I really never thought that the TMT on Mauna Kea issue would come to my community, but alas it did. I came upon a busy intersection full of protesters against the telescope. There were people of all ages there from old folks to babies.
It makes me sad to see these protests. These people held signs with A’ole TMT written on it. A’ole is the Hawaiian word for “no.” The prior two years we had protests of A’ole GMO and now it’s moved onto the TMT. Some signs stated that the telescope was a desecration to the aina (land). This issue is eerily similar to the GMO one when they claimed that there was a need to malama (care) for the aina from biotech crops.
These protesters claim that this telescope is desecrating sacred land over and over. Meanwhile, a new Whole Foods is being built upon burial grounds as well as Target Kailua. I’d consider that land to be sacred but there were no protests against that. Shouldn’t people be standing in front of those grounds blocking it to stop others from supporting this desecration too?
I’ve also seen videos of people 4 wheel driving up Mauna Kea and snowboarding down the slopes. If the mountain is so sacred, who is protecting her from this kind of ravaging of the land? I don’t see anyone blocking these kids from doing that up there. Just visit YouTube and see how many people have done this up there.
I really suspect that too many people have not done their due diligence to research the facts about TMT at all. Hawaii Business Magazine did a great overview on why our state moved forward with this project. It’s about opportunities for our people. It’s about providing education also and diversifying an island that doesn’t have much of an economy. It’s about bringing science and technology to a part of our state that can make it a world renown place to make new discoveries.
While many of the protesters have extra time and money to protest, they aren’t seeing that they are depriving others from opportunities. Kaneohe isn’t suffering from limited jobs and a depressed economy but some people here are willing to deny others of that. Oahu isn’t anything like the Big Island and yet we city folk want to dictate to these folks what they should be doing.
Hawaii has opportunity to be a center of high technology that will indeed be making it a center of knowledge to the world. Knowledge itself brings a profound reverence in itself. I feel that we shouldn’t be protesting something that can give us more information, but we should embrace the desire for knowledge.
There is an estimated 40% of the prison population that are native Hawaiian. How can people malama their own so that these people too can enjoy the aina? If we don’t value education, what will prepare people for the future and keep them from a life of crime, drugs, poverty, and homelessness?
Hawaii isn’t known as the A’ole state. We should remember that we are the Aloha State!
**This is the aloha spirit, alive and well in the anti-TMT activists. As you can see, it’s not much different than the anti-GMO folks. Insulting and derogatory comments are just a reflection of the person who sent it.**
Something to think about…
The Search for Knowledge on Mauna Kea is a Sacred One
Opposition to the TMT is Based in New Age Anti-Science Activism
Rise Up People: Redefining What it Means
The comments are now closed on this post.
HawaiiFarmersDaughter 
Well before writing an article like this, you should have done your due diligence as well. The building of this telescope not only desecrates the land, but it will end up polluting the biggest aquifer on the island. The chemicals alone that would take to keep the telescope clean will would literally toxify the water under ground. The land is also being sublet thru University of Hawaii who does not own the land, the state of Hawaii still owns the land, if the state decides for whatever reason to pull the lease from University of Hawaii then what? You are right about one thing this is the Aloha state, the sad part about that is that people who are not ma’a to the land come here and think they know whats best for those who have been born here. When will enough be enough? They have 13 telescopes already up there, why do they need another one? Why not decommission an existing smaller telescope that is not performing as it should and re-build? That is an option that they do not want because it all comes down to money and doing so would cost more. Also, people from around the world not only on the other island are letting those who are up on Mauna Kea that we support them, they are not trying to dictate what goes on up there. Something for YOU to think about…
I think you may have not read the EIS. It’s found here as a link. Before you make accusations and claims against my opinion post, please do your due diligence also.
https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2015/03/31/thirty-meter-telescope-update-and-background/
People did protest Target. Target and Whole Foods were built on private land. The TMT is not being built on private land, but on public conservation lands. Who does the EIS? Seems to have been the university itself. What else would they “find” except a way to move forward with their agenda. Did you know they also did a Cultural Impact Assessment? Know how many people were interviewed? 39. 39 people. Know how many supported the TMT? 4, or roughly 10%. We are the aloha state. And aloha aina is what should define us. We have shown much aloha for malihini, business, science, and technology often at the expense of the culture that gave aloha to the world. Where is the aloha for us?
