system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: There's nothing disrespectful or harmful about building telescopes on Mauna Kea and there's no reason for native Hawai'ians to protest.

I remember this issue coming up years ago and I shrugged it off as "they're probably just silly religious zealots". I want to actually pay attention to these people and not pigeonhole them, though, so consider my mind wiped clean of that thought.

Basically, I don't understand what all the fuss is about.

It's not a big factory churning out consumer goods and creating toxic waste. It's a telescope.

It's not a resort or a shopping mall for tourists. It's a scientific instrument to observe the universe, for the benefit of all humanity.

Now, if the top of Mauna Kea were habitat for vulnerable species of plants or animals, and the construction was putting them in danger, that I could understand. It seems like the protests are not about that.

Similarly, if there were an important archeological site up there, and by building telescopes we could be destroying irreplaceable information about the past, I could understand that too. That would be a perfectly valid reason for protesting, but it seems like that's not the actual reason either.

Could someone please explain why building a telescope on Mauna Kea is any more harmful or controversial than building the same square footage of homes (or grocery stores or whatever) anywhere else on the island?
gpt
The issue has to do with the sacredness of the mountain to native Hawaiian beliefs.  Building anything at all on it is considered disrespectful. And people are angry about things *already* being built there over community protests, which makes this salt to the wound.