When I first came to Hawaii, I used to walk to work at 2 a.m. and I would look up to the heavens above me. It dawned on me that I was on a tiny blue ball in the middle of a vast expanse of blackness. It amounted to me as a spiritual experience where I could see my place in the universe.

The Thirty Meter Telescope seeks to observe the universe that I experienced so many years prior. When I see protesters seeking to protect “their mountain,” flying flags upside-down, it seems to me that these people are ignorant and are unashamed in expressing their ignorance.

Modern-day Hawaiians learned to get along with people from around the world, marrying them and inviting them to positions of advisory among the native folk. Kamehameha himself took advantage of English technology (gunpowder and cannons) in securing the unification of the islands. Would he then oppose an advance in technology within his own kingdom?

Those who choose ignorance over knowledge fight against the very nature of mankind, against the inevitable force of progress.

Thomas Kanell

Mapunapuna

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