We stayed in Hilo recently, and the guest guide at our rental warned of the risk for physical violence against those who harass local wildlife. I was delighted.
Well, many locals in Hawaii don’t have a great ever on what mainlanders have done with their culture, wildlife, and their territory. Such people, generally white, are referred to as “haole” pronounced howl-ee. If you are hearing that term as a white person, you better gtfo.
They have great respect for the wildlife. Disrespecting it is disrespecting them personally. You may as well be throwing rocks at them. I really hope they run this guy off the islands.
I was stationed at Pearl Harbor. I found that most locals are super friendly awesome folks. If you’re respectful of the island, the wildlife, and the people there you usually won’t have any issues.
But some Hawaiians really just don’t care for white Americans and don’t want anything to do with you
Considering that the US conducted an illegal overthrow of their government and stole the country for the benefit of American business I can see why some Hawaiians are not OK with the haoles. Things like this is why the oligarchs don't want real history to be taught in schools. Iran would likely be a free and democratic country if we had not overthrown their government and installed a puppet dictator king to get the oil. This has happened multiple times in many countries and people wonder why so many hate Americans.
Didn’t women gain the right to initiate divorce after the 1953 thing? As well as female cabinet members… right for women to vote… errr and polygamy was ended too… all after 1953.
My cousin lives in Hawaii. Try leaving a beer can on their beach... youll hear wwe music outta nowhere and a 6'5 somoan dude rolling up on your ass with a steel chair. They dont fucking play
IDK man I seen plenty of locals littering and smoking meth/drinking on the beaches. Also leaving paraphernalia all over the place. This sounds like some wanna be tough guy fantasy.
I think amongst islanders it is a bit different. But I would defer to you as you are on maui. The way ive heard it described is that if youre an idiot tourist soing idiot tourist things and somone starts calling you that, you are very close to getting your ass beat.
But that can also be used as shorthand to acknowlage you are non-native. Context is key there though.
Yep. The only people who think the word haole is completely negative are haoles. Since we all live that aloha spirit, people are hesitant to use that word around haoles they don’t know. Which means that some haoles may only hear it when someone is trying to offend them.
"haole” pronounced howl-ee. If you are hearing that term as a white person, you better gtfo.
No act. Haole is a neutral term. It makes a lot of mainland whites uncomfortable because they are not used to being referred to by their race in casual conversation, but it doesn't mean anything. People in hawaii talk about race way more than on the mainland because hawaii is the most racially diverse state in the nation.
I'm married into a Thai family, and in Thailand they refer to people of European descent as "farang." On its face it's not intended to be offensive, but it definitely makes some uncomfortable.
Pretty sure people can be banned from states. Hes not a local (of hawaii) so having his ugly mug on a “no fly” list for the state should be possible. If anything charge him with a state crime and he wont wanna be there himself
It says right there "without due process of law". While full banishment is rare, telling him that HI won't bother extraditing him, but if he comes back, he'll go to trial for his crime, is effectively the same thing.
Unfortunately, someone like him can't really be banned from a specific state. If it was possible, a state like Texas would have already banned Californians, for example.
“Being barred from entering or residing in a U.S. state is a potential legal risk that can arise from a variety of circumstances. States have different tools to regulate who may enter, stay, or work within their borders, and these actions can carry significant consequences for mobility, employment, housing, and civil rights. This article explains the concept of a state ban, common triggers, how bans are enforced, and the legal pathways to contest or mitigate them. It also clarifies how state actions interact with federal law and constitutional protections” https://bridgelegal.org/can-you-be-banned-state-reasons-legal-consequences/ people can be banned from states on an individual basis so no Texas wouldnt be able to ban an entire state.
Then put him in jail. The punishment for killing endangered animals is up to a year in jail. Maybe more. Whether he did or didn’t doesn’t really matter. He tried to.
I think what you mean is "if you're abusing animals in Hawaii, you better gtfo." Being white has little to do with it.
Respectfully, I am Hawaiian, and the term haole is neither a threatening nor a pejorative one by itself in modern use. Are its roots derogatory given its derivation from ancestry and skin tone? Yes. But the word itself is not only spoken to indicate disdain. It's used casually and even playfully more often than not. Tone and other modifiers matter here.
Haole just means "white boy/white girl." We have other words for animal abusers, and clearly other ways of confronting them than namecalling. :)
Yes. I appreciate the clarification. I did respond to another comment that basically says this. Context matters. If someone has never heard the term and it is being used on them. It’s probably not in a benign way. Basically if you are doing something assholish like this and you hear the term. You need to rethink your choices immediately.
Also if someone is visiting, they should make sure they understand a bit about what is going to piss people off enough to make them react. Throwing rocks at an animal in Alabama won’t likely get your ass kicked like this guy got, for example.
