r/interestingasfuck • u/eliseereclusvivre • 1d ago

From 2014 to 2025, Mark Zuckerberg bought over 1,400 acres on Kauai Island and stole any land the natives wouldn't sell him, earning the moniker 'the face of neocolonialism.' r/all

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u/Meisteronious 1d ago

Soooo, there was a bunch of small parcels gifted from royalty (as is the origin of ALL Hawaiian land), and some of those gifts were lost through time - people dying, passed and poorly documented, etc. Zuck and his millions of dollars in lawyers fees consolidated these and hunted down the lost deeds and fenced off access - see the documentary for those details.

I remember when it happened out there, and it was just another thing no one could do anything about.

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

Oh, Zuckerberg found the deeds. Still scummy by zuck the cuck, but this is also on them. These people sound like sovereign citizens and just expect the world to bend around them. Realistically, they would have to go through the local squatting laws and say that they are the lawful owners and request transfer of the deed if they have proof they’ve been there a long while

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u/NeoWereys 1d ago

On them? We Come up with made up rules, go on their land, take their land, and then, criticise them for not having preemptively complied with said rules?

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u/audaciousmonk 1d ago

For real, is disappointing how ignorant people are about how the US “acquired” the Hawaiian islands

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

These people are Americans cosplaying as an independent nation

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u/That49er 1d ago

Do you have any semblance of knowledge of the history of Hawai'i or are you just an ass

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u/Cars-Fucking-Dragons 1d ago

I genuinely don't understand this native stuff. Sure your ancestors were living here however many centuries ago. But you weren't. They shouldn't ask for special rights and provisions if they also enjoy life as regular citizens.

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u/NeoWereys 1d ago

You mean to say Hawaii exist since the... 18th century?

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

the kingdom of hawaii doesnt exist anymore and hasnt since then. stop trying to justify not having to follow the rules just because you once were not part of the USA. i cant believe i have to defend following the laws of the nation you reside in just because something was once different

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u/To6y 1d ago

You're not actually defending any laws, though. You're just making assumptions and then blaming native Hawaiians for not conforming to them.

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

Theyre still americans following american laws. idk what youre trying to say, like because theyre "native hawaiians" they follow different laws.

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u/Bannedfruits 1d ago

Basically, these families held land based on a historically recognized law. No one else wanted the land or had ever challenged them for the land, so many of these owners had no need for a document saying it was theirs. Then Zuck did some legal shenanigans and took it. That’s not their fault they didn’t prepare for the eventual arrival of a selfish billionaire. In a rural, slow place like that, it hardly seemed like an inevitability that someone would want that land until fairly recently.

Hawaii has different land laws than the rest of the U.S. It’s a relic of Hawaii Kingdom law. Many of the land parcels in question were granted by the Kuleana act of 1850, which is still legally recognized for some private land ownership in the islands. What Zuck did was go through a “quiet title” process to challenge families’ historical claims to parcels held based on the Kuleana act. Many of these families did not have modern titles. The land was legally theirs and basically undeveloped and only accessed by them for personal use. Many didn’t even know there was a title to claim, as the state did a poor job of keeping owners updated with records or even educating the locals about this type of ownership. Then Zuck comes, challenges their ownership, spends millions more than these combined families could afford in legal fees, and ends up with a ton of pristine land, which he then proceeded to encase behind a wall. So it’s not as easy to blame the locals as you assume.

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u/To6y 1d ago

What I'm trying to say is that you're making quite a lot of assumptions, but you're not actually defending any real laws.

The comment is only two sentences. It should be pretty easy to parse out.

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u/NeoWereys 1d ago

So when a country takes over, it is alright to clear out all previous culture and ways of living?

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

no but its something you have to live with regardless unless youre willing to die for it

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u/RipredTheGnawer 1d ago

What an asshole

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u/NeoWereys 1d ago

If this happened to where you live, would you hold the same opinion? Or perhaps you'd be yourself willing to die for it? If you had previous rights of lands given to you by American law, but a new country would invade and put you out of your property, for example.

