There are a number of factors that do not add up regarding the Maui fires. I am refraining from speculating, but based on the facts, the government allowed people to die. I reported that the fire hydrants were dry and the top official refused to use water reserves. The notification system and sirens mysteriously failed, leaving many clueless as to what was happening. Now it has been reported that the authorities barricaded residents within the fire zone.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said that the barricades were intended to prevent residents from coming into contact with over 30 downed power poles. Yet, they prevented the public from accessing Highway 30. Pelletier insists that the barricades were merely a suggestion, but first-hand reports state that people were forbidden to leave. Those who disobeyed and bypassed the barricades narrowly survived.
Kim Cuevas-Reyes told the Associated Press that she was fleeing the fires with her two sons when the authorities told her to turn right toward Lahaina’s Civic Center. She disobeyed and lived. “The gridlock would have left us there when the firestorm came,” said Cuevas-Reyes. “I would have had to tell my children to jump into the ocean as well and be boiled alive by the flames or we would have just died from smoke inhalation and roasted in the car.”
Another resident by the name Nate Baird was not aware of the fires until his two young sons said they smelled smores. He fled with his family but was told to turn around and go back to Lahaina. He disobeyed and lived. “Nobody realized how little time we really had,” Baird said. “Like even us being from the heart of the fire, we did not comprehend. Like we literally had minutes and one wrong turn. We would all be dead right now.”
What would you do if you were in the car with your family? Would you be obedient to authority or defy the law and save yourself? Stanley Milgram conducted a famous study that showed most people would blindly listen to an authoritative figure. COVID was a mass social experiment that also proved most people will blindly listen to authority figures. Even now, after knowing the damage that COVID caused, people are potentially willing to go back to masks and boosters despite it being ineffective the first time around. It is now more important than ever to think independently. No one is coming to save you and the authorities are not there to protect you.
As Stanley Milgram said:
