07-24-2018, 11:03 AM
kalakoa: "With precedent set, how about we just claim that marijuana is a "cultural practice". Unpermitted dwellings and expired registration, too, because those are just part of the religion...
Items 1 and 2 have a solid basis. Some native tribes have the right to ceremonial use of peyote, a much stronger drug than marijuana. If pot use could be similarly demonstrated as cultural, the case could be made. And codes preventing the widespread building of traditional grass hales is highly problematic, though I can see the argument that such exemptions should be allowed only on reservations--which native Hawaiians do not have.
geochem: "it's been pretty well validated that the cultural prohibition from removing lava rocks...was something completely made up by National Park rangers...yet the young Hawaiian children now believe that this was an authentic cultural practice..."
Good point, and this relates to another angle: some native Hawaiians trying to throw their weight around by barking at people for 1) taking rocks from HVNP 2) putting sticks into a hot lava (disrespecting Pele) 3) taking sand from a beach. What is the evidence for cultural prohibition on sticks in lava?
Perhaps the ultimate example might be opposition to TMT. I won't opine on this proposition any more, but speaking generally, it is known that native peoples, Hawaiians and native Americans on the mainland, periodically make noise--sometimes bossing people around--in part to let everyone know they're still relevant.
Interesting distinction between tribal peoples doing their own thing--drugs, building structures, burying animals--and facing criticism for that versus tribal peoples declaring that others' actions are offensive (building TMT on Mauna Kea, Dakota Access Pipeline)
Items 1 and 2 have a solid basis. Some native tribes have the right to ceremonial use of peyote, a much stronger drug than marijuana. If pot use could be similarly demonstrated as cultural, the case could be made. And codes preventing the widespread building of traditional grass hales is highly problematic, though I can see the argument that such exemptions should be allowed only on reservations--which native Hawaiians do not have.
geochem: "it's been pretty well validated that the cultural prohibition from removing lava rocks...was something completely made up by National Park rangers...yet the young Hawaiian children now believe that this was an authentic cultural practice..."
Good point, and this relates to another angle: some native Hawaiians trying to throw their weight around by barking at people for 1) taking rocks from HVNP 2) putting sticks into a hot lava (disrespecting Pele) 3) taking sand from a beach. What is the evidence for cultural prohibition on sticks in lava?
Perhaps the ultimate example might be opposition to TMT. I won't opine on this proposition any more, but speaking generally, it is known that native peoples, Hawaiians and native Americans on the mainland, periodically make noise--sometimes bossing people around--in part to let everyone know they're still relevant.
Interesting distinction between tribal peoples doing their own thing--drugs, building structures, burying animals--and facing criticism for that versus tribal peoples declaring that others' actions are offensive (building TMT on Mauna Kea, Dakota Access Pipeline)