Hasn’t technology helped to preserve Hawaiian culture? Hasn’t it spread it around the world for all to know what it is? Does this protest bring more aloha to Hawaii? These are things I really wonder about.
I find it odd that on sacred land, 4WD is okay. If we don’t want concrete, what about our own homes being built? It’s great that people have passion but the reality is that it seems the one accusing others of not knowing anything don’t understand that those old telescopes can’t be retrofitted the way you’re claiming.
http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/thirty-meter-telescope-could-boost-hawaii-islands-economy/
FACTS!! The ‘Anti TMT’ group has been hijacked by a few misfits that still protest about Hawaii being ‘stolen or conquered’! These same misfits are pushing the anti-TMT people and making fools of them. They are using the left wing ‘Move-on.org’ resources and others (people) that have no vested interest in our Island and NO CLUE about what’s happening on our Island! They are using this bogus battle for saving “sacred land” to push their anti-American agenda. The “Hawaii is NOT a State” clowns continue to act like the fools they are and it is getting OLD! Don’t believe me, check some of the blogs, see the responses to other peoples opinions – telling us that the PROTESTERS don’t have to obey the police because “Hawaii isn’t a State.” Time to wake up people – admit YOU ARE BEING USED!
I actually organized this rally. And I also find your article very uninformed or possibly unconnected because you obviously just don’t understand. It’s hard to come across to people who don’t understand because all you see is a word. When we start our rallies we starts with prayer and song and we end the same way. And we also talk about leading the rally with aloha. How else would we peacefully protect something without saying what we don’t want. Maybe you were so busy reading the word Aole which you fixate on that you didn’t read the many signs that say ALOHA AINA!!!! And all the smiles and shakas that filled all the fAces that surrounded me with overflowing love. If you actually stepped out of your car and stopped and talked with us maybe you would FEEL THAT LOVE. And to say that we have so much time and money to waste on your part just sounds like you are negatively trying to insult a people who go out of our busy days and lives to protect what we love. If that is a waste to you then I feel sorry for whatever you spend your money on. This article is so offensive on so many levels I can’t write in all down. But I would encourage you to come next week and talk with us. I promise we are all nice people who only do this out of love.
What will you give back after the protests are done? If it’s blocked, how will you replace what’s being provided? I’d like to challenge folks to really think beyond these protests and think of long range plans of things they can do for our communities.
I’ve seen community groups that work on fundraising money that they use to help schools buy books or other supplies that enrich the kids’ education. Wouldn’t the time spent organizing protests be better spent by going further than that?
We all want to have better communities and make our aina better but it takes action and participating in the process vs. blockading everything.
Instead of challenging that why don’t you be active in doing so…. If you care….. Do you?
Yes we feed off of each other’s feelings and raise up each other but that is what brings community’s together and keeps them together. Just FYI after such a positive rally, we don’t call it a “protest”, we’ve planned on making it a weekly thing to come out and “annoy” you with our words. So if you have great ideas on community building please come share them. We all do what we can nowadays and have different roles. I would love to go to Mauna Kea and stand with them but my place is here with my four babies and working from home. I also fundraise for my kids school more than normal DOE schools because they go to a charter immersion school and get less than half of what a state DOE school gets per child. One of the many things we all do. And all this we do it of Aloha for our Keiki and to honor our land and ancestors.
That is great that you are supporting the schools. It’s one way. Encouraging others to get a higher education also is yet an even better way. Volunteer in the community with Kupuna and learn their stories and their hardships to remind oneself about your own roots. Learn their stories and share it with the world. If each and everyone of us did this, can you imagine how much better our communities will be?
Aloha,
I would like to offer my mahalo to you for putting this blog out so that this offers opportunities for everyone to see both sides of a story. I was always taught to look at all angles of a story and a situation to formulate my own understandings, but I need to agree with Jazmin Hong and that I did find offense to your blog. While blogs are designed to be opinion pieces, I am offended you feel the way you do.