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

over a 100 years after the fact? i imagine i would have some documentation for proof of ownership as an american citizen

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u/Curly_Shoe 1d ago

Richard Gere has entered the chat

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u/I_voted-for_Kodos 1d ago

Whether it's alright or not is beside the point. That is the reality of the situation. Crying about how it's not alright is not going to change that.

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u/NeoWereys 1d ago

But is it a reality? Does the culture really disappear?

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u/I_voted-for_Kodos 1d ago

Yes. If you don't believe you can Google the countless cultures that no longer exist.

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u/h4ckerkn0wnas4chan 1d ago

Yes that is quite literally how it works. The culture only persists if the new owners allow it to.

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u/revcor 1d ago

Who’s “crying” about it and expecting it to change things? If you’re referring to people on Reddit, then it’s irrelevant because they’re not the ones involved in the ongoing dispute, and don’t expect Reddit comments to cause change. The people who are involved and have expectation of causing change are by no means “crying” about it as their method of action.

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u/I_voted-for_Kodos 1d ago

The person I'm replying to is. Hence why I'm replying to them.

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u/denigma01 1d ago

there's a lot of information on the illegal ovethrow of the Hawaii kingdom by US marines in 1893.

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u/Narcan9 1d ago

Like those pesky Palestinians trying to keep their land from the New York Jews.

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u/OHaiBonjuru 1d ago

Or pasty Americans denying Native Americans the land they lived on for millenia before the American colonisers arrived

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/ptoki 1d ago

Aaaan the smartasses you are arguing with will have no answer for: "show me the source of every piece of the land zuckcuck claims he owns, accoridng to the law there should be perfect continuity and paper trail of who own each piece of land"

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u/puckallday 1d ago

Then they can go ahead and go back to being a colony with none of the rights afforded to states.

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u/sadacal 1d ago

Right... why not just let them go back to being their own nation?

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u/puckallday 1d ago

They’re free to do so! They won’t of course, because they like the incredible benefits they get from being a state. But they don’t get to just take those benefits and then not also follow the rules they signed up for.

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u/revcor 1d ago

They’re free to do so!

Do you recall what happened the last time a state tried to leave the union? The Civil War happened, and it was made explicitly clear that states are most definitely not free to just leave the union lol

not also follow the rules they signed up for

What rules are they not following? And how certain are you that they signed up for them?

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u/BDiddnt 1d ago

I have a feeling… You are way under the age of experience to be talking about this shit that you're talking about

In fact the shit you just said it so utterly fucking ridiculous only a child could say it mentally or otherwise

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

you act like these people don't live in the united states and have to follow the law too

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u/Acrovore 1d ago

Do you know how Hawaii became a state?

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u/TestProctor 1d ago

I’m always shocked by how many people don’t realize that indigenous people weren’t just “conquered” or whatever, but that many groups made deals, signed formal treaties, and had laws passed on their behalf over the course of the nation’s history.

The fact that the United States often ignored those deals, violated treaties, or flouted those laws has screwed many of them over and apparently helped this idea that they “only get what we let them have” or something, but no American (or person, really) who believes in justice (or honor, fairness, the law, etc.) should be anything but disgusted by it and furious when it continues.

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u/Acrovore 1d ago

Annexation of the sovereign State of Hawaii arguably turned us into an Empire.

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u/TestProctor 1d ago

There is a fascinating book about this sort of thing, and the introduction uses the interesting geographical & historical position at the start of WWII as the initial example. Goes from the “western territories” to the Louisiana Territory to “Indian Country” and beyond in a look at the US expansion.

It’s called How to Hide An Empire

https://preview.redd.it/260b2xdcwgce1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f5673bda0fd6767c949516406dcebe27f04d77d1

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u/makingstuf 1d ago

Wow