Access to Mauna Kea

[TomK]

bystander - totally agree. Social media is turning people into zombies. There is no need to tell the truth anymore, just say something outrageous and you'll have believers and followers no matter what the reality is. The problem is, how is it countered? Social media and the nonsense it propagates is now accepted and it becomes hard for the average person to know who is telling the truth.

In the old days, you might rely on the newspaper or TV media to have independent journalists reporting the news, but that seems to be no longer the case. Education can counter it but that's too slow and has never encountered a situation where idiots can communicate with other idiots so quickly that things go out of control so quickly.

I don't know what the solution is, perhaps there isn't one.

[LazyLehua]

I fear this is all going to get far too ugly before a resolution is found. And you all are correct about social media, you can say anything and people will believe it is true. Was cut off twice in the past two days by trucks flying upside down flags and driving in the service lanes then cutting people off on the Highway. If they continue with this rules don’t apply attitude that is being perpetuated, someone is going to get hurt. Very sad to see this happen, I can only hope for a peaceful resolution but don’t know if that is even possible.

Stacey
Living the life in Cali and Hawai‘i

[kalakoa]

hope for a peaceful resolution

I believe that's the one where "all you haoles go back where you came from".

[TomK]

Went up to Hale Pohaku today as a "buddy" to pick up an observer and bring them down to Hilo. We went through the "spur road" access which goes behind the main part of the protester encampment although is surrounded by tents and vehicles and is quite narrow and bumpy and one part has a 90-degree turn that clearly can't be made by large trucks. We actually ran into a traffic jam there because the corner is too tight and small for two vehicles to pass each other at that point (not that it's easy elsewhere along the spur road).

There were people walking all over this access, one or two walked out in front of us too busy looking at their phones and not looking where they were going, so had to stop a couple of times. One person even nearly walked into us when we were stationary. It's clearly not safe and at night and/or in thick fog is an accident waiting to happen.

Parts of this spur road are also extremely bumpy and there's no way sensitive equipment could be transported over it and nor would I think transporting LN2 or helium tanks is an option which the observatories need for operations.

No-one was unfriendly although I wouldn't go as far as saying people were friendly. There were a few waves and shakas but mainly when we gave way to pedestrians. The weird thing was that there seemed to be more vehicles up there than actual protesters.

[TomK]

From summit day crew reports today, things were very tense among the protesters and vehicle driving up to the observatories were given increased scrutiny. I don't know if the protesters think the MK observatories are bringing up the TMT bit by bit or we're hiding national guard members in the back of our vehicles, but there was a clear change of attitude. All because they believe some action will happen in the next couple of days due to social media posts.

Even Kai Kahale got caught up in the nonsense:

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/09/10...ia-rumors/

"Kahele says the state should have worked harder to quash to the rumors.

“You could almost call it Cyber warfare where information is being leaked,” he said."

What leak?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Kahele says the state should have worked harder to quash to the rumors.#8233;“You could almost call it Cyber warfare where information is being leaked,” he said.

Since the rumors seem to have started with protestors, and were spread by protestors, shouldn’t the protestors have worked harder to stop their own rumors? You could call it cyber warfare, but more accurately wasn’t it self created, self inflicted cyber warfare? Protestors were under attack by Facebook friendly fire.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

TMT Protestors in California will park in front of the home owned by a TMT investor today, Thursday 9/12. Bumper stickers in Hawaii may say this ain’t the mainland, but if any of our homegrown activists block the street in Redwood City, they may discover California ain’t Hawaii County.

Protesters plan to “gather” outside telescope backer’s California home:
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/09/12...rnia-home/

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

UPDATE ON FLAG CONTROVERSY LAST WEEK
When crews removed the bookless “library” at the protestor’s camp last week, a great cry of desecration rose up from the multitudes when a worker sawed the Hawaiian flag on the door in half. Why? The protestors made the flag impossible to remove in one piece, because they stripped the screw heads. It was an intentional provocation by the protestors, a manufactured controversy. Is it another sign of desperation on their part in an attempt to keep the demonstration fueled with confrontation and conflict?

“Protesters used screws to attach the state flag to plywood and then nailed additional pieces of wood over the flag to block entry to an unauthorized structure on Mauna Kea,” said Gov. Ige. “The screw heads were stripped to prevent removal of the flag with a screwdriver.”
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/09/12...g-tactics/

[TomK]

And now, according to Jason Momoa, the national guard will cut off satellite and cell access to the protesters.

https://heroichollywood.com/jason-momoa-...ial-media/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2MQGCaglNp/..._copy_link

[EightFingers]

There are other places on the island that have internet access.

I don’t think movie actors and the word credibility should ever be used together.

Puna: Our roosters crow first