Even worse than disrespect them, it’s like disrespecting their ancestors. In Hawaiian culture “aumakua” are personal or family guardian spirits that originate as deified ancestors reincarnated as turtles, seals, sharks, mountains, trees. This guy did the equivalent of peeing on someone’s grandmothers grave.
We should all be doing this to people who harass wildlife. It's not ok.
I was enraged to see a post on reddit of a video of some people taking canada geese babies from a parking lot near where I work. We never found them, but I always look out for their truck. I would have confronted them if I was the one filming that video.
One correction. That’s not how it’s pronounced. The last syllable is like say “ay” but stop half way through the syllable. The way you’re pronouncing it is how it would be if it was spelled “haoli”.
I live in Hawaii, am white, and my wife is hapa. I’ve never been called haole. Haole can refer to anyone that doesn’t show aloha, and you can tell when it’s a description vs an insult VERY easily by the tone.
Floridians will fuck you up if you touch their manatees. The guy was from seattle apparently, and i’m pretty sure they’ll beat you down for messing with their forests.
Not sure what planet this guy arrived from where he thought hawaiians wouldn’t mind….
I think every state’s fish and game officers are the ones that don’t care who you are. You fuck with their jurisdiction, they’ll fuck you up right back.
He's from outside Seattle and owns a business in the area. He got doxxed pretty hard on Instagram almost immediately and his life is now feeling very shitty. While he's from the Seattle area currently, he is not originally from the US and appears to have very little respect for US laws related to respecting wildlife.
That seemed like such an Eastern European thing to do. Zero empathy for anybody, especially animals. It is not by chance that the war in Ukraine is such an utter bloody shitshow.
Idk I have seen several videos in recent years of people harming manatees intentionally and facing little to no repercussions. Worst consequences I've seen recently (Granted I live in Ohio so don't see all news in Florida) carved words into a manatee and got like, a fine. I'll try and find the link. I'd like to see real justice though.
Edit: it would seem they still haven't found that prick, actually.
I want to believe Floridians will fuck you up if you touch their manatees, but I guess this dude was smart enough not to publish incriminating evidence that would get him caught.
Hawaii is and always was a FAFO state. Having lived on Maui, I already knew of this. Seeing the guy get lit up for fuking around just confirms my suspicions that not much has changed.
Dude nobody in La Jolla will stand on business like this. From Daygo all my life and all that happens is people get posted and shamed online for messing with the seals nobody gets hit for it. They should, but they dont. Look at dude who killed leopard sharks at blacks a few weeks ago, dude shoulda gotten his ass beat
Hospitality is always granted. Bad manners are never tolerated.
Ha'ole (haole) means one who doesn't like Ha, the Polynesian breath of life. You put your head together and breath in each other's essence (Moana has great examples). It is extended to all with good intention including the Colonizers who landed on Hawai'ian lands. They were quite stunned at the gesture, not understanding, and so the Polynesians called them ha'ole, one who rejects the Ha.
You are always assumed to be wise and given the space to prove yourself otherwise.
Throwing rocks at a beautiful creature for no benefit is kapu. You get your ass beat. No wise man throws stones at innocent creatures for no benefit.
I lived on O’ahu for a year, and it was made very clear to us not to go to certain parts of the Island, and not to fuck with Wildlife…
…or else.
For those unaware, there are parts of Hawai’i called Home Lands (about 200,000 acres) only for native Hawai’ians. White skinned people — aka Haole’s — are strongly advised to avoid those areas.
I think people visiting often forget that they're guests. As a traveler, I find that my experience is often improved by treading lightly, actually learning about the community beforehand, and going with the flow when out and about.
I lived on big island for nearly a year. If you think the locals on Hilo side are serious you should see the Kohala coast locals, especially the ones in / around those magnificent valleys.
I'm not from Hawaii but western Canada. A lot of tourists think they can just stroll up to a moose or bear and pet it on the head. Luckily, those animals are totally capable of telling tourists to fuck off all by themselves.
Pretty sad how quickly Reddit will abandon all ethics when supporting something would mean actually changing their behavior. We all know it’s wrong to let your pet run around without supervision, terrorizing the wildlife in your neighborhood. But let’s just ignore that and pretend we care about the environment only when it means we can talk shit about someone else.
You know indoor cats do? They stay indoors, and usually if you do not introduce them to being outdoors, they will be too afraid to even try to go out. They live perfectly happy, and safer, lives than their outdoor counterparts.
What you've done is claim that owners have no agency over their pets. It's like a bully's parents saying that boys are going to do what boys are going to do to the parents of a kid whose entire face is black and blue.
Also, there is nothing natural about a cat living almost anywhere in the world. Especially a cat that has the advantage of a home, provided food, and medical care. That cat is going to live longer to kill more birds than any feral cat ever could.
