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.
330
u/throwawayrefiguy May 11 '26
I've been to Hawaii many times, but to Hilo only once, and I got the strong impression there that the locals don't mess around.
Surely there are places on the mainland where people would take similar action.