the Persian Gulf" as "driven by car culture." She appears to imply that such a ridiculous obsession with owning a specialized license plate is somehow unique to this area. Yet what happened in the UAE is not unique at all. Even though the dollar amount may be significantly higher than someone in the United States would pay for a vanity plate, the desire to possess such a symbolic piece of social capital is the same in both places.
According to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, a personalized license plate can be yours for a one-time fee of 10 to 50 dollars, or an annual fee ranging 10 to 25 dollars. Registration fees and an annual personalization fee of 10 dollars must also be paid. Sure beats $14 million. As members of a consumer-driver society, we feel the urge to have others know who we are and what we own. We represent our cultural capital with personalized license plates. These shallow expressions of who we think we are seem to be the best we can do to get to know our neighbors nowadays. That the state capitalizes on our desires to have others know something about us via a license plate speaks volumes about our culture.
First of all, it symbolizes our devotion to the automobile as the carrier of our social capital. Cars warrant that status because of how often we use them to go from one place to another, as well as how much we use them in the symbolic sense, as indicators of our economic status.
Vanity plates also indicate our increasing sense of societal alienation and anonymity. The population of the United States is over 300 million people. Virginia alone has a population of over seven million. How are so many people supposed to know who we are if they can't read it on a license plate? The only answer seems to be to sum up our personalities in seven digits and hope that others notice us.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the issue of what to put on a personalized plate reflects a lot about who we are. How many times have you seen a car drive by with a plate explaining something about the driver's humanitarian commitments, or perhaps something about the driver's efforts to conserve energy? Those plates exist, yes, but are they as popular as plates expressing a person's love for his or her significant other, or someone's school pride or simply a catchy phrase that someone managed to express in seven numbers and letters?
Cars are ubiquitous in our culture. Wrapped up in them are notions of status, cultural values, aesthetic appeal and personal statements. In many ways, our cars are ourselves. But wouldn't it be nice, in this auto-saturated culture, to express something more than the fact that I am a "HOO4LYF" or that I "LUV2ROK"?
The opportunity to personalize our license plates doesn't stop at catchy phrases or personal statements etched into a piece of tin. The Virginia DMV also offers "over 200 unique plates for our citizens" with designs ranging from sports logos to college insignias. Like Jimmy Buffett? Then the Parrot Heads plate is perfect for your car. Football fan? Slap a Redskins license plate to the front of your car and you're set for game day! Why are we so desperate to have others know about our interests and hobbies, our alma maters and our loved ones?
While it is easy to see the arrogance and egotism in the $14 million purchase of the number "1" by Khouri, it is wrong not to see the same egotism in our own car culture. License plates -- even if they do say something like "CONSERV" or "ALL4ONE" -- do nothing to better society, and in fact probably exacerbate its problems. So stop spending money on a personalized plate, contributing to the depletion of natural resources and providing one more ubiquitous expression of conceit in this ego-saturated society. Just settle for your standard-issue plate and find another, more socially beneficial way to express yourself.
Amelia Meyer is a Cavalier Daily Viewpoint Writer.
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