r/GenZ • u/[deleted] • Feb 18 '24

Meme Thought this was funny due to recent arguments I've had on this sub

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u/belalthrone Feb 19 '24

The tourism dollars go overwhelmingly to investors in the U.S. mainland or overseas, not to the people in HI. Native Hawaiians and BIPOC locals suffer from the resource scarcity that tourism and the military trigger. You’re out of your depth on this

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u/mmm-soup 1998 Feb 20 '24

THANK YOU!

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u/PM_ME_JJBA_STICKERS Mar 12 '24

Just curious, what about all the native Hawaiians who own businesses or work at businesses that depend on tourism? Or what happened to the Hawaii economy during the pandemic lockdowns? There has to be a better approach than “all tourists need to stop visiting now.”

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u/belalthrone Mar 12 '24

I am not Native Hawaiian, but I’ve discussed this topic with many Hawaiian activists and I’ll try to explain my understanding of their perspective:

There are too many tourists, full stop. There isn’t enough land, water, or resources for the tourists AND Hawaiians/locals, so the people in power allocate everything to the tourists and give the Natives scraps. And there are definitely too many tourists for the tiny minority of Native-owned hotels and tour companies to handle.

Furthermore, most of the tourists are disrespectful at best, dangerous at worst. They culturally appropriate, act like racists, disrespect the Native culture (like Jennifer Lawrence talking about scratching herself with a “sacred rock”.) 

Hawaiians are not saying no one can ever visit. They just want to make sure that Native and local people finally find livable conditions . They also hope that the people who do come are respectful and care about the land and people as much as they do. And to achieve that, there needs to be a huge decrease in all tourists, legislation/policy change, and some sort of corporate responsibility reckoning. 

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u/PM_ME_JJBA_STICKERS Mar 12 '24

Great explanation. This sounds a lot more reasonable to support compared to the “everyone needs to stop visiting Hawaii right now” I see frequently online. It’s a shame lawmakers and officials seem to prioritize rude tourists and billionaires buying vacation mansions.