Mark Zuckerberg Really, Really Loves Walls

Mark Zuckerberg Really, Really Loves Walls

Mark Zuckerberg is building a wall on his 700-acre Hawaii estate, and his neighbours are pissed. Somewhere, Donald Trump is thrusting his tiny fists in the air, furious that he’s been ousted as the world’s resident wall-loving entrepreneur.

According to a report in a local Hawaiian newspaper, Zuck’s neighbours on the island of Kauaʻi are very much displeased at the prospect of a six-foot wall blocking what had previously been a very nice view.

“The feeling of it is really oppressive. It’s immense,” Kauaʻi resident Gy Hall told The Garden Island. “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.”

The wall — the exact length of which has yet to be determined — reportedly started going up a few weeks ago. Zuckerberg purchased the massive tract of land, which includes a beach, a former sugarcane plantation, and a “working organic farm,” back in 2014.

Mark Zuckerberg Really, Really Loves Walls
A 2011 Google Street View snapshot from Koolau Road, near where Zuckerberg’s second favourite wall will soon live.

A 2011 Google Street View snapshot from Koolau Road, near where Zuckerberg’s second favourite wall will soon live.
Gizmodo confirmed that the dastardly wall does indeed belong to the Facebook founder and CEO. A spokesperson for the wall project also provided the following statement:

Rock walls like this one being built along the roadway are routinely used as sound barriers to reduce highway and road noise, and that is its primary purpose. 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 neighbours.

That last part isn’t quite going as planned. Some residents have reportedly tried to contact The Wall Master himself, to no avail.

“I’ve tried to write a letter to Mr. Zuckerberg more than once. I even met someone on the beach that worked with him,” resident Shosana Chantarashe told The Garden Island. “In the end he wrote me and said, ‘I know a lot of people close to Mark and none of them are willing to give a letter because they’re afraid of what his response will be.’ That’s a sad statement.” Then again, he’s also maybe possibly turning another one of his massive properties into a doomsday bunker, so a wall certainly isn’t the craziest thing he’s ever built.

It’s been a big year for Mark Zuckerberg and various kinds of walls. In February, he issued a memo to Facebook employees, begging them to stop defacing “Black Lives Matter” slogans on the company graffiti wall. And at Facebook’s F8 conference in April, he made a pointed remark about Donald Trump’s grand vision for a wall block off the US from Mexico. “I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as ‘others,’” he said.

Et tu, Mark? [The Garden Island]


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