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When Mark Zuckerberg, millennial dad, stood onstage at Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference this spring, taking an unsubtle jab at a certain presidential candidate’s plan to wall off Mexico from the United States, he seemed like a statesman. “I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as others,” he intoned. “Instead of building walls, we can build bridges.”
But to anyone who has watched Zuckerberg’s staunch protection of his privacy, he seemed full of it. He has spent the last several years and millions of dollars buying up the properties that neighbor his Palo Alto compound—keeping looky-loos at a distance and affording him the space to build what appears to be a stand-alone panic room, walled off from the rest of society. Last week, he posted a photo that shows the microphone and camera on his laptop covered with tape—presumably to further preserve the sanctity of his privacy.
So when reports started swirling about the Facebook founder building a six-foot-tall wall around his 700-acre plot of land in Hawaii, no one should have been surprised. But his Kilauean neighbors were deeply disturbed by the unexpected disruption of the beautiful ocean view and breeze they’d long enjoyed.
“It’s really sad that somebody would come in, and buy a huge piece of land and the first thing they do is cut off this view that’s been available and appreciative by the community here for years,” Gy Hall, a local resident told The Garden Island. “It feels to me like, ‘This is my property and you don’t have any rights to see it.’ It’s that negative kind of view and that doesn’t feel neighborly,” said Maria Maitino, another Kilauea resident.
Hall told The Garden Island that the locals have appealed to Zuckerberg himself, putting up signs “appealing to Zuckerberg’s generosity and humanity,” but they get torn down immediately. Another local, Shosana Chantara, told the newspaper that she’s tried writing him letters and speaking to people working on the project, to no avail.
“It’s a beautiful island, and, by and large, people care for one another. That would include Mark,” she said, if he agrees to take down the wall and give her her breeze back, that is.
A spokesperson for what is being called the “Kauai operations” said in a statement that rock walls like this are routinely built along roads to reduce highway and road noise. “The sound barrier follows all regulated rules and regulations by the county and our entire team remains committed to ensuring that any development respects the local landscape and environment and is considerate of neighbors.”
One man’s sound barrier is another man’s blight, just as one politician’s wall to keep out Mexican immigrants is another executive’s talking point at an annual development conference. This is America. Not everyone has to see things the same way. It’s still a democracy, for now.
(VANITY FAIR)
