A standoff with no winner ADVERTISING A standoff with no winner The cartoon in the Sunday Tribune-Herald (May 24) depicts a Thirty Meter Telescope scientist and a Hawaiian female demonstrator standing atop Mauna Kea, with their chins out, fists clenched,
A standoff with no winner
The cartoon in the Sunday Tribune-Herald (May 24) depicts a Thirty Meter Telescope scientist and a Hawaiian female demonstrator standing atop Mauna Kea, with their chins out, fists clenched, eyes fixed, staring each other down in anger. Could these two angry people be the metaphorical stand-ins for Galileo vs. Pele or science vs. religion?
Religion is very concerned about the struggle between the sacred and the profane. But as we see in the struggle over TMT, one person’s sacred easily can be another person’s profane, and vice versa.
Could Pele be the sacred one and Galileo the profane one because a modern version of Galileo’s telescope is slated to sit atop Pele’s sacred mountain? Or could Galileo be the sacred one because modern science replaced the superstitions of the past with logic, facts and problem-solving technology? Maybe, but where does that get us in solving the TMT problem? Asking people to resolve their own conflicts between science and religion doesn’t sound like a workable solution.
Most people no longer believe a garden serpent can tell a human to eat an apple, but that doesn’t undermine religion because no one can prove or disprove the existence of God. Consequently, science still is unable to totally supplant religion. Therefore, the science vs. religion argument concerning TMT doesn’t get us anywhere.
Let’s face it, the main TMT problem is about the unsatisfactorily resolved politics of the past, with some additional issues added to provide more weight to today’s arguments. This is not to denigrate sacred Hawaiian religious issues and environmental concerns on Mauna Kea, which are real, but the key issue involving TMT, the Superferry, access rights to the ocean and more is the lack of effective state and local governments and a workable role for the Hawaiians in governing the Hawaiian Islands.
Viewing TMT as a political issue might not make it easier to solve this problem, but politics is about the splitting of differences, which is the sole reason for the existence of democratic government.
U.S. Census Bureau statistics show Hawaii is the most ethnically diverse state in our country. This fact demands we use highly effective democratic processes to solve problems such as TMT and the Superferry, and that everyone is treated fairly in the process.
The government has to stop hiding from these critical issues and start doing a better job or events will spin out of control and we will continue to loose important economic and scientific projects. At the same time, we have to recognize that our Hawaiian citizens have a special problem and anger related to their political history with the federal government.
We have to find a way to resolve this fairly, or the Hawaiians will never be satisfied, and our political-economy will continue to suffer for it. It is time to face this reality as we try to build a better society for all of Hawaii’s citizens.
Fred Pollock
Laupahoehoe