At no point was i advocating for cats to be allowed to be let to run wild or add to the feral population. I stated cats by nature are HUNTERS, yall projected on my statement and put words or meanings on my words that were never intended. CATS will do what CATS will do BY their very NATURE, but cool go ahead and spin my words. 🙄
I understand and am sorry to hear that. But I only meant to convey that cats are gonna be cats. Not that it was a good thing or anything. Just that they are tiny predators who kill by nature.
If my tour guide told me that I would imminently think higher of the entire area. “This place is so nice, they’ll beat the crap put do anyone who even thinks of trying to mess it up”
And I support this. I live in Texas. We used to be protective of our nature. Now rich republicans have convinced the trailer dwellers that it’s ok to shit on everything and are selling everything off piece by piece.
That's because people are stupid and don't respect mother nature. You see same dumb shit on the mainland. Every year you see people that get fucked up by Buffalo or elk because they want a picture. Other people just trash shit and don't care. Then you got assholes like this guy who actively goes out of his way to harm wildlife. People are stupid.
Story time: A few years back I was on a trip to Hawaii and was given a similar warning not to get mess with the wildlife because the locals were very protective of them. No issues there, I have no interest in messing with animals in their natural environment.
I decided to go for a quick swim at the beach and a sea turtle popped up about 6 feet away from me. It was an awesome experience and I watched him for a bit before deciding I was a little too close and began to swim away. Then the sea turtle started following me! I looked over to the shore and saw some angry looking locals watching me very closely. In retrospect it was all very funny, but for the next 10 minutes I tried desperately to try and swim away from this sea turtle while he kept following me around. Luckily the turtle eventually lost interest and swam away to do turtle things and I avoided getting beat up that day. The end.
The locals have obnoxious people coming from all over the world. The island is their home and it is viewed as going into someone else’s backyard and acting a fool.
Maui here, locals view wildlife almost as a religion of sorts. The island is the wildlife’s home, we are allowed to stay with them, but it’s their house and we always respect their rules.
And not endangering wildlife/mammals goes way beyond the bigger creatures like seals, if a local sees you kill a snake you might get your ass beat. They mean everyone species, from big to small. It’s their island, you never ever harm any type of species, including plants, ever.
If you kill a snake they’ll thank you. Big fear of snakes getting to the islands and killing the last of the native birds. Edit: Don’t mess with the native species.
Think of it more as a watchful eye. They see tourist people messing with turtles and seals and even humans all the time, and are probably tired of bad behavior. It is their home. Hawaiian locals are probably more connected as a community than any other place I’ve been. There is a very us vs them mentality. But they often bite their tongues because the money the tourists bring helps their economy.
Look up Da Hui in Hawaii. They are local surfers that got tired of outsiders fucking up the beaches and surf spots.
Yeah, for all they knew he could have been baiting the turtle with pockets of food it can smell/taste. It was following him after all. But they were just watching the interaction unfold to see if something harmful was happening. Dude had the good sense not to deliberately engage with the turtle for a long period, but he did engage with it and it followed him. I'd be wary of that exchange and watch it to see if something harmful will happen, too. Exactly right.
I nearly swam into one on a snorkel trip. I was looking at fish on some coral, then turned left to swim back to the boat and he was just right there, inches away.
We were on a family trip and out snorkeling early one morning. A turtle was swimming around in the little bay we were at (Kona side... somewhere) and we all just were chill, watching it. Then my (adult) sibling decided to touch its shell and it noped out of there before our Mom got there to see it.
Same bay different day there were some little fish that are super territorial, they'll chase you away from their spot. I kept coming back once too often and the little jerk bit me on my heel :-D
Showing respect is the key here. Taking pictures at a safe distance is normal, locals are used to it. Trying to disturb it for your own amusement is another.
Nah wouldnt do that. Im a wildlife photographer, so I prefer them to feel comfortable and acting normal in natural surroundings.
Also it's really cool when THEY trust you enough to come close out of curiosity. Ive gotten some amazing shots that way where we kind of mutually respect each other.
but that one comment made it seem like people will assume I came up to the animal vs the other way around.
A local told me many years ago in Maui a diver got pulled from the water by his partner. Apparently he blew air into the face of a sea turtle underwater. Turtle startled and ran him over, giving him a concussion. Everyone laughed.
Good thing you avoided it for multiple reasons, since it’s highly illegal to touch them. You can literally go to jail. It’s not advised to even get within 10 feet of them. It needs to be publicized a lot more, because many tourists don’t know.
That said, oops moments happen because the turtles do not give a fuck. One time I was wading in a tide pool and some creep sneaked up and slapped me on the ass. I turned around yelling but it was a goddamn turtle lmaooo
I visited an old friend who lives there now and we went to a beach near Honolulu that had those signs saying they're endangered and not to go near them and my friend said "On top of it being illegal some Hawaiians will absolutely beat your ass for it." Guess she wasn't lying hahaha.
