Post #678 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Apr 14, 2002 9:30 AM

Now wait a minnit, kahukini...If one becomes aware of how white people have committed genocide on the Easter Islanders by kidnapping the entire male population and letting them die shoveling birdshit in the Guano mines, and how, in a parallel to the indian blanket story, slavetraders sent back fever infected Marquesans to the islands, causing an epidemic that whiped out much of that population, and how the missionairies systematically destroyed the native culture everywhere in Polynesia, sucking out the joy of life....
then one should tread a little more lightly, and be understanding that the few remaining natives are concerned about what remains.

Unfortunately this kind of ruthless imperialism happened all over the world, to all kinds of native people, and it's effects are largely non reversable (again, that does not mean one can just forget about it).

And I can not concurr with the assumption that 50s Americans were not genuinely innocent, in a naive way, about their depiction of the Polynesian culture. You make it sound as if they were consciously making fun of the culture, while I believe that they were inspired by the very spirit of lightheartedness of it to enjoy it and enjoy themselves with it, not knowing any better than to depict it than they did. It is that humor, that whimsical attitude, the lack of concern about academic correctness that I like about Polynesian Pop. To me that is where Polynesian activists have to differentiate: Tiki style was not actively directed at satirizing Polynesian traditions, the intentions of the people utilizing it were loving and admiring, including the use of the sense of humor that imbued it.
I'm not denying that a certain percentage of the 50s/60s Polynesian pop participants were racist white trash, but even they were gracious as far as Polynesia was concerned.