Don’t forget the opportunity cost.
Don’t forget the handy guide for Playa Fashionistas!
That does rather summarize half the folks I’ve known personally who have been there. The other half are fine folks. But per capita, my assumption is indeed that the former are heavily represented. I have no idea what the people do there, but I know what they do here and no thanks!
I think they’re responding to the offhand, “See you at Burning Man!” I’m guessing the majority of BoingBoing readers either have a job, or have school, and the notion of taking off right now with a, “I’m heading to the desert to have sex and do drugs for a week,” would make for an “extended vacation”.
I’m happy for people who have the privilege of doing it; just, you know, maybe they could act conscious of the fact that they’re privileged as fuck once in a while. Especially if they whinge on about privilege all the time.
Someone once wrote a book about tribes organizing themselves by time zone…
I have begun to suspect that the actual tribe formation is which event you attend on Labor Day: the erstwhile Burning Man tribe, and the DragonCon tribe, to which I belong.
So last year!
I recall, when I was working at a big law firm in SF, a couple of my colleagues encouraged me to join them. I figured, nah, I’ll let it settle down a bit – too crowded for me – and I’ll go in a couple of years. This was '99 & '00.
Not my bag. But for those of you like such a thing, enjoy.
I know what you do to your characters at Burning Man.
That’s the problem though… too many cool people.
Moon Gate? Looks like a Stargate to me.
I’ve got the only Westy in Marin not going!!
Touché.
Still doesn’t justify the desert, though.
Nothing does.
I don’t think anyone would care if Cory said “See you at Comic Con,” though. That’s the telling point for me. I feel like people are mostly looking for reasons to look down on Burners to justify their preconceived biases, when it should be the other way around.
I’ve seen people claim that Burning Man leaves trash all over the desert (the event staff go over everything with a fine-tooth comb once the guests have left, and ban camps that don’t clean up after themselves), or that their prices are too high and discriminate against poor people (the prices are as low as they can be given the cost of staging the event, and they offer some half-price tickets for economically disadvantaged Burners). That’s the thing that bugs me: people who have absolutely no clue what Burning Man is like, but still feel compelled to justify their irrational hatred of it.
I’d love to be there, but I have enough trouble coping with British summer temperatures.
That is an honest shame :D.
I am told that the dry desert heat is much less unpleasant than you’d think, if you’re used to humidity.
Even so, I’m pretty leery of trying it for that reason alone, fun as it sounds.
Tweed in the desert??
that’s quite the job title. sort of wonder if it’s real. I mean, it could be.
It’s not a snobbery thing; personally, I just don’t like crowds, period.
One won’t see me at Burning Man the same way one will not see me at Comic Con, or any densely populated public event.
Not likely to be able to go, wouldn’t be able to handle if if I did.
But it looks way cool. Anyone going, have fun, do strange shit, tell us about it.