I am a high school math teacher at a public Hawaiian immersion school, I am a student of a hālau hula, I am a student of master lauhala weavers, and other cultural & educational organizations. Yes, money is important, but there are many other ways we can provide that and there are many other venues we can support that. And honestly, education is not confined to a 4-walled “classroom”; the first classroom was the outdoors, the ocean, the forest, the sky. Our ancestors knew more about the sky and its celestial bodies well before Galileo; if you took the time to learn Hawaiian culture, they are embedded in stories in chants. Our ancestors were excellent navigators that made Moananuiakea (the Pacific) their highway well before Christopher Columbus, there are accounts in all Polynesian stories of Polynesians going back and forth between the different Pacific nations using celestial navigation. Our ancestors were excellent fish farmers with the design of the loko iʻa (fishpond), till this day, it is one of the most technological & biologically efficient fish farming in the world; it is even unique to Hawaiʻi, no one else in the world comes close (visit Heʻeia Fishpond for more info). Do not forget, our ancestors lived in this exact Hawaiian archipelago hundreds of years ago with about 800,000 native Hawaiians and took care of the land because (again in our stories) kūpuna understood the idea of “being green”; they were doing it nearly 1,000 years before the phrase was coined.
I sit here not mad or angered, but as a teacher to my students to educate that not all knowledge comes from one place. And as a hula dancer, what will happen if we allow too much of this to go on, we will not be able to dance. If you are confused, I would understand why; hula is not just the physical manifestation or personification of the world we see or stories we want to tell, but hula is the connection of life forces transcending time and our adornments made by the floral of our land some of which do grow at high altitudes up Mauna Kea. If those native plants disappear, we can no longer dance hula as it was intended to be generations ago.
Please do not take my comment as an attack or an argument, but take my comments as another resource to explain to you how we see things. Not building the 2nd largest optical telescope will not be the end of the world (or are Hawaiʻi living); again, there are many other opportunities we can do, but it will take more thinking and planning on all our parts, but we can only achieve that if we are in the right mindset. We are amazing people and we need to realize our full potentials.
Mahalo for taking the time to read this. E mālama pono ʻoe.
ʻO au iho me ka haʻahaʻa,
Kaipo
Mahalo Kaipo for your thoughtful comment. I really feel like teaching people to protest the latest issue is very shortsighted. I agree that people must fulfill their potential. That must happen through education. Knowing one’s history is good, but adding a real vision to it is even greater.
The first thing you should do before citing your sources is realize who the author is and who the target audience is. The cite you quoted is ran by UH, one of the biggest supporters of TMT. Of course they will say there is no harm done to the environment. Do you honestly think they would tell the truth? The people funding this project have billions to invest in it. They also have the funding to pay people for bogus studies. Humanity can hardly handle Earth and itʻs issues, yet we want to damage the Earth to venture into the cosmos? Wow. Ironic.
&Hawaii is the ʻaʻole state.
Weʻve been saying ʻaʻole to foreign take over since the beginning, and we will continue to do so.
Note, the actual EIS is included in that link, which I specified.
Note the actual EIS lends itself to skewed information. These entities have the funds to “prove” whatever they want. Its THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII for crying out loud. They have their own researchers confirm whatever claims they need proven. Do you understand that? Also, your article speaks about “job opportunities” that the people are being deprived of, yet you must not know that the countries most invested in its construction is China, Japan and Canada (though not technically a country). The construction of TMT is going to create job opportunities for whoever THOSE countries want running it. Do you genuinely believe theyʻre constructing it with the employment of Hawaiians in mind? Think again.
The people protesting DO NOT have extra time and money to invest, I can promise you that. Theyʻre protesting because they believe in something that goes beyond money, if you can imagine that.
Please donʻt accuse the opposers of not doing their “due diligence” to research when you have not applied “due diligence” to using common sense.
What information will you trust if you don’t trust what is already done?
I will trust a third party neutral source who have no vested interest in whether or not it gets built. UH “confirming studies” when theyʻre one of the biggest benUntil then, iʻm siding with common sense.
UH doesn’t do confirming studies. Here’s some details on the EIS process. http://health.hawaii.gov/oeqc/
I will trust a third party neutral source who have no vested interest in whether or not it gets built. UH “confirming studies” when theyʻre one of the biggest beneficiaries is not a reliable source. So until then, iʻm siding with common sense.
