Fairy tales
In light of the ongoing protests against the Thirty Meter Telescope by the Native Hawaiians and their supporters, it gives me much comfort and pleasure to realize how much these people rely on spurious religion, fantasy and imagination.
It is nice to observe that fiction can play such a big role even in our modern society, so not everything is lost to the digitization, robotization and mechanization of our world.
Bravo, Hawaiians, you give a lot of credit to fairy tales again and reinvigorate my faith in make-believe. It is so sober and boring to think about what makes all the modern technology (smartphones, televisions, computers) even possible in the first place.
Away with science. Away with the latest research, including astronomy. Away with human intellect and back to a dream world where the Hawaiian gods still operated effectively and protected the innocent and virginal islands against the evil American invasion and modernity.
One day they might come back and destroy all those nefarious telescopes. Maybe we all should move up there and enjoy the clean but thin air. No one else has ever been there — no priests, no hunters, no rulers, no peasants.
Dream on.
Albrecht Classen
Hilo
Good jobs, low impact
Frank Kealohaaina III’s letter (Your Views, Dec. 8) stating the lease rent paid by the Thirty Meter Telescope is a pittance compared to the Hilo retail complexes sitting on Department of Hawaiian Homelands land is way off base.
Yes, the Prince Kuhio Plaza retail district generates a lot of lease income for the DHHL.
However, the profit generated by these stores doesn’t stay on island. Astronomy, on the other hand, creates local jobs and generates revenue that stays here.
The TMT will be paying $1 million in yearly lease rent when its fully operational; $800,000 will be used on Maunakea; and $200,000 will be directed to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
The positive financial impact this astronomy facility will have tells only part of the story. The environmental impact of astronomy is much less than the military, or tourism, has on our island.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
‘Aina be damned
Once again, I rode my bicycle on Highway 132. It’s been open less than a month. The trash is appalling!
Plastic cups, Styrofoam noodle cups, beer and soda cans, plastic food containers, lots of cigarette butts, a tooth brush!
All that is bad enough, but then there’s graffiti! The only thing missing is abandoned vehicles.
I’m sure by next week, there will be those, as well.
Have some respect, people. Don’t be disgusting. Keep your trash in your car, and dispose of it properly. That’s what civilized folks do.
Jennifer Tanner
Pahoa