02-27-2007, 02:38 AM
I think Hawai'i would be occupied by others, but we will never know. World War 2 history buffs will know more about his than I do, but I think the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor as sort of "pre-emptive" strike against the US, whose expanding naval presence in the Pacific they viewed, rightly or wrongly, as a threat. I'm pretty sure someone would have occupied Eden, if it had not been the US.
It really isn't the Americans that changed Hawai'i in my view though-- it is the airplane. Here it was, the most remote place on Earth -- but not anymore. Millions visit now, and not all of them from America.
I think the best Hawaiians can hope for is to re-assert their culture --and not by assaulting haoles in parking lots, breaking into rental cars or through simmering resentment. That isn't your culture. That is an imported culture, much like the coqui. That very cool singer Sean Somebody sang "No Hawaiians, no Aloha". I would change that to say "No Aloha? then you aren't Hawaiian".
It really isn't the Americans that changed Hawai'i in my view though-- it is the airplane. Here it was, the most remote place on Earth -- but not anymore. Millions visit now, and not all of them from America.
I think the best Hawaiians can hope for is to re-assert their culture --and not by assaulting haoles in parking lots, breaking into rental cars or through simmering resentment. That isn't your culture. That is an imported culture, much like the coqui. That very cool singer Sean Somebody sang "No Hawaiians, no Aloha". I would change that to say "No Aloha? then you aren't Hawaiian".