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from the they-will-just-have-to-hubble-along dept.
From Nature.com:
Hawaii's supreme court has ruled that the construction permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on top of the mountain Mauna Kea is invalid. The 2 December decision is a major blow to the international consortium backing the US$1.5-billion telescope, and a win for the Native Hawaiians who have protested against its construction on what they regard as a sacred summit.
And the top reddit comment on the article, which I found neatly summed up the situation.
I spent time in Hawaii and talked to locals that were born and raised there about this issue. Its polarizing.
People against it brought up the need for spirituality and respect for the Hawaiian culture lost over hundred of years of Western influence.
Argument for the telescope, however, claimed that building it would do nothing but respect their history. How did the ancient Hawaiians get to the island? They used the stars. It was "in their blood" to understand the heavens. Most of the those complaining are young disenfranchised people struggling in one of the crappiest economies in America.
Of course this could be a generalization based on second hand observation.
As for me, as big as these telescopes are, they look like ants on top of these massive volcanoes. Ruining the scenery is nonsense.
We covered the Groundbreaking for World's Largest Telescope nearly a month ago.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @03:18AM
You are a dick. Seriously, it takes a huge amount of dickhood to utterly dismiss people whom you've never met and don't know a thing about as looking for nothing more than a payout. Many of the people involved in this lawsuit are dirt poor because their ancestors got royally screwed out of their property when the islands were illegally annexed and yet they don't expect to make a dime from this. Don't be that guy who lives down to the stereotype of the haole.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @06:03AM
Legally. Legally annexed. You can't claim someone annexing your land is illegal when you have no law against it and openly welcome the annexation, or rather all the monetary benefits that went along with it. Hey, just like what they are doing here again, wanting money for nothing. Yeah, they are dirt poor. Yeah, they want money. Why is it surprising when people call bullshit on claims of beauty and spirituality when a poor person asks for more money? People that deny their own greed when holding out their hands for more should be utterly dismissed.
As for your racism, when in doubt, switch words to see if you are a hateful bigot that deserves no respect on this earth or any other.
A slur is a slur even if you think you are right in using it.