Smiles Outlawed: DMV Makes Life Even More Miserable

[mhatkins]

Anyone even THINKING of moving to VA. Please reconcider another state. And if you move here anway.... well... I tried to warn you.

[mhatkins]

And Virginia used to have a DUMB ASS law that prohibited driving barefoot. Like any one would know! C'MON! COMMONwealth of Virginia? OR COMMUNISTwealth of Virginia? Sling shit at the sign that "Welcomes" you to VA, and have a HUGE celebration as you leave this God-forsaken toilet of a so-called state!

[QuartuvLarry]

SHIIIIIAT! I smiled at my mugshot going to the drunk tank! Virginia, lighten the hell up!

In my videos, I've even copyrighted my own Cocksmile™

[mhatkins]

@QuartuvLarry Dude, you are definately a RETARD!

[QuartuvLarry]

@mhatkins No. I'm just obnoxiously truthful, so who cares if you don't like it?

...You, I suppose, but that's arbitrary.

[Wormtail81]

It's so people can be IDed

[ravensnaketotem]

@Wormtail81 This is only a part though it takes the idea of being able to properly ID someone too far, police and other gov agencies are trained on how to look at a drivers license to tell if a person is who they say they are through various steps and whether a person is smiling or not will not change some of the things that they look for, so VA isn't going to really do anything with this to enhance identification

[Wormtail81]

@ravensnaketotem I appreciate the sober, thoughtful response.

[Joe77477]

lol I would frown in my pic just to be a smart ass

[adamiusrex]

I actually never really smiled for my pic UNTIL this ban started. The first lady got so mad at me it was ridiculous and kept taking the picture over and over. She was so obsessed with that, that she got the info on my license wrong! Just smile your entire time in the DMV and they can't really say it's not your "neutral" expression!

[samuils]

OI VEY

[xiola6969]

While the ban on smiling by the dmv is very silly. It is a premonition to the horrors this government will mandate in the name of efficiency at the cost of civil and individual liberties.

[MothmanCometh]

"Read the sign, ma'am, 'No smiling'"

What kind of fucked up shit is this?

[popecorkyI]

what experts?

[JiveDadson]

Top experts, of course.

[popecorkyI]

shut the fuck up

[IBMeddling]

back in the old days they actually told me to smile.

[ab1tchslap]

0h, s@I) f@(E.

[aeuiono]

To channel Charlton Heston:

FROM MY COLD DEAD FACE!!!!

:-D

[hellofaname]

that is so wrong but i can't stop funny

[KyleClarkUSA]

Frowning =(

[Bigwheels161616]

i dont know about most cities but the DMV we have in Omaha is very nice. In most days you canget to see a representative in less than 10mins, thats less time than it takes to get sitted in a buffet during lunch time

[remaxjon]

In VA and Maryland its terrible and you wait hours to speek with someone. If you are lucky you have all the right forms and don't have to repeat the following day.

[Bigwheels161616]

Several surveys say that Nebraska is the happiest State in the Nation. It could all be as a result of efficient DMV service :)

[rollsthepaul]

When an officer pulls you over, you will not likely be smiling, so the neutral expression makes sense, for the officer's comparison of your appearance to what he sees on the license. We have plenty of opportunities to smile and not smiling on our driver's licence, will not cramp our smiling.

[Z14LDO]

Or maybe lots of people in Virginia happen to have very bad teeth?

[Z14LDO]

Their goal is to dehumanize the human race.

[DaveDoggOwns]

Those people at the DMV cut me no slack.

[sakitakono]

So, when a cop pulls you over they'll ask you to please not smile?

[soicuw]

my mother upon immigrating from soviet russia walked into a DMV to apply for a drivers license and wondered what the point was in leaving the U.S.S.R.

[xkeltoix]

the dmv employees are scumbags.

I dont respect people who work for the government

[KyleClarkUSA]

Not even police officers and US army soldiers?

[xkeltoix]

cant

[KyleClarkUSA]

I see

[d0861]

I have the biggest, dumbest, shit-eating grin in my driver's license photo...

[Jamescush]

The DMV hates happy people.

