Mayor Alan Arakawa’s new campaign ad claims there are cultlike groups with a mob mentality using “fake news to bolster their claim to elicit anger and aggressive behavior.”

The ad claims this is being done via social media and by people “who have decided that they do not wish to embrace the culture and local ways . . . but want to change and mold our society into what they consider to be their ideal.”

Claiming that “newcomers” don’t respect the culture, that they want to take something from society is an unfortunate and tired old ploy. It’s clear that Mr. Arakawa wants to stay in power along with other old-timers who want to run the county their way.

But if you look at the new leaders challenging him, they are not “against” anything other than the failure of past leaders to address important matters that are now at a crisis stage.

All of the new candidates were born and raised here; their campaign sites don’t attack or raise fears, they lay out solutions to housing and homelessness.

Former President Barack Obama recently spoke about this tactic. He said “Fear is powerful. Telling people that somebody is out to get you . . . that’s an old story (that} has shown itself to be powerful . . . all around the world. It is a deliberate, systematic effort to tap into that part of our brain that carries fear in it.”

Housing, homelessness, climate change are big problems.

We need solutions, not fearmongering.

Toni Spates

Haiku