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I don't see where any words have been twisted. What I said was pretty much in agreement with the OP's statement. Maybe you just have a propensity for seeing things that are not there. Just like seeing "racism" in every nook and cranny in Hawaii - a product perhaps of a "white guilt" complex. I mean, you know the history of Hawaii and how white people had shabbily treated Hawaiians and Asians. You said so yourself. So you are anticipating some kind of racial blowback....because you think that's how human beings operate. They want revenge. That's your mental paradigm. Your perception of the world has been colored by such a paradigm. So then, you interpret every slight directed against you as a "racist act" done to avenge previous wrongs. In reality, you're just being paranoid.
I was hoping you would throw in some kind of ad hominem attack to complete the list of poor debate tactics... thanks for not disappointing.
Is there some racism in Hawai'i, yes. There is some racism in every state and it goes towards every color. Look for it and you will find it anywhere you go. Maybe then, we should NOT look for it.
I was hoping you would throw in some kind of ad hominem attack to complete the list of poor debate tactics... thanks for not disappointing.
Exactly what I was saying. You were anticipating some kind of "ad hominem attack" so you found it....even though what I said was nothing more than a technical description (nothing personal) of your mindset, which is that of paranoia. You believe non-whites are out to get you, so you interpret their actions as such. That's paranoia. That's not an ad hominem attack....but rather a dispassionate description of your state of mind as you manifest it through your writings.
Again, a person who has a mental paradigm that anticipates racism in other people's actions will "find" what he is looking for. Another term for this confirmation bias.
Is there some racism in Hawai'i, yes. There is some racism in every state and it goes towards every color. Look for it and you will find it anywhere you go. Maybe then, we should NOT look for it.
However, not looking for racism doesn't make it go away. Racism is like a cancer, one can often live with it for years and then one day, it becomes malignant and ends up killing you.
As there are different types of cancer, there are different types of racism. There's institutional racism, scientific racism, historical racism, spatial racism, internalized racism, individual racism, and several other types. In addition, there is also racialism, prejudice, discrimination, bigotry, stereotypes, etc. Like most states in the U.S., Hawai'i has it all.
Being "kind, courteous, polite, etc." might be helpful in countering a stereotype, but it's not going to help much with "institutional racism" (eg. getting admitted to Kamehameha Schools without Hawaiian ancestry).
Exactly what I was saying. You were anticipating some kind of "ad hominem attack" so you found it....even though what I said was nothing more than a technical description (nothing personal) of your mindset, which is that of paranoia. You believe non-whites are out to get you, so you interpret their actions as such. That's paranoia. That's not an ad hominem attack....but rather a dispassionate description of your state of mind as you manifest it through your writings.
Again, a person who has a mental paradigm that anticipates racism in other people's actions will "find" what he is looking for. Another term for this confirmation bias.
You gave no technical description, you attempted to discredit my experiences and the sources I offered by making assumptions about me and trying to use those assumptions to paint me in a bad light. I know enough lawyers to know how this works. The expecting an ad hominem attack comment was a joke and nothing more, it just seemed like the next logical tactic for you to use along with the straw men and half truths. Here is the definition of an ad hominem attack, I think it is pretty straightforward how your line of argument fits.
Overall, I am merely speaking from personal experience, this thread is nothing more than a bunch of people sharing their experiences. This particular topic is not an academic exercise, there is no data published on this subject as far as I know.
I lived most of my adult life in Honolulu. I'm married to a local part-Hawaiian girl (born and raised), I love my family in Hawaii. They are all non-white. I do not believe they (or the rest of the population) are out to get me nor have I made comments which implied that. What I have shared is that I have had experiences and witnessed situations where people were discriminated against in Hawaii because of their race, many of those being involving people who were caucasian and from the mainland (what the OP was asking about). I attended Hawaiian studies classes at UH and talked with students and professors. I worked with locals in the city government and various service positions in Waikiki. I have talked with all of them about how they feel about non-locals (like myself) moving from the mainland. I am just reporting the sum total of those experiences. Nothing more. Provincialism is not unique to Hawaii, but it does exist there. I don't know why that would be hard to believe.
Sadly, it seems that you are just trying to win an argument and appear have no desire to learn from others experience. You exaggerate what people post, selectively interpret their words, or subtly twist what they say to make their rational and well laid out positions look irrational or "paranoid". You have offered zero facts or personal experiences beyond some racial census data and some half-baked psychoanalysis of anyone that debates what you say. If you ever do have the pleasure of living in Hawaii I suspect you will find that I give a very reasonable assessment of the situation. Once again, that is just my opinion though.
I've said my piece, it appears that the conversation has gone beyond the point of being productive because I have already given my opinion on the OP's original question in great detail. I am comfortable leaving it at that.
Overall, I am merely speaking from personal experience, this thread is nothing more than a bunch of people sharing their experiences. This particular topic is not an academic exercise, there is no data published on this subject as far as I know.
Even better, there is research. I wasn't aware. Are their findings far off from what I have said?
Nope, most of the research agrees with what you've said.
When I read the ndfmnlf's posts below, I didn't feel like wasting my time trying to "enlighten" someone who's "tilting at windwills"...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ndfmnlf
According to the Census Bureau Hawaii QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau the dominant ethnic group in Hawaii is Asian, at 38% of the population. Whites are the 2nd biggest group, at 26%. Native Hawaiians are at 10%. Among the Asians, Filipinos are the largest group at 13%, followed by the Japanese at 12%. So which of the non-white groups are acting racist towards whites? Is it the Asians? Or the native Hawaiians? Whites actually outnumber the native Hawaiians, so it seems improbable that the minority group (the native Hawaiians) are doing the victimizing of the group more numerous and more powerful than them. It's also unlikely to be the Asians since they are just as "alien" to Hawaii as whites (alien in the sense that they were not the original inhabitants of the islands).
Quote:
Originally Posted by ndfmnlf
You're making it sound like all the non-whites (Asians of various shades, native Hawaiians, other Polynesians) are colluding with each other to gang up on the white race. So now Asians are lumped together with native Hawaiians and Polynesians. Do all non-whites look alike to you? This type of lumping can only happen inside the brain of someone who has some race-based paranoia to begin with.
Japanese are as different from Filipinos culturally and genetically as night and day. And these 2 groups combined outnumber native Hawaiians. And yet it is the long-suffering white race that is being oppressed in Hawaii. What a hoot.
I do not believe they (or the rest of the population) are out to get me nor have I made comments which implied that.
Except you did make comments that indeed implied that. Here:
Quote:
Local asians may be just as "alien" as the haole, but due to their plantation roots, they have a higher status in the culture and typically refer to themselves as "locals" first and their ethnicity second. In the broadest sense, locals are the groups that discriminates because they are the majority and their culture is the dominant one.
Local Asians (along with native Hawaiians) are the majority and the dominant culture that discriminates? Isn't that what you said? Isn't that lumping all Asians /Pacific Islanders who are as disparate and different from each other into one monolithic group that discriminates against whites? How do you define "dominant culture" anyway? Is Filipino culture and Japanese culture even compatible with each other? You paint with too broad a brush. Talk about stereotyping.
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