OMFG this is not somebody pissing on your doorstep, or in the middle of your street, or in front of your county courthouse. These are people who have already run AS FAR AS THEY POSSIBLY COULD to get away from pigs, haters, and concern trolls, and still be in America at all. And now that’s not good enough any more.
Burning Man did not start in Nevada. It started on Baker Beach in San Francisco, and eventually people didn’t want that kind of ruckus in their neighborhood, and Black Rock was selected because it is SO FAR AWAY from everyone who could possibly be bothered or object to any crazy thing that might happen there.
If you can imagine ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD where it might be appropriate to piss on the ground? say maybe halfway up the side of Mount Everest? Black Rock is the SAME THING. That’s why bm is THERE.
If you pee on new growth in a riparian buffer, the deer won’t eat it, and the buffer will be strengthened, and the water quality of the stream will be improved. I do it all the time as a public service.
This only works if you are reasonably carnivorous, though - vegans should pee somewhere away from the stream, and cows and other livestock should be kept entirely out of the buffer zone.
I’m genuinely curious - do they not bring up porta potties for the workers setting up the place to use? Or is it just that this guy was too far away from one and/or too lazy to go find one, and it’s never been an issue in the past? I know absolutely zero about Burning Man aside from what I read in Cory’s “Homeland”, and my understanding from that, at least, is that going to the bathroom outside of designated bathroom areas is generally frowned on, but obviously it’s a different situation right now with the workers that are setting the place up.
At Pennsic I’ve heard the ladies ask the men to pee in the woods rather than in the porta-potties, to try to keep the lines down and to keep them a bit tidier and more sanitary. But the camps nearer the center of the event, and away from the wooded slopes, do not want people peeing on the ground - the legend of the Pissing Duke notwithstanding.
You’ve misunderstood me, and while it feels deliberate, I’m going to assume it was accidental, and due to my own lack of clarity.
First, I like burning man, but I like social justice more. I recognize that these things must intersect if either of them has hope of surviving. You may not think that Burning Man is anything more than a harmless party, but the establishment feels differently, and we are all subject to their definition because they will be acting upon it.
I do not think anyone should wear bomb-vests, and I hope that nobody ever ends up in a situation where they have to shoot someone else. When I write about being a warrior or fighting, I’m referring to a disposition of militance rather than a particular form of combat. I’m talking about the need to be uncompromising, to be willing and even eager to confront agents of oppression and oppose them.
This does not usually require the kind of violence you’re imagining. But it does require an acceptance of the reality that we and the cops are enemies, and that can’t be solved by any amount of compromise or friendly talk. We cannot get along because cops don’t get along with outlaws, and it doesn’t matter how you feel about the term, that’s what the Burning Man crowd is: an entire subculture of people who feel that it’s OK to violate the law in myriad ways as long as it’s not bothering anyone. The only way we’ll have peace is by demonstrating that we have enough collective power that they can’t afford to mess with us.
To be clear, I think it’s sometimes necessary and good for people to physically fight with law enforcement - though in the confrontations I’ve seen, there’s never been the need for more than shoving and wrestling. Rainbow Gatherings have defended their autonomy more than once by surrounding police with huge numbers of hippies and “escorting” them away from the gathering. In the end, that’s what it takes to stay free - the will to fight for it.
Yeah, seems like unfortunate either/or logic, rather than both-and. I’m as skeptical of that as I was during #Occupy in 2011 with all of the “Why aren’t they voting their concerns?” concerns. Like maybe BM is the recharging station for 51 or so weeks of activist goodness? Can’t activists party hardy? Is ecstatic joy not a politics? Etc.
Is that really the primary defining characteristic of the Burning Man crowd? Breaking the law as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody? I feel like that’s WAY overgeneralizing.
And regarding the “mostly oblivious” comment, I mean, have you polled? I really don’t know all that much about BM, having (unfortunately) never been. But really, are you just thinking that or have you actually asked BM participants about their activism, politics, etc.? I’m betting the population is a lot more diversely involved than you’re allowing.
Dude, you used the “vulgar word”. There are plenty of perfectly gramma-acceptable words for urination that you could’ve used, but you decided to say “piss” and then pretend it didn’t count because you covered part of it up. You can be all edgy and use grown-up words, or you can be civil and proper if that’s what you prefer, but you can’t have it both ways at once.
It’s a God damn desert! There are no bushes! It’s 100% open spot! Who are the police protecting by stopping a guy from pissing in an out-of-the-way spot at a private, clothing-optional, nudity-friendly event in a place so hot and dry the piss evaporates practically before it hits the ground?
I get that you wouldn’t want it happening in your neighborhood. That’s perfectly fine. Burning Man is not your neighborhood. Who is protected and served by this?
Not saying its these specific people, not at all, but there are other users of the playa who don’t like nudity and freethinking and would seem to have their interests protected and served by zealous law enforcement at BM.
