Do programmers use English as if it was a programming language? The word Festival encompasses many different things-- including religious, or quasi religious rituals.
It’s as if a devotee of Marian Catholicism started running around denouncing new religious movements as “cults”.
Yes and no, it’s off of BLM land on a private farm
Ask anyone who’s been, they will either talk your ears off about their next theme camp, or cynically explain how it jumped the shark just before they stopped going.
2006 was my third time, and I still feel “full” after that one. But the smaller local burns have not lost their allure. Flip side in Austen, Critical Massive in Washington state, most likely one near you… these are where locals test out the art they’ll bring to black rock. It’s less “fun” than the big event (for certain values of “fun”) but it’s vastly less money and effort.
So, yeah, still relevant in the sense that it still inspires local weirdness.
It seems as if that principle is the only one that the high rollers abide by- Radical Inclusion.
They break every last one of the other 9 principles.
Maybe I’ll make it to MooseMan. The big question would be: Go on my scooter or take the car?
Some people can’t get laid without others getting paid.
(See our current president)
You can still allow anyone, while requiring that those people follow the other rules. There’s no inherent ethos disagreement with saying ‘y’all rich people can come, but you have to play like everyone else, you can’t just show up and have a private party that goes against all of our goals’.
Interesting description and maybe it explains what the actual problem is. Humano does not seem to be about a rich person attending Burning man, but about rich persons without much sense wanting to build a camp only open to them and their friends.
I have never been to Burning Man, but if I had 100 000$ to spend (or far less), I would simply rent a vehicle with the level of comfort I want and bribe someone for a parking spot. That should not be difficult.
is not the topic of this article, and
are especially not the topic of this article
Do the Humano owners even attend, or is this purely a parasite entrepreneur operation run on-site by hirelings with Burner experience?
Heh. The Tragedy of the Uncommons.
it’s always interesting to hear how people define this portion of the principles. this is no exception. nobody is saying they can’t come and actually experience the event as intended.
you need to meet more burners. i’ve met so many incredibly fun, interesting people of all types, from all over the map. all of them are passionate about it, none of them are insufferable.
i’ve been to 22 burns, and what i find the most interesting is that it’s becoming more and more relevant, not less. there are hundreds of regional burns every year now all over the world, and i see burning man culture everywhere: fashion, music, movies, gifting culture, the arts – on and on. the smithsonian just had a really good exhibit about it, and David Best, the original designer of the temple structures at burning man, is building a temple starting this week in Parkland, Florida, to help the community recover from the shooting there.
Every year I go to my college’s reunion. (It’s one of those places that looks fantastic on a brochure because it’s in the middle of nowhere and they built a cutesy little utopia for the kind of college-age nerd who doesn’t mind being 100 miles from the nearest stoplight.) It only costs a few hundred bucks for the weekend, with all the food and complimentary beer and dorm-room stays included. I go and hang out with my friends, I reconnect with my youth, it’s a great big orgasm of nostalgia and renewal, and nobody gets hurt.
It’s also a radically exclusionary act, just by its nature. I’m not going to hang out with the peoples of the world; I’m going to wrap myself up in my tiny little tribe, most of whom (like me) are there because at some point our family was wealthy or wealth-adjacent. That’s not the appeal, but it’s the reality.
My point being, I’m no longer inclined to piss on Burning Man for being elitist and exclusionary to the very core. Not everything should be, of course, but some things can be, and it’s not the end of the world. I don’t even mind a little self-deception on that point.
But man it feels like the BM crowd overindulges in self-mythologizing counterpropaganda on that point more every year. My dudes, this Humano thing exists because not everyone is a rugged and self-reliant free Burner spirit like Grover Fucking Norquist. Who didn’t go to Burning Man as an example of the event’s radical inclusion, but because he’s highly representative in most respects, and just a little more famous than most Burners.
Burning Man is what it is. Clearly what it is is wonderful for many of the people who go. Coolsies. It would just go down a lot easier with normies like me back in civilization if it weren’t so important for some of its fans to pretend it’s something else.
Yep. That about nails it. Except instead of the privileged private school kids who participated in Model UN, you get the privileged private school kids who snuck into the city and did molly.
I’m sure you’re right. To be fair, I’m working from a pretty small sample size being on the east coast and mostly socially surrounded by back-to-the-land types that could never dream of affording the trip. It’s clear that a number of people in this forum attend(ed) and seem quite delightful. I’ve just never met any of them.
The main difference is -need I say it?- that you don’t organize your private party in the middle of somebody’s else festival.
Burning man is, as far as I understand, a project to bring people of all horizons together. There is no problem with rich people joining in. As I said, everyone with money can rent a RV with air conditioning and have a spot at Burning man. It is not difficult if you have the cash.
But this project is markedly different. It is more as if entrepreneurs brought a paying party to a zoo: experience the festival, but don’t let the animals touch you. It is not about the money, it is about the way it is organized.
fwiw, i know some very lovely people from NYC, which i hear is on the east coast somewhere… and i also know people (other nevadans, so much more local) who are back-to-the-land types for sure, but somehow they work it out to attend, too. one of the great things about burning man is how you never know who you’ll end up talking to.
Random encounters at Burning Man:
Italian physics professor
Israelie couple doing their travel after military service
Dwarf porn star
MIT grads (who wired our camp with security cameras after a LO raid)
Bikers
Punks
The list goes on… what Burning Man is “known for” actually comprises the least of my memorable experiences. Except the year the Man burned twice cuz Paul Addis (RIP) shot a flare into the Green Man, setting it ablaze while most mutants were hypnotized by the total lunar eclipse.
The burning man can be both one of the most amazing and dreadful experience to be had. Often I’ll teeter between these feeling multiple times throughout a day spent there.
Many, many things I miss about the early days, but the biggest shift (imo) is cellphones. Back in the bad ol’ days when cell coverage didn’t reach Black Rock Desert only a crazy person, or someone truly dedicated, could detach from the world. This was a deal breaker for most normal people and the event really didn’t become a bucket list popular thing until connectivity reached the playa.
Popularity ruins everything, get off my lawn.
