I truly believe the citizens of HNL have been conditioned to have low expectations and now it's just part of life. 

Look at the politicians they choose EVERY time, over and over despite crookedness, lying and giving everyone the shaft. Look at the consistently high ratings for restaurants on various websites that are mediocre at best. Look at the auto sales outlets that don't even bring in a fraction of models available on the mainland because they "know what's best" for Hawaii consumers. Etc etc etc