Weakened by division
Yes, animosity is definitely growing (Your Views, Tribune-Herald, Sept. 17), not only on the Big Island. It is growing in this country.
The main culprit for animosity is fear.
When humans feel fear, we either run away or act aggressively. That is the flight or fight response.
When a country is peaceful and united, the citizens are less fearful. In that country, animosities are typically much less of a problem.
When you have politicians who are selfish and divide a country, you have a country full of fearful people. When you have a country where everything down to the post office system is politicized, you have a divided country.
When the citizens are fearful, they no longer trust one another. It is a given that humans rarely take accountability for themselves. When you have leadership that thrives on blaming others, the mentality filters down to the citizens. When we no longer hold ourselves accountable, we blame others around us.
It is so much easier to blame people who are different from us. So, yes, the result is animosity, and from animosity you get racism.
You can have racism against anyone who is different. It is an equal opportunity phenomenon. “Locals” in Hawaii can be racist against anyone deemed to be a “haole.”
“Haole” does not have to be white, and the “locals” can be a mixture of many races. Racism can be against anyone deemed different. As long as people are insecure and fearful, there will be racism.
The priority to fix racism is to promote calm and security. Above all, the solution to fix racism is to have leadership that can unite the nation rather than polarizing the citizens into political parties.
I don’t care what political party anyone believes in — a leader who divides the nation is never a good leader. A nation that is in turmoil is never going to be a strong nation.
After all, we are the United States. Let us not degenerate into us against them.
Hansen Tsang
Hilo
Illegal and cruel
Chickens everywhere are called upon by humans to give of themselves for our benefit.
They sacrifice their lives, their eggs — under mostly not-so-pretty circumstances — so we may eat and feed our families and our pets.
Must we also keep roosters tied up by a foot 24 hours a day until they are taken to fight, with no choice in the matter?
Must we ship them in small boxes to other countries, forced there to fight for their lives — if they survive the journey?
The money that is bet on cockfighting is from a neighbor’s pocket, at the expense of hapless, tortured, bloodied birds.
This is not a win-win for anyone. Don’t imagine for a moment that showing up for this secret, illegal, cruel activity is good for your overall health and feelings of self-worth — or that of your family.
Instead, show our children what it means to be kind, caring, law-abiding human beings, and take them for a walk in Big Island parks, where the words and birds fly free.
JoAnn Garrigan
Hilo