There has been brewing controversy this month over the location for the Thirty Meter Telescope, which is planned to be the largest single-mirror telescope (some arrays are bigger) in the world. As far as I can tell the two possible sites for it were in Baja California and at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Mauna Kea was chosen six years ago, and construction just began, but has been delayed by protests. The mountain is, apparently, sacred.
I’ve been hesitant to address this topic because I’m even less qualified to speak about it than usual, but I wanted to write something to get my own thoughts in order and figured I might as well put it up here. So take it for what it’s worth.
I can think of two similar phenomenon to compare this to: Kennewick Man and Elves. The first comparison might be obvious, the second requires some explanation.
People in Iceland believe in elves. I’m pretty sure they’re wrong. I can go on record saying that, right? I’m not sure how common the belief is, I mean, there are people here who believe in lake monsters, but I wouldn’t call it a universal belief. But the belief in elves is at least prevalent enough to interfere with the infrastructure there… not just the road project mentioned in the news article, but many other developments as well.
There seems to be similar stuff happening in China with belief in Feng Shui resulting in arbitrary changes to their building projects.
So, the native Hawaiians consider Mauna Kea to be sacred. Good for them. I’m pretty sure they’re wrong. I can go on record saying that, right? I’m not sure how common the belief is… but it has resulted in protests over the new telescope. Notwithstanding the many, many telescopes already in place.
Telescopes, in order to be useful, need an unobstructed horizon. They need to be the highest thing around. Maybe in Saskatchewan you can just put them on top of the water tower and call it a day, but not in Hawaii. And really, they also need to be above a good chunk of the atmosphere. So they need to be in mountains, or altiplano, and they need to be higher than the other mountains around them.
Prominent mountains are always sacred. There’s really no way around that. And I’m pretty sure building your own mountain to get around the problem would cause a few more problems along the way.
So, perhaps we should consider ways in which this situation resembles the elves?
Ways in which this ‘Sacred Mountain’ is like Elves
- It’s not magic.
- Belief in it is causing problems for no good reason.
- Seriously, get some psychiatric help.
- Stop getting in the way.
Ways in which this ‘Sacred Mountain’ is unlike Elves.
- It was taken by force.
On the Thirty Meter Telescope: it's almost like the unresolved legacy of colonialism is going to pop up in tragic places for a while.
— Fake Gamer Cameron (@UnarmedOracle) April 22, 2015
Steal a continent; have to deal with people pointing out that it was stolen, and maybe feeling things that make you angry for reasons.
— Fake Gamer Cameron (@UnarmedOracle) April 22, 2015
See, the big fundamental difference in here is that Icelandics still own their island. It hasn’t been colonized - except temporarily, in WW2 - and when they run roughshod over folk traditions it’s their own traditions.
Which means it’s time to get to Kennewick Man.
In 1996 a skeleton was found in Kennewick, Washington, and it turned out to be 9000 years old. There’s a law that Native American bodies go to their tribe. The local tribe, the Umatilla, believe they have lived in the area since the dawn of time, and they have oral histories dating back 10000 years. They are wrong, of course, on both counts. Oral histories aren’t even reliable for a single lifetime, let alone 10000 years. I’m surprised they didn’t burst into laughter just saying that.
But the thing is, the Umatilla never agreed to any of this from the start, and if they hadn’t been invaded it would have been Umatilla people finding the skeleton on Umatilla land and deciding for themselves what to do with it. Maybe they would have done proper scientific investigations, who knows? That alternate history is forever lost to us.
I think they should have gotten the skeleton. They are wrong, of course, but they have the right to be wrong. It’s easy to agree with Native rights when they’re doing the right things, but it’s important to support their rights when they’re wrong as well. If people aren’t allowed to be wrong then you aren’t allowing them to make choices at all, only giving the illusion of choice.
Right now the skeleton is in a museum, basically being held in escrow. No scientific studies being done on it, but not reburied. Perhaps, if it could be contrived, it should be reburied... in a carefully sealed vault with a known location. That way if the Umatilla eventually change their minds it hasn’t been lost or destroyed. Or who knows, in a generation or two there might be Umatilla anthropologists and geneticists who want to do their own excavation.
The thing about archeology is it’s usually just as safe for something to stay in the ground… better and less invasive techniques are being developed all the time. How much could have been learned from Troy if it wasn’t dynamited?
That winds up being kind of similar to Iceland’s solution: Wait a while, see if it blows over. It’s not a bad solution. And if that means putting this particular telescope somewhere else, that’s not the end of the world.
The trick is finding a better spot. There’s no toxic legacy of colonialism in Mexico, right? Or Chile? Hmm… perhaps Kenya? New Guinea? Tibet?
This could take a while.
No comments:
Post a Comment