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Would it be acceptable for white people to go to Japan and say, "what's shaking, g-ook?"
I don't really see a difference
Hmm....big difference. The actual equivalance would be going to Japan and calling Japanese as 'Japanese people'. Haole is the equivalent.
Anyways, over here in Japan, they call non-Japanese, 'gaijin'...if it means anything, there is a small element of foreigners who go crazy about being called 'gaijin' as well.
As a gaijin myself, I've never understood the desire of some other gaijin to pretend like they are Japanese and to be upset when called a 'gaijin' - which simply implies they aren't Japanese.
Anyways, no doubt, you are influenced by PC Culture. You're probably someone who when asked to describe the 'black guy', you will hhmmm...and huhhh...about it, and then describe him as the dark-complected guy with black hair....'oh, you mean the black guy?' your non-american friends will say.
Come on rest-of-the-world, just become christian democratic nations already
Come on gay people, just become straight already
Come on people with yellow shirts, let's just all wear blue already
Ever heard of uniquness and culture?
Juts because you dont understand it or like it doesn't mean it should be abolished. And I don't think you know what a black person feels like when they are called the N word. But you probably think you do.
Furthermore, caucasian people (or any race) should not have to feel threatened in our own country. Apparently the racist incidents are bad enough to echo to the mainland "be careful in HI if you're white." I think that this hate is most definitely taught by natives to keep mainlanders away from the 50th state. All US citizens should feel welcome to move to HI.
Do (legal) Hispanic-Americans feel welcome to move to Arizona?
Last century when sugar was looking for workers on their sugar plantations, they had to import workers since the folks already living here didn't want to work for them. Why should they? If you have a house to live in (along with a lot of your other relatives) and you've got gardening, fishing and hunting most of your food is free - so why spend so much time working for someone else when the money they will give you will only buy a bunch of stuff you don't need? That disdain for excessive "stuff" has allowed a lot of local folks to get by on well less than poverty levels of income - even in a really expensive place to live.
What actual good does someone get out of being an employee of a company? Is it enough to offset the amount of hours an employer wants in return? Our lives are made up of basically nothing but time, so how precious is life that we can afford to give it away in such large chunks in exchange for mere money?
*snip*
So true in so many places these days, not just Hawaii.
Japanese are known for having a very clean and tidy yard, Filipinos frequently have decorative concrete fences, haoles sunburn easily and usually speak louder than other groups of folks, Portuguese bake nice bread and make great soup, Chinese folks are great at saving money and working in a hui, etc.
You said such nice things about every group except the whites who the only thing you could manage to say is that they sunburn and speak loud.
Racism if such a hideous thing, even if it against your own race (and I don't know your race nor am I speculating).
What is caucasian reverence? Seems like as left-handed racial slur to me.
What do you have against "left-handed" people?
Taken out of context, relatively innocuous statements can assume all kinds of "overtones." After a mere 4 posts on City-Data, the original poster has probably found better things to do than waste time petulantly complaining about the use of the term "haole" in Hawai'i.
I've never had a problem with "haole". My wife and I use it between ourselves when referring to others. For me, it doesn't carry the baggage of ethnic relations on the mainland.
After a few years of listening to people speak "haole-to-haole", without "other" people around, my feel is that the griping circles around living in a minority-majority state/county/town for the first time, where a Anglo/Caucasian/White outlook doesn't predominate. As a result, I think they spend time worrying whether karma is as much a biotch as they fear, on top of dealing with the culture shock.
Last edited by cmholm; 12-30-2010 at 05:44 PM..
Reason: typo
For anyone interested, haole actually means "not with the breath". Aloha means, "to be with the breath". Ancient Hawaiian teachings teach that humans were once one with nature and were closely tied to our consciousness. That consciousness is tied to our breath and breathing and living and being one with our immediate environment as a way of connecting to something higher. Whites are called haole because of the Europeans and Americans harsh criticisms of the Hawaiian way of life and their blatant abuse of power by killing natives. They were not "in tune" with what the Hawaiians believed governed all life.
Many people don't know this, including Hawaiians who have no idea of the ancient ways of life. So Haole has become a derogatory term for all whites, even those with good intention. Personally, I never heard the word haole when I was on the islands. My ex was white and I am a light skinned latino. I think it was because we went over there with an open mind and respect for the culture. We went with no preconceived notions and we were looking to learn from anyone who had something to teach.
You get what you give in this life.
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