✊💙
Sister, you are 100% missing my point. Listen: whoever is confirming the studies, conducting the studies, promoting the studies, having anything to do with “the studies”, all of those people are stakeholders. The state government, the University, the other countries who are investing, even OHA. OHA, who is supposed to stand up for Hawaiians, they are keeping silent. Are you telling me theyʻre in support of the telescope for the sake of enlightenment and education? of course not. The information is skewed. But why would Hawaiians skew information about the environmental impacts? Do Hawaiians get revenue from stopping construction? No. What do they get? Clean water.
How about the protectors pool their money together to have someone (a third party like you said) do another EIS to prove that the aquifers will be damaged. I’ll wait here… No? Nobody wants to step up? What about the Hawaiian Kingdom? Anybody? Didn’t think so. This is why the TMT will begin construction in a few months.
If they really don’t think it’s right, then find some facts to stand on. That’s hard. Easier to spread false claims and get others to repeat it. Same like the ant-GMO issue.
Wow. Preserving what’s left of our stolen culture is way more important than money. So what if you can get all these people jobs.. It’ll kill,damage, & change so much of this acres place that all Hawaiians hold dear down to their souls. Old hawaii was taken from us.. Oahu is disgustingly ruined by over developers just for profitable reasons. I hear whispers of the old times when things were simpler.. You could smell the flowers and fresh fruit. Too many people moved here.. Now it’s over populated… Filled with buildings,cars.. Pollution.. When will it stop? When beautiful Hawaii is no more? When it resembles the mainland? And the only people that reside here are the rich? You cannot be Hawaiian.. Cuz if you were you would feel the amount of disrespect that I feel. Look the rail? Digging up our ancestors bones?? Wow… Wow.. This is what it’s come to.. And hey .. Why not keep it movin and crush the most sacred place in all of Hawaii.
But if people only stay mad about the past and block this, how will it help people? How can people work together on planning these projects so that we can maintain the beauty of Hawaii?
If you’re mad about the rail being built upon the iwi, what about Whole Foods, Target, Ward Center, and so many others that have come up over their burial grounds? What place in Hawaii isn’t sacred? What about the Ala Wai Canal and Waikiki? How do we define what is sacred and what isn’t?
I believe your article to be 1 sided citing examples of activities that are nowhere near as harmful to the enviroment blowing it up with tons on dynamite and building a 19 story structure where there are already 13 others….Why doesn’t UH decommission one of the existing telescopes and build upon it? I’ll tell you why it goes further than education it’s a source of income for the University of Hawaii which pays only $1 a year for its land lease but yet makes Millions each year off of renting “time” for use of their telescopes…Why else would a Canadian company invest 300 million into this project? Also what specifically had Hawaii done to ensure more “local” people will have opportunities when this is built? Last but not least to Hawaiian’s Mauna Kea is one of if not the most sacred area because of the belief of creation where the Heavens meet the Earth…
And the Hawaiians will be able to see those stars that brought them all here. http://www.welivemana.com/articles/native-hawaiian-astrophysicists-mana‘o-thirty-meter-telescope
Here’s why the other telescopes won’t be retrofitted. It’s not that simple.
http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/thirty-meter-telescope-could-boost-hawaii-islands-economy/
You can post all the links you want but at least post facts not maybe’s…How much more must The People Of Hawai’i sacrifice in order to science to get what it needs? Also you’ve still yet to adress the questions I asked about the $300 million from a foreign company,or what UH has done to ensure Locals will be able to prosper from this 19 story monstrosity…Fact of the matter is this is about Power,Money and Politics…Do you think it’s a coincidence that Gov. Ige’s 1 week halt to construction just happens to coincide with the Merry Monarch Festival which is viewed worldwide…Think About It what if they built a 19 story telescope on the Pyramids of Giza or The Tomb Where Jesus was enclosed and said to have rose from….That’s what’s at stake for the people of Hawai’i the more we continue to give up the closer to extinction the Hawaiian culture becomes…
It takes money to get an education. It takes money to feed your family and put a roof over your head. Earnest money is earned through opportunity.
Preserving a culture goes far beyond just a place. It’s knowing and embodying the lessons and values taught by people and passed on.
Rejecting technology based in misinformation doesn’t help people. It’s too bad that you aren’t willing to read other sources to answer the questions you have about why it’s there.
