Rascals need Opponents

Recently, the Maui News editor published a treatise entitled "Rascals Need Opponents." Of course, in their passive-aggressive way, they managed to stick it to one particular Council Member, the one they have doggedly looked to smear for years, and in this particular smear job, they paint him as a "rascal."

Don't get me wrong, I do agree with the premise, "Rascals need opponents." What I do not agree with is who their supposed rascals are. The main rascal in the debate is The Maui News. Owning six newspapers in such a small market does not allow for an alternative voice. The Maui Time Weekly has become almost completely unreadable and Jacob Shafer, the new(ish) editor seems to want to follow in "big brothers" steps and write sniping comments on council members as well.

The rascals do need opponents. We do need alternative voices in Maui County. Since the line between the Chamber of Commerce and Maui News is so blurred, the only voice is the business community. Obviously, the business community concerns itself with one thing: maximizing profits. But this leaves a plethora of people without a voice! The environmental community is practically voiceless in the Maui News. They are constantly lambasted in editorials and letters to the editors. The music community is completely unrepresented in the Maui News. If you were to read it to find out about local music, you'd be hard-pressed to find any information in the Maui News. And politics? The political makeup of the Maui News is severely right-wing. If a politician in Maui runs on a platform of progressive politics, they are always covered in a negative light. And, if you are don't kow-tow to the Maui News editors/writers, you can be sure that you will never receive a fair shake in their editorials.

So where are the opponents to these rascals? Who is going to say, "enough is enough." If the Maui News cannot put aside its pro-business, anti everything else politics, Maui County will continue to suffer under plantation style politics.