Post #313922 by Digitiki on Wed, Jun 20, 2007 2:53 PM

This subject seems to be popping up more and more for me lately--in the office; at tiki gatherings, etc.

I just returned from Hukilau 2007 - what a bash! But while I was there I was asked by more than one innocent bystander "What is Tiki?" or "what do you guys do?" These questions are echoed sometimes in my daily life occasionally. For example, my office at work has tiki art and tiki mugs in it. Sometimes, new employees or visitors to our offices, see my office and sometimes they ask "What is Tiki?"

This has become a question that I find difficult to answer. Its like asking "What is Victorian?" Most people don't have the time or the interest to wait for the answer I give--something like; "well...its a tropical, Polynesian-based style that is rooted in...blah blah blah" They still don't get it. I have recently got to the point where I just don't want to be bothered with answering. I now usually ask; "you know what a Renaissance fair is?....Same thing only a different point in history." That seems to work pretty well.

And there are those that look on Tiki with a certain air of suspicion. With tikiphiles there is a kind of "wink and a nod" toward paganism. We all know its just in fun and nobody here is really going to go out and sacrifice a virgin to a volcano.

While at Hukilau this year an employee at one location (I won't say where) asked me point blank; "What is it you all do anyway?". When I tried to answer the next question was "Are you all into alot of drugs?" I didn't know how to answer. There was a tone of distrust combined with ignorance. This really bothered me. That dark human tendancy to fear and distrust what you don't understand was exposed verly clearly for me to see. I tried my best to engange this person and calm his fears. However, I'm not sure if it really worked. I have also had the occasional question from people who seem to be religeously suspicious too; "is this a religeous thing?" was also a question I heard from someone else while attending Hukilau this year and from a coworker some time ago.

I just want to through this out there and see if others have had these types of experiences both the neutral and the negative and how you have handled them or educated people on this genre?

"You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on." -- Dean Martin

[ Edited by: Digitiki 2007-06-20 14:57 ]

[ Edited by: Digitiki 2007-06-20 15:01 ]