It’s too bad that you have still not stated facts to support your argument…What I’ve posted is fact…UH leased the land for $1 a year from the DLNR…Then subleases the land to others…Which mean UH walk’s away with a hefty pay day and what does it do to ensure the opportunities you mentioned are there for our Keiki…Absolutely nothing except give them resident tuition…you think these companies are gonna hire local people to build this telescope think again…just like how more local people were supposed to be hired to work on the rail…but then these mainland companies bring in a bulk of their own people…
You make some very accurate points I might add, but what you might fail to understand is that the burial grounds for Target and Whole Foods is specifically for construction. To build Hawaii:) Mauna Kea is “sacred” meaning it has more meaning to us then any burial ground. It is apart of our history. Why not build it in the vast open spaces of Hawaii? Or even in the deserts of Nevada? TMT can be built anywhere. As for technology, we managed without it for quite some time, we don’t necessarily “need” it. You are truly correct about Hawaii being the Aloha state and not the a’ole state, but where they are building it causes more issue than any of us will ever understand. It is not that they are building it, it is where they are building it. Thank you for your opinion though, you are not wrong. Please understand that Mauna Kea is important.
I understand the importance of Mauna Kea. However, is that what is Hawaiian culture? To me culture is preservation and seeking of knowledge, cultural practices and embodying values that remind people of who they are. Culture is alive in people and so much more than an object.
I just want to say that I am born and raised in Kane’ohe. I am Hawaiian. I was very proud to be a part of this Peaceful Protectors of our ‘Aina sign waving event. All of my children and grandchildren held their signs saying “Aloha ‘Aina”. Our school’s students, teachers and principal was there also along with many other schools. We all joined together to sing and chant as we all enjoyed meeting each other. I would love to be on Hawai’i Island but I have to work and take care or my home and ‘ohana. So I was very glad to hear that Jazmin Hong organized this in my home town. Our students actually held signs at our school before we went to Winward City.
This is all about our children’s future and their children’s future. Stop contaminating our ‘aina and water.
The future must have a vision for people to further knowledge. Is our children better off not having opportunities to learn more about the stars that led their ancestors here? Peoples’ roots go much deeper than just Mauna Kea. It’s through our actions and continually seeking knowledge to move prepare our keiki for a better future.
As for contaminating the aina, the EIS has shown that it will have no effect based upon the project specs.
I kinda wish people would put the same energy into protesting the supermarkets who get away selling people a $3 tomato. You’re broke after 2 salads, now that’s a crime. Pick and choose your battles I guess, maybe protesting the tomato issue doesn’t make people feel as ‘hawaiian’ as they want to. I’m Hawaiian blood too but blah what, how many times i gotta hear islanders saying how Hawaiian they are and they live in a plywood toxic house, dont sort their recyclables, and eat at fast food 3+ times a week, contributing to pollutants on not only this Island, but others.
Dont get me wrong, nobody’s perfect, but this telescope ain’t the worlds most pressing issue. We got homeless people dying everyday, will you be Mauna Kea for them? Would you give the same energy towards that? Just a question to ask oneself. I’m not in support of TMT btw, im just tired of this racial pride stuff and if you say you want to protect the aina protect all of her, from your own toxic impacts too. And if you do already, right on.
My gosh, thank you for your sensible comment. I agree, how can we address more pressing problems at hand with all this energy?
I hate conflict and I hate that I am torn about this issue. I am definitely for the advance in science, but I am also against the whole treatment of things. Many things have been already covered in previous comments such as the land lease, the profit UH makes with sub-leases, questionable “job openings” and opportunities aside from resident tuition that the TMT will provide. Then as it has been mentioned multiple times, the sacredness of the mountain itself. In legend the islands were birthed by Papahanaumoku (wife of Wakea the sky father), Big Island being the first born child. Mauna Kea is the piko of Hawaii. The piko is known to connect us to our ancestors, Mauna Kea (A.K.A. Mauna a Wakea “Wakea’s Mountain”) connects us directly to Wakea, whom all Polynesians are descendant. Which means that Mauna Kea would be our ancestor as well. It’s not just about property to the Hawaiians, it’s not just a mass of land, a mountain, it is family. I think the people whom the TMT directly impacts, that is the spiritual reason why they oppose the construction of the TMT. Quoting you , “To me culture is preservation and seeking of knowledge, cultural practices and embodying values that remind people of who they are. Culture is alive in people and so much more than an object.” Preservation. Cultural practices. Embodying values. I’m not sure what you meant by this, but the people are working to preserve Mauna Kea. Our kupuna. Embodying values, they value that mountain as their source of water, they value that mountain as their own family.
