Legislative leaders want to hear Punans' concerns

[PunaMauka2]

Agreed it's generally good to support your local farmers when shopping for flower lei. Doubt I'd find it very gracious to refuse a gifted flower lei on the grounds that it wasn't locally grown.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Doubt I'd find it very gracious to refuse a gifted flower lei on the grounds that it wasn't locally grown.

Agreed, in most cases.
When it comes to politicians though, one man's gift horse is another man's Trojan horse.

[PunaMauka2]

I was thinking gifting a politician with a lei could end up like the Judas honi of death.

[pahoated]

Ummm, you don't put a lei on yourself, somebody puts it on for you. That is why it is a symbol of aloha. WTF? Punatic picking descends even further, starting with some erroneous conclusion, then working backwards to that. Most likely, it was somebody from Puna that put the lei on them.

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"

[shockwave rider]

Whenever I see those imported leis being put on dignitaries I always think: "That just shows how little respect they actually have for that person, they are giving them a cheapo lei from the grocery store, instead of getting one of the really nice locally made ones."

Politicians, or anyone really, would be just as much taken to task for refusing a lei made in Thailand because it wasn't locally made, as for accepting it. There is no winning this one for the recipient of the lei, and as much as I hate say so, I agree with PT, this is extreme nitpicking.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Punatic picking descends even further,

First they came for the orchid leis, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an orchid farmer.

Then they came for the TMT, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an astonomer.

Then they gave me dengue fever - and there was no one left to speak for me as I was delirious.

[shockwave rider]

quote:

---

Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge

Punatic picking descends even further,

First they came for the orchid leis, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an orchid farmer.

Then they came for the TMT, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an astonomer.

Then they gave me dengue fever - and there was no one left to speak for me as I was delirious.

---

You do know the origins of the quote you appropriated, right?

Because comparing importing cheap leis from Thailand with hauling people away to death camps is pretty extreme, even for Punaweb, and not at all funny for anyone who knows the history behind the quote.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

You do know the origins of the quote you appropriated, right?

Please.
You do know that quote has been adapted a million times to point out how seemingly small choices can lead to dramatic consequences?

I'd go back and change it to "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," but you'd probably ask whether I really, truly had a deep grasp of Taoist philosophy. And then correct me to point out that the preferred spelling is now "Daoist."

[PunaMauka2]

" Please"


Ditto.

I think it's pretty clear from elsewhere that HOTPE has a sensible conscience along with a healthy enough sense of humor. ...with the exception in regards to the potential communication challenges facing the parents of Kehena's Dolphin Boy, perhaps.

[shockwave rider]

As someone whose family was virtually annihilated in WWII I just can't find any humor in a quote about standing by and doing nothing while people were rounded up and sent to death camps being used to whine about a politician accepting a lei made in Thailand. There is no comparison, standing by while the government arrested the trade unionists and priests to the camps was no small choice, it was part of a systematic plan to eliminate all opposition from Germany.

On the other hand, giving out cheap imported leis and politicians accepting them is a pretty minor thing, and is certainly not going to lead to the orchid farmers being sent to gas chambers. Just because a bunch of people have twisted the original quote so many times, and so badly, doesn't make it any less obnoxious when someone else does it to protest a trivial concern. It is just continuing a bad practice. Imported leis are pretty insignificant compared to the holocaust.