Path to communication
Judi Steinman’s broad perspective of the Thirty Meter Telescope controversy might very well lead us toward a compromised solution.
In a May 16 Tribune-Herald story, she stated the crux of the entire dispute was that opposing sides are speaking two different languages, neither of which the other understands.
One, the evidence-based language of science, and the other based on religious, cultural and traditional beliefs. A non-understood foreign language is not a viable pathway to communication.
It is important to note this dilemma is not new to our present times. Conflicts between those who embrace one of the thousands of religious denominations, sects or cults can be found in a continuum that has flourished since the time of early mankind.
Religious disputes about territorial jurisdictions and/or staunchly held religious dogma have been the causal basis for the majority of history’s wars.
Steinman’s contribution here is the public airing of the No. 1 obstacle both sides face as they try to communicate — one side armed with a basket of apples trying to communicate with the other side holding a basket of oranges.
Out of these stymied crossroads, can we ever expect a fruitful solution?
Don Bremer
Keaau
Specious comparison
Rick Bennett’s letter on May 15 (“The sky won’t fall”) is predicated on two specious comparisons of the superconducting supercollider particle accelerator and TMT.
First, the Southern California farmers whose land would have been affected by the SSC actually had legal ownership of and title to the land in question. I don’t know that Native Hawaiians, individually or as a group, legally own the summit of Mauna Kea.
And secondly, I’m even more certain that none use the summit for agricultural purposes.
The only valid parallel between SSC in California and TMT on Mauna Kea is, in both cases, a sense of spiritual kinship — which is a valid comparison. But then, I feel a deep spiritual kinship to the Grand Canyon. And I don’t think I am alone in that sentiment.
But that hardly confers on us the legal standing to prevent, say, the Hualapai Native American tribe from building the Grand Canyon Skywalk.
James R. Cowles
Kent, Wash.