[vinoberg]

This doesn't seem like a big deal to me because where I live, Manitoba, Canada, they haven't let you smile in license pics for as long as I've been driving (3 years).. and as far as I know a lot longer before that. It gives you an awkward expression to smile, than be told not to, but we live with it.

But let me add to the comments below mentioning terrorism that has NOTHING to do with it. It's because you don't want a cop to feel attracted to a hot woman smiling and letting her off. End!

[truthsabre7]

Do like the pow's did during the Vietnam war and just cleverly give the finger when photographed..

[0bodobod0]

LMAO it's official, the government stole your smile.

[exoduscenter]

Under Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 US 436, 491, the legislature does not have the power to abrogate the Citizen's Right to travel upon the public roads by passing legislation forcing the citizen to waive his Right and convert that Right into a privilege. Furthermore, it was long since established that this "privilege" has been defined as applying only to those who are "conducting business in the streets" or "operating for-hire vehicles.

View Our Channel for more Info.

[MethMojimbo]

Excellent, but what if you sign anything stating that "yes, I am a US citizen" lower case "c", the second class citizen subject to Congress, as was created by the 14th Amendment? How does one get out of that? Perhaps I should go visit your channel first, cheers.

[stanpak007]

At the beginning of the clip they suggest that DMV is taking right of people to smile. It is just like saying that someone is taking your freedom of speech when you are in discussion and you need to conform to rules of discourse (i.e. give other their turn, and therefore be quite). Yes folks - you still can smile all the time after spending 1s of your life not smiling while making photo to important identification document!

[stanpak007]

It is silly that ReasonTV is objecting those regulations. Finding criminals and offenders is serious business. I am not sure they would mock the same rule in case choosing face gestures for photos of lost children. This would certainly increase chance of their to be found.

And what is a cost of not smiling - any freedom is lost? We all do not smile 90% of our time and the photo is just second of that time. Driver's license is serious document for serious purposes. ReasonTV is just silly.

[GetDrunkAndWatch]

A person normally has a neutral expression on their face, so that is why they want a picture with a neutral expression. If you go missing or are wanted for a crime, they'd rather use a picture than an old west style drawing for posters when trying to find you. I'd bet it makes it easier for facial recognition software to scan our faces for comparison to a database that contains our DMV picture too. :)

[MooseOfReason]

Eh, I'm not smiling in my license photo anyway. I'd like to. It's not banned in New Jersey yet.

How the heck is not smiling supposed to protect us from terrorism?

[JasonQLD]

Instead of doing frivolous little videos like this, maybe Reason could use its resources to criticize more important issues like, oh I don't know, maybe the fucking WAR IN IRAQ?!

[bighitter42]

Maybe videos like this require very few resources? Maybe public opinion and education are required before being able to achieve anything substantial?

Maybe?

[truthsabre7]

stupider, and stupider, and more stupider.

[harryogre]

The DMV,

The future of health care.

Brace yourself.

[Dutch2123]

Virginia is for Lovers, not smiling :) :D

[DSAhmed]

yep... its gone from BAD to WORSE.

[shanedk]

Ah, yes, the DMV: the only place where you have to wait in line 20 minutes to get a tag with a number so you won't have to wait in line.

(True story!)

[AnonOrange]

I wondered why people on Russian passports looks so somber. It's for the same reason, smiles are forbidden.

[jodark]

In Soviet Russia passport take you.

[Gyrode]

Guess what is happening in CA with the periodic DMV closures...privates businesses such as AAA Insurance are offering DMV service to its members.

[HeadTater]

Privatization: creating jobs, making the process more efficient and saving the government happy. Everybody wins except the power hungry politicians and bureaucrats .

[donotswallow]

Holy shit, they seriously banned smiling?

[MidnightNeverCome]

It's already a requirement for passport photos; I'm not surprised they're demanding it for driver's licenses.

[EvilWolf2]

He wants to smile at a DMV anyway? What is there to smile for?

[EvilWolf2]

Who*

[S1apSh0es]

"It can always get worse," Yes, it even applies to the DMV.

[darkwhitedirewolf]

Of all the things to worry about. Smiles on DLs? Wow I am glad the state is here to take care of us all.

[blurglide]

I hadn't bought a new car in 10 years...and after visiting the DMV, I remember why :)