Tattered Flags

by Joni Kamiya, Hawaii Farmer’s Daughter, September 1, 2019

Thanks to the social media, lots of folks have fastened big old upside down Hawaiian flags on their vehicles. It has been about 6 weeks since this debacle started and I’m noticing many flags are showing fading and wear. Many flags are starting to unravel at the edges, showing its threads.

Not only are flags fixed onto cars but so many users across Facebook have changed profile frames to show their stance against the Thirty Meter Telescope. I recognize many names because they were the same folks testifying at hearings and posting false information against GMOs. It’s same emotion-laden claims being repeated but it’s directed towards astronomy. Many use the language that this is “colonization” and “imperialistic oppression.” Some will even add a new term called “ethical science” and that Western science is the issue because of an alleged lapse of it.

Any anti movement starts to show a pattern, whether it be anti-vaccination, anti-GMO, anti-anything. One of the most effective tactic is to stir emotions up because that shuts down a logical brain that would ask questions. By planting false claims, many of them emotion-based, one can be sure that someone will repeat it, get mad, and it will be spread with one click. None if any will question the information because they operate from emotion. The tactic is simple and effective at shutting down minds.

I know I have heard several of those claims before but could not recall where it was from. I know I’ve heard them somewhere in my readings. Then it dawned on me that it was from an article I read about Trofim Lysenko. His views and claims led to millions of deaths due to rejection of “Western science” views across the world in the Soviet Union and in China. People suffered because of this man’s beliefs but few in this day know this history.

The claims of desecration reminds me of the religious fervor of the anti-gay marriage folks who said the law had to protect the sanctity of marriage. I saw so many church folks turn mean and angry at protests against gay marriage. Here were supposedly good Christians turning hateful against a fellow human being. I see the same thing in the anti-TMT folks telling foreigners to go home. Forget the fact that there are few Native Hawaiians who have no foreign ethnicities in their ancestry. I bet these same folks get angry about Trump’s tirades but have no idea they are doing the same.

The media is so focused on the protesters show right now and the Governor is sitting there letting them obstruct progress. It is fun to have so many selfies with Hollywood stars on the mountain. One picture represents a brief second in time. Did it change one’s life to take a photo with The Rock or Jason Momoa? Nope. Will The Rock and Aquaman start up a long term Native Hawaiian education plan and work with Big Island community leaders to help diversify the economy and strengthen the community? Nope. Nope. Nope. They got their selfies and they are gone. They have nothing invested in seeing the community thrive there.

Meanwhile, Governor Ige is going strong posting facts and stemming the disinformation campaigns against the telescope. I have to ask where were these same actions when fishermen and farmers were thrown under the bus for years. How come he never set the facts straight about pesticides and longline fishing? What gives? Fishermen and farmers are still farming but their reputations have been smeared thanks to politics and the weak leadership in our state. People are still buying from us farmers and eating up poke.

Months from now, more flags will be tattered and need replacing while many hold their hands up shaped like the mauna. It is symbolic of the short life and narrow views of these movements that come and go in Hawaii. The mauna is enormous unlike the view from one’s hands. If the protesters put their hands down and looked beyond “their” mountain, they can see a brighter future that so many are hoping for. Mauna Kea is not “their” mountain but it is a place for all to gather and learn from the discoveries to be made.