That's a good article (see link below) -- as far as it went. The author writes as though this is a new problem. It is not, as we saw in "A Stranger in Our Own Land" (Season 1, 1968) and "A Lion in the Streets" (Season 12, 1979), to name but two.
Actually, Hawaii has lost favor as a vacationing spot among the wealthy, who have moved on to such places as Bora Bora, Bali, and the Caribbean. Instead, Hawaii is attracting middle-class tourists, who too often have no manners and throw litter about -- just as they have turned flying into an activity to be avoided at all cost, unless one is able to own and fly his or her own plane.
Today, the mega-wealthy move to Hawaii to stay and flaunt their wealth while managing their investments. Money talks, and so, those mega-wealthy, self-serving so-and-sos soon take over. They vote to withhold funding from public schools; after all, their children all attend private schools. They pay half as much to their professional employees as employees earn doing the same work on the mainland. They barely throw scraps to their service employees, who must work "five part-time jobs just to pay the rent," as one man wrote, and have no hope of ever owning their own homes.
At the same time, the Islanders are no angels. Let's see an article that tells about rude Hawaiians, who glare at you if you dare to say "mahalo" instead of "thank you" or who walk headlong into you on the sidewalk, again with anger in their eyes, or who smile happily while performing, then put on the glaring eyes as soon as the spotlights turn off. I encountered all three on my last trip over -- and I do mean last.
War is breaking out as Hawaiians assault mainlanders on the street -- both tourists and the homeless who live on the streets. Attacks against military officers stationed in Hawaii are so bad that no one wants to be stationed there. A recent news report told of a sailor who requested transfer to a ship that was leaving that day in order to get away from Islanders who had assaulted him. His request was granted!
And, yet, there are some of us, who go to Hawaii dearly hoping to see the land of a century ago, a land of little grass shacks and beautiful pavilions and outrigger canoes. Sadly, I doubt whether one will find more than entertainment-oriented replicas of them at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie. Time changes all things, even in the Islands. And, so, Honolulu is becoming just another big city with big-city problems exacerbated by a lack of respect among those who live, work, and play there -- another New York City in the making. After taking in the scenic beauty away from the city and paying my respects at Pearl Harbor and Kahala Beach, I was ready to come home.
I doubt that my health would allow me to travel abroad again, but on the other hand - considering what Hawai'i had become even during the last 15 years only -I 'm not too sad that I won't be able to go there again.
I doubt that my health would allow me to travel abroad again, but on the other hand - considering what Hawai'i had become even during the last 15 years only -I 'm not too sad that I won't be able to go there again.