I have tried researching for videos of people ripping it up on Mauna Kea but failed. It wasn’t easy for me to research it no matter what I tried. But maybe I just fail at that. I’m not quite sure about Whole Foods but Target Kailua was once Don Quijote (previously Daiei and idk if there was anything before that), I’m not sure if the original construction of that place had been protested all I know is that while they tore down Don Quijote to build Target they found human remains (which were properly relocated to rest in peace). I’m pretty sure people were pissed off about it but I’m also pretty sure that not many people knew about it since all of a sudden they found human remains there while building Target. In my honest opinion though, besides the iwi kupuna, I don’t think Kailua had ever been so sacred to the Hawaiians as Mauna Kea is.
I can understand your point about opportunities and I can support that. That’s great but I feel like it’s not as developed as O’ahu for a reason (referencing one of the article links that mentions the level of development). For one it’s the Big Island, not O’ahu “the gathering place” island which holds the state’s capital of Honolulu and the image of “paradise” Waikiki for the sake of tourism. Big Island is a relaxing island, I know many people who retired to live there or plan to live there in their old age. I would plan to live out my golden years there possibly. Perhaps TMT will provide job opportunities, but that’s 300 temporary jobs that is out the window as soon as it’s over. Then 120-140 permajobs regarding computer network support. All locally contracted. But think about it, if Big Island isn’t very developed I can’t imagine that a whole lot of people go to the Big Island (or stay very long) looking for computer network job opportunities there. I know many people who went into computer network and software/program development here on O’ahu, and wound up moving up to the mainland to look for better opportunities. Though this is all just my opinion.
Hawaiians were intelligent people, yes, they managed to map out the stars to direct them around the ocean and that is the highlight of why the people should be supporting TMT rather than protesting it. King Kamehameha supposedly had a progressive mindset, he and his wife abolished the kapu system by eating together. Some say he would probably support the TMT himself, but personally I feel that he would oppose having over ten observatories on that mountain. It makes more sense to rebuild one of the already existing ones into the TMT. I’m sure the people would be willing to compromise. If the DLNR filled them in exactly what’s going on rather than leaving everyone in the dark, we would have more trust and harmony.
I am torn about this situation as I have said at the beginning because I support the scientific advance, but I oppose the disrespect to the residents, the people. And the Hawaiians’ beloved kupuna, Mauna a Wakea.
Aloha HawaiiFarmersDaughter,
Mahalo for your mana‘o. I enjoyed reading your piece, though I do not agree with your points.
The protests aren’t anti-science or anti-progress. The protectors are definitely not against the quest for knowledge.
To label the present movement as such is a simplification at best but moreso a miscategorization, perhaps because a lack of information (or understanding) of the different perspectives that are out there.
I would encourage you check out the beautifully written piece entitled “We live in the future. Come join us.” It may give you some insight to where many on the “‘a‘ole” side are coming from. Here’s a long for your convenience:
https://hehiale.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/we-live-in-the-future-come-join-us/
I really hope you’ll read it. Even if you don’t agree with the author’s point of view, hopefully you’ll at least understand the other side’s perspective a little better.
Mahalo,
Ryan
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I have read that link and respect what the writer states. I’d really like to collaboration on issues vs. conflict created by misinformation. Once people can agree on the facts about it, I think the collaborative route will be clearer.