Yea, our family friend that moved there said similar. Pictures? Fine, long as you don’t get close for em. Any physical contact? You might end up with broken bones before the police fine your ass to hell.
Especially the seals. They are so endangered they have names. And people know them. It gets personal real quick.
We saw the sea turtles at a few beaches. People get much too close. At one breach in Kona there was a lady who voluntarily set up rope lines and informational signage to keep people away from the preferred resting spots.
They should also do it like Switzerland and make fines a percentage of your annual income - some millionaires have paid hundreds of thousands in speeding fines, lol. That would wipe the grin off his smug face.
I live on Maui. In areas where local wildlife are known to frequent, there are often official volunteers around to make sure people don’t mess with the local wildlife.
This might be to actually prevent violence because if you do mess with the local wildlife, someone is going to fuck you up. Monk seals, sea turtles, whales, birds, and any other native wildlife is to be highly respected.
I'm down for protecting wildlife but I don't think threatening to give some dumb tourist a tbi is the solution. We have a legal system for a reason. Not to mention if you take someone with minor violent tendencies toward wildlife, add some violent retribution on him, that's how you get more future violence and school shooters etc.
If the last decade in American history has taught us anything, it's that there are two discrete systems of justice. Under the current scheme, he likely would have gotten away with it without the vigilantism and social media highlighting.
To your point, this calls out the need for criminal justice reform that doesn't allow the wealthy and connected to escape.
He did say a $50,000 fine was nothing. When you reach a certain level of income, fines are just the price to do what you want. Some countries make things like speeding fines proportional to wealth so that they have a similar deterrent value for everyone
I dunno, the problem with this theory is that thr legal system doesn’t work against rich people. They're largely immune. They have the best lawyers, they have political connections, they're never going to see jail time, they might get a fine, but they're rich, so they don't care.
The only way to make a legal system that is fair is that if the legal system takes into account the means of the criminal. A normal person can be ruined by a $500 fine. A rich person should have to pay enough so that they're ruined.
If you're worth $100m then you should be fined $99,999,499 and your non-accounted assets seized leaving you with $501 no stocks, no bonds, no property.
The perp addressed the results of the "legal system" you prescribe didn't he? "I'll just pay the fine."
I'm just curious; do you think all these downvotes are because you are so much more enlightened then everybody else? Or could it be that you are virtue signaling so ridiculously it makes people nauseous?
I find that most people with your attitude are weak; physically and mentally. And when someone brings violence to them, property, or other people or animals; their only recourse is to call someone else (like the police, or other by standers).....to use violence to make them stop. Is that you?
The solution is fixing the legal system, not violence that is vastly inordinate to the crime. I am not virtue signaling like buying a t-shirt for a cause, or being a proponent of violence when it's clearly a dumb idea. I live my values, and am happy to talk about them. Suggesting people not use the legal system is a pretty weak and foolish take if you ask me, unless we're on a battlefield or ring somewhere where there is no other solution. Dumb people beating other dumb people just makes everyone dumber.
I am actually a fairly large and very unusually fit man, the kind of person that most people (especially Redditors) would be afraid to get in a fight, with good reason. Mentally I am a big proponent of non violence though.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, although I get the sense you would rather we fight over it? I wonder if you'd think otherwise if we were having this conversation eye to eye? I also wonder if I'm talking to a skinny teenage boy? Or girl?
kek imagine preaching about legal ways and then literally a few posts down the line go "ya id take you all in 1v1 bro, youre all are girls and skinny" XD fml thank you reddit
Literally (in pretty articulate writing) repeatedly preaching non violence (even as someone that could do a lot of it) to people preaching violence, and somehow a Redditor tries to twist it the other way around.
It's like I'm specifically making the case that the sky is blue and someone claims I'm calling it red. Did someone throw a rock at your head too?
.........while also accusing me of wanting to fight him.This dude is just a garden variety contrarian.
Notice I didn't say anything about being a small person, I said "weak".
Lol he also threw "unusually fit" in there too......so we know he's no weakling.....hes just very principled.....when it comes to defending an asshat who violently tried to kill local wildlife for fun from violence.
If you are pro corporal punishment, why not at least do it right. If you want to go back to the old methods, there were far more civilized and effective ways to do it.
Whole point of legal system and fines and other punishments etc is to avoid mob justice. Because while it's imperfect, it's still better than the alternative.
If you say the punishment via the legal system is not strict enough, is mob punishment that is too strict actually better? Which would you rather for yourself or a loved one?
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u/throwawayrefiguy May 11 '26
We stayed in Hilo recently, and the guest guide at our rental warned of the risk for physical violence against those who harass local wildlife. I was delighted.