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my point is that racism exists in every state; in every country. it's global. it has no boundaries. no ethnicity is expempt. whether it's name calling, jokes, nooses or swastikas.
This surprises me. I have never been, but like most people have always wanted to visit HI. I thought HI was mostly peaceful?
racism exists here in the islands at different degrees. every ethnicity is made fun of with jokes. personally, i don't get offended because i'm a mixture of at least 5 ethnicities and possibly one other. others do get offended. desecrating gravesites with swastikas and hanging nooses is ignorant and stirs up emotions and the horrible history that they represent.
hawai'i is a beautiful state! peaceful? most of the time. maybe you haven't heard or seen all the protesting against the superferry? those were not peaceful demonstrations. as with any other state, there will always be problems/issues--race, government, education, the environment, homelessness, taxes, etc.
to reiterate: the 50th state is beautiful and mostly peaceful. it is ranked amongst the highest as far as one of the safest places to live. don't be afraid to visit.
Just to change the subject, myqueen, did you find the pictures you were looking for? Pahoa has been my home off and on since 1989, my permanent home since 1999. I'll answer your questions if I can.
I ask, both slightly in relation to the earlier topic Kani brought up, and because I was following up today on the recent story in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald about the Waiakea Intermediate student who was attacked by another student and had to have 10 staples in her head. The newspaper may remove this, I hope they do, but in the comments posted in repsonse to the story, there is a MySpace profile link to a teenager that someone is claiming is responsible for the attack. How dangerous!!
Out of curiosity, I checked the profile...a Public profile, there for anyone to see. I guess I will never cease to be shocked by some of the things teen girls are posting on these sites. If this is really the site of a teen girl, it is alarming, at least to me. The quote, the lyrics of the song....I just wonder if her parents have any idea of what her profile looks like!
For those of you reading this...if you have children who use MySpace or other online sites, please take some time to talk with your teens about the dangers they face in the Cyber-World. Please consider requiring your teens to set their accounts to "Private". Or be sure to regularly check in on their sites to see what kind of "identity" they are putting out there. This is a national issue as well as a Hawaii issue...we see the stories on the news here just like on the mainland, of online predators and cyber-bullying...
Just a few thoughts of mine....and I'm curious, especially, as to how parents feel about this...do you think it is possible to exercise any kind of control over your teens online activity?
(I've mentioned on the forum before, I've been both a private school teacher on Oahu and an EA in a local public school...these issues are near to my heart and I am very concerned about how little many parents seem to know about their children's online activities...)
Last edited by cynmkolohe; 11-28-2007 at 01:11 AM..
Reason: add thought
sad! sad! sad! i read about this in our local paper.
this also reminds me of one of dr. phil's latest subjects. a young girl at the age of 16 met a man residing in the gaza strip (hello, war zone). with the aid of his parents was able to travel clear across the world, but was intercepted by the fbi before she could make it there. they met on myspace. they continued to communicate with eachother until just recently and she did actually make it there. she's now 18. however, with the help of dr. phil, she is now back in the usa.
Last edited by kani-lehua; 11-28-2007 at 03:09 PM..
Reason: comment
Just a few thoughts of mine....and I'm curious, especially, as to how parents feel about this...do you think it is possible to exercise any kind of control over your teens online activity?
My mother is a parenting counselor and seeing as how I am in my early 20s, I help her out with issues parents have with their teen children. This is a topic that comes up a lot, and the only way a parent can control their children on the internet is to be extremely strict. However, I still feel like this only can go so far. When I was in high school I constantly changed screen names, erased my viewing history, changed my passwords, etc and my mother couldn't keep up. It is especially harder for parents who aren't tech savvy, because they don't know all of the loopholes that their children do. It is so hard because all you have to do is lie when you sign up on myspace, if you are underage to create an account, and myspace can defend itself via the 1st amendment as far as giving children their power to do as they please.
It is really sad and quite scary when you think about it, yeah?
Mar0 - do you think talking to kids about the dangers and risks really helps at all? I have an 11 year old son, and I *think* he will be careful - he 'talks a good line' to us, anyway. We've drilled him on the "don't give out personal information" riff, explained why, etc. We try to be honest with him, not 'strict' with rules (though we're not afraid of rules, or imposing consequences), but explain why things are dangerous. He seems - at this age, anyway - to have a healthy appreciation of danger, but I'm sure that will change.
What do you think is the best approach for parents in this regard? Does being very harsh with kids 'backfire' and just make them want to rebel more? Or are they just going to do what they want to do, regardless of what we parents do?
What do you think is the best approach for parents in this regard? Does being very harsh with kids 'backfire' and just make them want to rebel more? Or are they just going to do what they want to do, regardless of what we parents do?
I don't think kids are going to just do whatever, regardless of parental input if parental respect has been established. Regardless, you can't just do nothing. My son likes to mention ever so often the things he did when I wasn't looking (he is out on his own now). He likes to try and shock me and I try my hardest to appear shocked, but they weren't that big a deal. I think twice he shared a wine cooler with someone. But he thinks they were such a big deal because I never lost an opportunity to show him when another kid had messed up and in what seemed to be a 3 second decision, they ruined their lives. So it didn't have to be about me tell him "no" all the time, it was about, "Look at where choices like this get you." So he never took things very far. And I also would remind him that I may not have been a perfect mother, but I taught him right from wrong and that it would be him that had to live with himself and his choices. Thankfully, this approach has worked with all my kids so far. I am not quite done with the younger two and every kid's needs are unique. Some can handle MySpace and other's can't.
Some bozo was trolling myspace the other month and felt compelled to mssg my 15 year old daughter and inform her she had a big nose and couldn't understand how she could stand to allow herself to be seen in public. Truthfully, she does have a big nose, but it is her saving grace because she is stunningly beautiful otherwise and well, there is such a thing as too pretty. But I came home that night and she had been crying for hours. I got pretty indignant and asked her what the H-E-double hockey sticks was she doing letting some bozo dictate her mood, control her emotions or have any level of impact on how she saw herself. What kind of integrity does someone like that have and what was she doing desiring to please them! Some opinions (like your mom's) are important. People who have nothing better to do than randomly insult you like that are not worth your time.
first it's nooses in several states, now we have swastikas in hawai'i?!!!!!!
I/m a peaceful gal but i had a few friends from broken homes who considered swatikas another meaning than hatred ! I still believe that what was done is plain wrong but young minds are often confused and it is up to the elders to steer them right! I love Hawaii but I do think everyone is so busy working that a real sense of community is faint! I am in Kauai now and the infrastruction is soo bad i;m afraid for the future of the island I;m sure i am not alone! blessings to all and remain positive through it all if you can, mahalo
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On another note...
