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How the Thirty Meter Telescope Ruling Will Impact Future Astronomy Projects (forbes.com)
StartsWithABang writes: If you want to explore the Universe, you need a telescope with good light gathering power, a high-quality camera to make the most out of each photon, and a superior observing location, complete with dark skies, clear nights, and still, high-altitude air. There are only a few places on Earth that have all of these qualities consistently, and perhaps the best one is atop Mauna Kea on Hawaii. Yet generations of wrongs have occurred to create the great telescope complex that's up there today, and astronomers continue to lease the land for far less than it's worth despite violating the original contract. That's astronomy as we know it so far, and perhaps the Mauna Kea protests signal a long awaited end to that.
Hawaiian culture was stone age before the white man arrived. Frankly, the wisdom of King Kamehameha the Great, who unified the islands for the first time *ever* with a multi-racial coalition of partners, was incredibly farsighted. By embracing the technology and culture of the Europeans, Hawaii established itself as a jewel of the pacific, far more advanced and civilized than other island nations which didn't embrace western values and culture.
Yes, disease ravaged the original population, and yes, the imported asians for plantation labor were subjugated in terrible ways, but the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893 was an internal affair, and the independent Republic of Hawaii survived from 1894-1898 despite the unfriendly Cleveland administration (who wanted to restore his friend the Queen to the throne).
The current protesters are lying opportunists, capitalizing on your ignorance of history and your white guilt.