Hokey in Hawai’i

I type this with the familial respect that, in all honesty, only distance can produce. Anyway, not that Hawai’ian sovereigntist and all-around sweet ukulele player Israel Kamakawiwo’ole—Bruddah IZ to us—was family, but since my dad is from Hawai’i, all the people in this video could very well be grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins relaxing on a cramped porch, reclining on makeshift seats, eating Loco Moco and pulled pork, and drinking beer late into the evening.

Yes, randy glossarian Bill Kauffman would sooner hex his beloved Muckdogs before he accedes the right of Hawai’i to statehood. Granted, he has a characteristically loquacious point, though: Hawai’i more than likely only serves the purposes of the continental US as an archipelago Navy base with fantastic weather and exotic flora. Perhaps Hawai’i would be better off as a sovereign nation–it is not as if Hawai’i is not already this in all but name.

However, back to video. What strikes me is the utterly earnest cheesiness of this video.  Irony does not make it past the first fret on Bruddah Iz’s ukulele. Of course, this is not to deny this most essential element of modernity to Hawai’ians, yet Hawai’ians have better ways to pass the time than to indulge in an attitude that only indicates that those who once thought very highly of themselves must now confront the fact that current realities no longer support such thoughts. Irony will find very little room with people who are content to crowd a porch.