Hawaii Statehood - August 21, 1959 - General Tiki

B bigbrotiki Tiki Socialite Tiki Island, above the Silverlake Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 11621	B bigbrotiki Posted posted on Tue, Aug 21, 2007 9:00 AM Of course we Tikiphiles might appear somewhat in denial of the crimes of our forefathers, but that IS the purpose of Tiki style, the escape from the depressing aspects of reality, ours and others. And by embellishing the positive side of a history and culture, we may be able to contribute a tiny bit to the healing of the wounds of the past. Yet that should not mean total ignorance and actual denial. Hawaii was lucky, because it was big enough and useful enough for the Westerners. If you want to see the real horror of what happened to the the Polynesians, go back into the history of Easter Island and the Marquesas. There, slave raids and epidemics caused by the Westerners killed 10s of thousands of indigenous people, reducing the population (AND their culture!) to a pathetic heap of humanity, a shadow of what once was there. Some difficult reading to spoil your Mai Tai :) :

Of course we Tikiphiles might appear somewhat in denial of the crimes of our forefathers, but that IS the purpose of Tiki style, the escape from the depressing aspects of reality, ours and others. And by embellishing the positive side of a history and culture, we may be able to contribute a tiny bit to the healing of the wounds of the past. Yet that should not mean total ignorance and actual denial.

Hawaii was lucky, because it was big enough and useful enough for the Westerners. If you want to see the real horror of what happened to the the Polynesians, go back into the history of Easter Island and the Marquesas. There, slave raids and epidemics caused by the Westerners killed 10s of thousands of indigenous people, reducing the population (AND their culture!) to a pathetic heap of humanity, a shadow of what once was there.

Some difficult reading to spoil your Mai Tai :) :

Post #327011 by bigbrotiki on Tue, Aug 21, 2007 9:00 AM