Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Actually I'm wondering about December and the sun even though I haven't thought of this. I'll be visiting in December. I read that South Point on the Big Island, the southernmost point in the entire US, is only 90 miles south of Key West, Florida and is actually north of Cancun, Mexico which I've visited in the summer. Now with posts like this I'm wondering is the sun in Hawaii is even stronger than that in Cancun or South Florida? Or the desert in Nevada and Utah? I got slightly burned in Cancun (which has much hotter weather than Hawaii) but it wasn't bad.
And not related to the sun but I happen to have a weird question that "fair skin" people would be more likely to ask even though I am Asian American. I live in southern West Virginia where the rebel flag is considered acceptable by the majority of the people who live here and myself and many of my close friends (including another non-white person) have it. My only pair of swim pants has the rebel colors on them and I'm wondering if I should buy a new pair. We do not see it at a symbol of racism and like I said many of my closest friends have it too. It just shows that we are proud of our history and of living in a rural area.
I would think it would be very cool to wear the Southern colors to the southernmost point in America. When me and one of my friends visited the southernmost point in the 48 states in Key West we had rebel shirts on to go with the southern theme. Will this be a problem in Hawaii? Do y'all see the rebel flag as fighting words? Or is Hawaii is more like the Midwest and Mountain states where the Civil War isn't thought of much at all and nobody cares either way?
For real? An Asian guy coming to Hawaii and bringing his Confederate flag swim trunks because it's the Southernmost point in the US?
I'm from Texas and to me a Confederate flag clearly marks a person as either racist or clueless. Despite what you may have been taught in school, the South seceded to defend slavery as an institution, and that is written clearly into the secession documents. You and your friends are ignorant of history due to intentional misinformation by your state government. People in Hawaii haven't been misinformed that way so they WILL be offended by your stars and bars.
Not only that but there are many in Hawaii who consider annexation and statehood illegal to begin with, so just try to imagine what their reaction would be to your symbol of oppression and brutality These folks are fond of not only the Hawaii Sovereignty flag, but also the Rastafarian red/gold/green, and the Lion of Judah, and identify with blacks. There's a good chance you'd get your butt kicked.
Last edited by winkosmosis; 10-14-2014 at 03:18 PM..
Yes, buy a great looking looking Hawaiian swim suit as soon as you get here. Why would you want to wear something that tags you as a clueless tourist, when you could wear something cool that everybody back home will be jealous of?
As far as wearing the Confederate battle flag, I think it's time for you to realize that for many people, in every part of the country today, it is an offensive symbol of slavery and white racism... yes, even in the South... and it is time to relegate them all to the museums and history books. And since Hawai'i is such a melting pot of people from all over, I'd say the odds are high that you'll offend somebody if you wear the rebel colors.
Not to mention, the mere idea of a person of Asian heritage identifying with that tragic chapter of our national history just seems very weird to me.
Better to get a new swim suit of Da Local Kine...
Here we don't associate it with slavery or racism, simply as representing our part of the country, representing a rural, country lifestyle and now increasingly it represents opposition to the federal government. It's not seen as a racial thing at all here. We also don't consider slavery to be the primary cause of the war. We are also very proud of how bravely the South fought during the war and held on for 4 years against a much more powerful Union army. Its a shame that so many people associate it with slavery just because the media does. I'm surprised so many people don't just see if as a symbol of the South and Southern culture. It's very commonly seen in country concerts (including being worn by people who are in interracial marriages) and there is a music video where Brad Paisley is performing in Japan and there is a rebel flag on stage. Toby Keith and Blake Shelton also have rebel colors in some music videos and Blake even sings about having the flag flying on his truck as he tears down a dirt road and these are nationally respected singers.
I would have thought the Hawaiian secessionists of all people would be cool with the rebel stuff but I guess not.
Anyway thanks for the advice. Our resort isn't on a sandy beach so most of my swimming will probably be relegated to the hotel pool anyway (we are staying at the Sheraton Kona Resort) unless the water and surf on the sandy beaches we visit are conducive to swimming. I do think visiting the southernmost point would be cool and the scenery there looks amazing from the travel books I've read.
Last edited by Tom Lennox 70; 10-14-2014 at 10:19 PM..
Here we don't associate it with slavery or racism, simply as representing our part of the country, representing a rural, country lifestyle and now increasingly it represents opposition to the federal government. It's not seen as a racial thing at all here. We also don't consider slavery to be the primary cause of the war. We are also very proud of how bravely the South fought during the war and held on for 4 years against a much more powerful Union army. Its a shame that so many people associate it with slavery just because the media does. I'm surprised so many people don't just see if as a symbol of the South and Southern culture. It's very commonly seen in country concerts (including being worn by people who are in interracial marriages) and there is a music video where Brad Paisley is performing in Japan and there is a rebel flag on stage. Toby Keith and Blake Shelton also have rebel colors in some music videos and Blake even sings about having the flag flying on his truck as he tears down a dirt road and these are nationally respected singers.
I would have thought the Hawaiian secessionists of all people would be cool with the rebel stuff but I guess not.
Anyway thanks for the advice. Our resort isn't on a sandy beach so most of my swimming will probably be relegated to the hotel pool anyway (we are staying at the Sheraton Kona Resort) unless the water and surf on the sandy beaches we visit are conducive to swimming. I do think visiting the southernmost point would be cool and the scenery there looks amazing from the travel books I've read.
That's revisionist history. The Civil War absolutely was about slavery and that's written in black and white in the declarations The Reasons for Secession
Here we don't associate it with slavery or racism, simply as representing our part of the country, representing a rural, country lifestyle and now increasingly it represents opposition to the federal government. It's not seen as a racial thing at all here.
To you. Or to people like you. But this is where the clueless part comes in. In reality there are a LOT of people in the South who see the Confederate battle flag as an offensive symbol of racism and slavery. I suggest you give up assuming that everybody else finds it harmless and fun.
Quote:
We also don't consider slavery to be the primary cause of the war.
Funny, the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, didn't seem to be aligned with that view in his comments at the beginning of the war. Matter of fact, he was selected to be the President precisely because he was so fervently pro-slavery. And when you read the Articles of Secession by the various states, under various language such as "Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession" are the the specific issue that some (Northern) states refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, to return runaway slaves to their owners, and the perception that the President was about to abolish slavery.
If they knew that enough to call it out in black and white in their Articles of Secession, how come you don't know it?
Quote:
We are also very proud of how bravely the South fought during the war and held on for 4 years against a much more powerful Union army. Its a shame that so many people associate it with slavery just because the media does. I'm surprised so many people don't just see if as a symbol of the South and Southern culture.
It was a horrible, divisive war in which 750,000 people died, a full 2% of the population, and which set the whole country back for decades. Some would even say the South is still paying for it.
Quote:
It's very commonly seen in country concerts (including being worn by people who are in interracial marriages) and there is a music video where Brad Paisley is performing in Japan and there is a rebel flag on stage. Toby Keith and Blake Shelton also have rebel colors in some music videos and Blake even sings about having the flag flying on his truck as he tears down a dirt road and these are nationally respected singers.
But they're playing to people who think like you, not to everybody, because fully half of all Americans see it as a hateful symbol of white supremacists.
Seriously... start looking around and you'll see people who are NOT smiling at that stuff, people who wince when you pull it out, or people who just turn away.
Quote:
I would have thought the Hawaiian secessionists of all people would be cool with the rebel stuff but I guess not.
Trust me, you do NOT want to go there. Not at all.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
