When Hawaiian Royalty adopted Christianity, the significance of Maunakea was reduced to a cultural icon. The ecosystems of Mauna Kea are important and protected according to 10 years of litigation. So, now science is stopped by a cultural icon under the pretense of its religious significance. Herein is a serious problem for Hawaii’s population.
Culture is a societal achievement intellectually attained through education, knowledge, i.e. science. Think of culture as a collection of memes that help a community survive, grow, and progress, relieving suffering and securing fulfillment for its members. Those memes that withstand the test of time by reducing, relieving, or eliminating suffering while enabling more fulfillment will energize society’s progress. Communities on different paths will, through chance encounters and syncretism, come to understand the benefits of the new memes and merge with progressing cultures, even if those chance encounters are the result of capitalistic conquests of the Pacific.
We all need to understand that what happened to these islands, though unconscionable, was inevitable. What we must realize today, thanks to education through science, humanity is regaining the power to be one people. Demagogues and ideologues thrive on division, the same used to divide islanders through ideological inculcation, the first salvos in the battle were missionaries. Ideologues, demagogues, and pious pundits segregate people into peoples, and they do this to siphon power from an inclusive community. We can be one people when we ignore the ideologies that would otherwise divide us.
Remember, it’s the future our keiki will inherit, not some long-gone past. And we need to empower our kids with knowledge, i.e. science, not ideologies. This is a power that grows with use. And, like Maunakea today, can empower us into the future.
VP Bryant is a resident of Waikoloa.