08-21-2017, 09:09 AM
From HOTPE
Last week on another thread, someone mentioned that the Polynesian Cultural Center is owned and operated by the Mormon Church....with all of the talk about Native Hawaiian rights swirling around the legal battle with the TMT on Mauna Kea...why is the Polynesian Cultural Center granted a more or less free pass (as it were) by "The Protectors" et al?
Not sure the comparison is apt. Some differences:
1. TMT is a project proposed for a natural environment (already modified by other telescopes). There has been some grumbling about some of the previous telescopes, so there is a history of discontent.
Is PCC site sacred in any way, i.e. was there objection to the covering of the taro field? I do not perceive that there was.
2. TMT is a proposal; PCC is history. Seems fair to say that the matter of missionaries who condemned and destroyed Native Hawaiian religion and practices is not a pressing topic of concern to most present day native Hawaiians. PCC, whatever its residual negative connotations, is grandfathered in.
Making an issue of PCC now is somewhat analogous to the campaign to tear down Confederate statues. And in my conservative opinion most of the anti-statue rhetoric was engineered by mostly white Social Justice Warriors on college campuses who found it convenient (between attacking free speech commentators on campuses) to rile up the African American community on this matter.
Perhaps a demagogue could rile up the "Protectors" to march, torches in hand, on the PCC. But probably not likely.
Yes, the same Hawaiians who have no objection to the Poly Cult Center most likely appreciate jobs the observatories bring, as well as the science, and education in the 21st century.
Native Hawaiians have a fairly long history of working at luaus and various tourist attractions in Hawaii like PCC. Not sure the supposed job opportunities as TMT equate. Aren't the jobs at TMT mostly academic and technical? And not to disparage native Hawaiians, but I do not see advanced science jobs being on or near the top of the list of things they perceive as valuable to their culture. They have their focus on a lot of things; IMO that is not one of them.
In sum, seems the PCC is really old history, again, grandfathered in...
Last week on another thread, someone mentioned that the Polynesian Cultural Center is owned and operated by the Mormon Church....with all of the talk about Native Hawaiian rights swirling around the legal battle with the TMT on Mauna Kea...why is the Polynesian Cultural Center granted a more or less free pass (as it were) by "The Protectors" et al?
Not sure the comparison is apt. Some differences:
1. TMT is a project proposed for a natural environment (already modified by other telescopes). There has been some grumbling about some of the previous telescopes, so there is a history of discontent.
Is PCC site sacred in any way, i.e. was there objection to the covering of the taro field? I do not perceive that there was.
2. TMT is a proposal; PCC is history. Seems fair to say that the matter of missionaries who condemned and destroyed Native Hawaiian religion and practices is not a pressing topic of concern to most present day native Hawaiians. PCC, whatever its residual negative connotations, is grandfathered in.
Making an issue of PCC now is somewhat analogous to the campaign to tear down Confederate statues. And in my conservative opinion most of the anti-statue rhetoric was engineered by mostly white Social Justice Warriors on college campuses who found it convenient (between attacking free speech commentators on campuses) to rile up the African American community on this matter.
Perhaps a demagogue could rile up the "Protectors" to march, torches in hand, on the PCC. But probably not likely.
Yes, the same Hawaiians who have no objection to the Poly Cult Center most likely appreciate jobs the observatories bring, as well as the science, and education in the 21st century.
Native Hawaiians have a fairly long history of working at luaus and various tourist attractions in Hawaii like PCC. Not sure the supposed job opportunities as TMT equate. Aren't the jobs at TMT mostly academic and technical? And not to disparage native Hawaiians, but I do not see advanced science jobs being on or near the top of the list of things they perceive as valuable to their culture. They have their focus on a lot of things; IMO that is not one of them.
In sum, seems the PCC is really old history, again, grandfathered in...