It sounds like some ultra-perverse version of hell. People who are nice all the time are either just weird or don't understand the fundamental shittiness of the world. No, I'll stick with with the regular bitchiness and backstabbing ways of my European brethren, thankyouverymuch. Much easier to trust someone who's complaining about the weather than trying to drag me on a boar-hunting expedition I didn't really want to go on, forcing me to concoct some highly ambiguous lie.
The correct way of dealing with problems is to ingest copious amounts of tea, but of course everyone knows that by now.
And that speech became the basis for Hawaii’s Aloha Spirit law, which essentially mandates consideration and kindness:
“Akahai, meaning kindness to be expressed with tenderness;
Lōkahi, meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony;
ʻOluʻolu, meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;
Haʻahaʻa, meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty;
Ahonui, meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance.”
According to the Hawaii State Attorney’s Office, the law is mostly symbolic, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work – especially when political leaders or business people get out of line.
“This law is virtually impossible to enforce because it is a philosophy that directs a code of conduct and way of life. Nonetheless… all citizens and government officials of Hawaii are obligated to conduct themselves in accordance with this law,” Dana Viola, first deputy attorney general of Hawaii, said in an email. If a business or a government official doesn’t act with Aloha Spirit, they could lose business or be chastised publicly. “So the consequences are real,” she added.
The law also falls foul of the toleration paradox. If everyone obeys the law then fine, but if not - and they won't, that's human nature - then things can go dangerously wrong.
“The Aloha Spirit is used to argue that everyone in Hawaii can ‘feel’ and should accept the love for humanity… [and] says that the Aloha Spirit transcends race, differences and embraces togetherness or ‘equality’. That is a problem because it ignores all of the complexities of our life and society,” Perry said.
“Maybe, on a good day, the law can support Hawaiian rights,” he added. But on a bad day, he said, it can be used to silence native Hawaiians who are protesting injustices in the islands. When that happens, “The Aloha they are using is actually part of the ‘passive’ and ‘don’t-make-waves’ native identity created during the US occupation and control. But, if you look at the thousands of debates that were publicly expressed in Hawaiian language newspapers and protests, it is obvious that passivity was not the only Hawaiian cultural practice.”
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180422-in-hawaii-being-nice-is-the-law
Native Hawaiians are naturally kind and caring people. I like them quite a bit and get along with them well. Evidently so did the crew of the Bounty including the first mate, Christian Fletcher, who seized the Bounty and sailed for Tahiti leaving Captain Bligh and eighteen loyalists adrift in the Pacific in a lifeboat.
ReplyDeleteIt is considered good form for a Polynesian chief to hold enormous feasts where his people work on sharing the plentitude and excess they gather, with the goal being to give away more than the guests can ever receive. I have been on the receiving end of that bounty more than once, and it is a wonderful and remarkable thing!
Perhaps a season or two at the Mauna Kea Observatory is in order, with a new evaluation. Also, pretty sure the Polynesian natives would accommodate and improve on tea time, as that's just they way they roll!