Agreed. definitely deceptive no matter how you slice it.
I heard some of the staff were getting some of the more desperate and idiotic marks to sign blank pieces of paper that would be filled in later to “facilitate” refunds. A scam until the very end.
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People in the tropics with no air conditioning don’t lock themselves up in a building to cook. They usually have housing that allows some ventilation and cooling, or are outside.
As you stated, no air conditioning can be a danger and lethal, and thousands die every year from it.
IMHO, that is the least acceptable thing that happened (that I know of), and the most dangerous. If any other group of people were treated this way other than those privileged enough to fly out to a music festival, there would be an outpouring of sympathy.
It isn’t always US vs THEM.
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Half a dozen less supermodels in the promo and they could have doubled down on the cheese in the sandwiches.
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Far from it …
The rest I agree with.
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I feel bad for the Bahamians (who no one seems to mention in stories of this debacle).
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Most of my youth was an attempt to use cheese to fill the void where supermodels should have been. Sometimes beer too.
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If this happened to ordinary people, they would just be SOL, but the organizers broke the cardinal rule: YOU NEVER FUCK WITH THE ARISTOCRACY.
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See, I’m gonna talk about my fancy cruise, again. Because I am not in the 10% or the 1% but cruise I took… well 2017 prices start at $3700 pp, go up to $18,500 pp. I don’t have more money than sense, and this was the single most expensive vacation I have ever taken, was it worth it? Debatable. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Would I do it again? Maybe.
If I had ended up stranded on an island without a way off, locked in an airport, and given none of the amenities that I was promised and that I paid for, would I be upset? Fucking right I would. And I’m sure a lot of people on this board would laugh at me and mock me for being stupid enough or “rich” enough to go on such a silly thing as a luxury cruise in the first place.
IMO this is nothing but a bait and switch, and a dangerous one at that.
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While your comparison is more fitting, this also brought to mind J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise.
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Repeated for emphasis.
I think comparing these kinds of festivals to cruises is pretty accurate – both are isolated, all-inclusive experiences with differing tiers of service. And when you consider the costs of travel, food, lodging, entertainment, etc. the all-inclusive packages turn out to be not all that extravagant. The lower tier options (of which are likely the most plentiful) might easily fit into a middle-class budget – especially if they save up for a year or two.
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Your fancy cruise delivers real, tangible value in lodgings, food, and activities for $3700 per person over 5-7 days. As enjoyable as it is, I don’t think you’d have paid $6000 for exactly the same tangible experience for just 2-3 days with a bunch of aspirational hokum attached to it. That’s why you have at least as much sense as money, and that’s why the reaction would be different for the most part.
See, for example, the generally more sympathetic public reactions to those victimised when a cruise like yours goes horrifically pear-shaped every couple of years. In those cases, the contempt and mockery are reserved for the cruise lines and the incompetent ships’ officers.
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The cruise comparison is apt, but also this is other people’s money. Whatever they choose to do with their income is their business, even if it looks silly to me or other people.
I’ve spent a lot of money collecting high end gaming figures and most of everyone i tell how much i’ve spent per figure tells me i’m wasting my money. Probably, but everyone has a hobby or experiences they feel like their time and money is worth something. Even if you only do it once like your cruise.
Do i think this festival was frivolous and stupid? Yep. But if i had the means and i was into this sort of scene i could see how someone could’ve ended up in this situation. I know i’ve done more reckless things with much less planning (i did go to college and drop out so arguably i wasted more money on that than any of these folks).
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Perceptions of what constitutes wealthy/spoiled are relative. Lacking sympathy for people because you perceive them to be wealthy and spoiled is why envy is considered a vice. No doubt there are large numbers of people who would feel the same way about you. And those people would probably be considered rich and spoiled by yet another group of people. It is an inverse of the “Four Yorkshiremen” argument.
Admittedly, I would never in a million years go to that festival, even as advertised. But I would hate to find myself judging whether a person is worthy of sympathy based purely on their vacation choices. I know many people who spend what seems to me to be absurd amounts of time and money on interests that I find hard to comprehend. But as long as they don’t have children who are going hungry because of it, then it is not up to me to judge.
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Well no, cuz I hate festivals, aspirational hokum and crowds (I did Burning Man in 1998, thats enough of that!). I pick my vacations on the other end of that scale no, no kids, no loud music, just warm breezes and lots of books.
That all said, I don’t think that people that like those things deserve to be ripped off or are not deserving of our sympathy just because they choose to do a thing that we wouldn’t do. Especially when that thing turns out to be a total scam and dangerous.
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We have gone from “Unique never-to-be-repeated festival of the decade, only chance to experience” for the purposes of selling tickets, to “discounts on next year’s event” as a forewarning of what people can expect in lieu of refunds.
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As far as I’m concerned and taking all factors into account, they get about a third of the sympathy I’d give you if your cruise went bad. Which is to say, I’m not mocking them for having no food or water or shelter or sanitation facilities. I’m also certainly not letting the scammers and incompetents off the hook – just because a sucker is stupid or greedy it doesn’t make the confidence artist any less of a criminal.
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Presumably con artists have to plan for the future like everyone else. /s
Agreed. I hope they’re sued into never being able to do this again.
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I’m just disappointed that kids these days can get away with such an amateurish scam. It makes ordinary decent hard-working con-men look bad.
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