Mahalo for your point of view. What you said is true. But from the get go, the mountain is sacred, by building another giant scope on it is hewa, along with all the other stuff up there. People snowboard down and stuff cuz they can, it’s not fully disrupting anything. When Hawaiians go up there to have fun, they go with the intention to malama, cuz you can still have fun and malama at the same time. Back then, the mountains were kapu, the only people that were allowed were the kahuna, or medicine doctors. All mountains are kapu, because it is the highest peaks to the heavens. By building more things up there will make the mountain crowded. I am a Geologist at UHM. As a man of science and culture, I’m stuck between two worlds, but with this case, culture wins. Because I can understand if we were jus taking samples, we noi or ask nature if we are able to take things to study, if bad things happen then it wasn’t pono (right). Another thing, I fought against the rail, tmt, target kailua, new house divisions etc. This island of Oahu is getting so crowded, that there is no room for anyone. But further more, “money talks” these big corporations and funders has a lot of it. Therefore, no matter what we say, they will still go through with it. But if it’s hewa we’ll know. Cuz like the rail, it was hewa, the construction messed up the bases, and now they hafta redo it all over because it is not straight. And all of our tax payer money especially yours will go into it. I’m not trying to change your opinion, but this is the Hawaii we live in. Jus hafta deal with it, with RESPECT
I read the article and I have read the comments. I am born and raised on the islands, but I live there no more. I am ashamed of the behavior of these anti people who destroy Aloha. Bullying their opinions because if you are not agreeing with them you are wrong. I have no opinion..just facts… no creation without destruction.. without creation/destruction there is no progress, there is no regression, only stagnation. My Aloha state has been changing into a mess of filth infiltrated from both opposing and supporting because power and control is more important than peace and patience. Those who can not respect good points and instead pick a part the weak ones to try to prove and convert…well the all hail to you and your all righteous views! This article is in the perspective of love , but because the author is not loving the same thing you do…you need to destroy too. What do you value? The beauty of life and the passion of love or being agreed with for power and control.
Mahalo for your comment. I can’t tell you how many ugly ones have been showing up that I won’t post for the sake. It’s apparent that the aloha is fading.
Protests can only go so far at this point. What may further the cause is a different method and approach.
Something to consider. http://wp.me/p3UUph-Sh
There is a lot of misinformation going around about the Thirty Meter Telescope project. If you are interested in this issue, pro or against, I encourage you to read up on the facts so you can form an informed opinion.
http://www.maunakeaandtmt.org/
It’s so sad to see what is happening to our state. There is always a new protest about something. It seems the same “protesters” just move on from one issue to another. Mindless robots for the puppet handlers. Look at the Superferry. The protesters managed to kill it eventually. How? There was a lot of money and influence coming from where?? A recent poll showed that 87% of Hawaii residents supported the Superferry. I was present at a meeting where a wheelchair bound kupuna shared with tears in her eyes, that she would finally be able to visit her OHANA on other islands with the help of the Superferry. She was booed off the stage by disrespectful protesters. I was born here and have Hawaiian ancestry. There is the mentality that is passed down among some of us, that the big companies, anyone with lots of money = BAD. “Look at how much they have and how little we have”. It is deep rooted, and goes to the core of some of us. Imagine life here if the protesters always got their way. I suggest that if you support the telescope, or any of the other issues that the protesters are trying to kill, that you make your feelings known. Don’t be bullied into silence by the hateful glares and endless four letter words being shouted by the mob. It’s our islands too!
Mahalo for your comments. I cannot believe the level of nastiness and no aloha these people have regarding this issue. This has the potential to have Hawaiians literally rise up as a people. That only can happen with education and opportunities.
Ancient Hawaiians are also thought to have used the summit as an observatory. There are better ways to see the world around you, than confrontational ones. Having said that, confrontation can be fun and exciting when you want to put off cleaning your room. It’s difficult not to scratch that itch. I like to think I’m satisfying a primordial urge when folks hurl hate my way. God bless em so long as it’s only words.
I live Mauna Kea, I grew up on it, it’s my home but I have to remind some people that it will not be there forever, neither will this island. Rain, snow and time are eventually going to wash it away. What’s more, at some point in the far future it is a certainty that this whole planet will become inhospitable for us. How will the human race survive? By looking to the stars. Astronomy is a means to the future of our race as a whole. The TMT is a huge advance in the field of astronomy and will help us get to another planet faster. Not that we should disregard Mauna Kea or try to preserve what we can, when we can, it just should be for the right reasons that we make exceptions. 4 wheel driving on the mountain is terrible and should be banned. Any commercial interests should be kept off the summit but the telescopes which help the human race as a whole should be allowed to advance. Its the bigger picutre.
Beautiful comment! Mahalo!
I was born and raised in Hawaii. I have seen many protest most of which I do not agree with. But I too believe Hawaii has lost its aloha. There always seems to be a fight to pick
and that’s sad. I support the building of the TMT, I believe its a great opportunity for science, the keiki and world to learn, and at least this structure won’t obstruct the view.
Great job in standing for what you believe in. I support you!