It really, really is - a bunch of people trapped experiencing unprecedented extreme weather that’s causing their resources to dwindle, their infrastructure to fall apart and rumors of exotic diseases to fly. That it’s privileged, mostly white, people being effected doesn’t detract too much - it’s just a preview of what will eventually happen, because it’s not like anyone is going to escape the consequences.
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I am imagining that a video/film crew “just happened” to be there, and this entire event will be re-edited for maximum drama and packaged as a documentary series available via your favorite streaming media nipple.
Now I am imagining a Drowning Man Festival involving a rogue cruise ship, a deep water submersible craft, and glo-stick lifebuoys.
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documentarians should just send cinematography coaches to scold everybody into holding their phones horizontally when they’re shooting video
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Yeah, I don’t think the ratio of “rich tech-bro assholes” to “poverty-level druggies, hippies, & artists” is as high as a lot of the discourse here and elsewhere make it out to be. It’s just that the rich assholes tend to be the loudest and most pubic and thus have an outsize presence in people’s minds.
The only burner I know personally has been at poverty level most of her life. Ironically, it’s only the relatively new development of a steady job that prevented her from attending the festival this year.
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My years of going there lead me to the conclusion that people are digging into their non-perishable food stashes and drinking warm booze, since ice is the first thing to go flat without replenishment. And getting to know their neighbors better than they maybe wanted to. They won’t starve.
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The playa provides.
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It’s not very grown-up of me, but I am giggling at the implication that Mormons are cannibals.
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Ugh. I’m tired of all the “HAW HAW LOOKIT ALL THE BILLIONAIRES STUCK IN THE MUD” malarkey.
Just like anywhere else where anybody goes on vacation, there might be a hundred people at most who are billionaires among the 75,000 folks out there in the mud. They’re not suffering. I’ve heard of rich dudes calling in helicopters to leave. Fine, whatever. It’s what they do. It’s not right, but it’s what happens.
I’ve also got friends out there. Average folks that went in about a group of 50. And you know what they’ve told me? In spite of the mud, everybody’s fine. Happy even. The portapotties are still being serviced, everyone still has plenty of food and water (and are sharing with those that don’t). At least within their “neighborhood”, there’s no suffering and they’re still partying along with everyone else. Heck, they’re making mud sculptures for funsies. They’re going to stay a few days longer to help with clean up efforts, just like they did last time.
They’re not elites, not rich, not anything special… They just saved up their money for a few years to go on vacation.
Sure, it’d be better without the billionaires, but wouldn’t everything? The vast majority of the people out there are average people going on a vacation.
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Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process.
Gentrification has become controversial because, historically, it has come with a significant component of discrimination against racial minorities, women and children, the poor, and older adults. Even as it may bring about a reversal in the decline of a city, displacement caused by gentrification can force prior residents into poorer and relatively unsafe areas, with limited access to affordable housing, healthy food choices, and social networks. In turn, this can trigger increased stress levels and decreased mental health.
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Ssssh. Not so loud.
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They taste like chicken.
The Mormons, I mean. Not sure about the crickets.
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So generally the playa is completely flat, right? How is it going to look once it dries out again after the cars/people/anything else are dug out and gone? How long will it take for it to flatten out again?
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It was light rain.
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From what I can tell, it takes the playa a few years to get back to normal after a big human event like this. They move the center of Black Rock City every year to let things recover.
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… it’s a lake bed, it’s supposed to turn to mud and back every year — just not in September 
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It was an inch rain in a few hours. An inch is heavy rain by most metrics, but in an area that gets about eight inches of rain per year thats an awful lot.
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Much like how getting a couple inches of snow overnight wouldn’t be a big deal in Minneapolis during mid-winter but it would cause all kinds of problems if it happened in Austin during late Summer.
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A couple of inches of snow causes a problem in Austin midwinter 
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