Title not ironic, but insulting

Writer-director Marc Forby said including the term “;barbarian”; in his movie's title was meant to be ironic (”;'Princess' sparks heated debate,”; Oct. 16). “;We wanted to draw attention to how Hawaiians were treated in the 1800s,”; he said.

Knowing that back then the word “;barbarian”; was an insult to Kaiulani and all Hawaiians, and knowing that Hawaiians today consider it so, the irony is Forby chooses to continue the insult. And for what? To attract “;middle America”; so they can know the story of Kaiulani. I get it, the insult is a marketing ploy!

Forby said “;this has never been about exploiting the Hawaiian people. I never knew it would get so heated. I thought the irony would be obvious.”; He is obviously clueless. The true irony is that he has no qualms about using a slur on the marquee so he can sell more tickets. He does P.T. Barnum proud.

Forby apologized for “;any offense the title has caused.”; That's good, but did he change the offensive title? No. So we Hawaiians will stack it with the other worthless apologies while the Marc Forbys continue adding insult to injury.

Teachers should do the right thing

This is in response to the article “;Community Fights Friday Furloughs”; (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 14). I was dismayed at the teachers union, which declared that the burden of resolving the state deficit should fall to the taxpayers by raising taxes so that teachers wouldn't have to take a reduction in pay. Gov. Linda Lingle stood her ground declaring that putting this on the taxpayers' back would be a circuitous route to more job losses and economic disaster. As a result we have furloughs, 17 Fridays in a year. Now the teachers are whining, and parents will be protesting at the state Capitol tomorrow.

Teachers now have the opportunity to “;do the right thing”; and serve their community by offering their time for free. Instead of whining about loss of pay and work, they could lead by example and show their students that donating time and labor to the community is an honorable choice. They could easily “;choose”; to teach on those furlough Fridays. What a great lesson in altruism that would be.

Train will get us back to work

As a construction worker who is on the bench, I was very happy to read that that the feds have given the stamp of approval to the Honolulu rail system. The sooner construction begins, the sooner I and thousands of other construction workers can get back on the job, earning paychecks and feeding our families.