Got to write this down

[garote]

Browsing today I came across this. It's whiny, but contains a quote that nicely exposes the hypocrisy I perceive in the event:

"I have an idea for Burning Man. Why don't you guys relocate to East Oakland (WAY shorter drive) and use your time and money to help re-build the communities there. Actually do something with that week that you took off work."

Comments

[beatings.livejournal.com]

Double-check that link for me ;)

Update: This is a curious link! It changes depending on what page it's viewed from (friends, your journal, comments...) I wonder if LJ is freaking.

[garote]

Oops, sorry folks. I fixed it.

Hmmph....

[rudetuesday.livejournal.com]

It's a link from Beelzebub. I checked from my Friends page and it was me, then I checked it from another page and it was you....

[thegoodreverend.livejournal.com]

I feel exactly the same way about Burning Man...something about it has always bugged me. I'm all for art for art's sake, but there's something...wrong with Burning Man.

[rudetuesday.livejournal.com]

You're as bad as I am. I happen to believe, ideally, in art for art's sake. The thing that's wrong with Burning Man and lots of other Art Movements is that they're art for the sake of Artists, who look at themselves in the art. I think a certain self-reflection's bound to happen, but it's not supposed to be chronic.

[garote]

Art for the sake of artists. Exactly. Well put.

[beatings.livejournal.com]

I find it unpleasant that whatever site the Burning Man people choose to infest, it's always left a littered disaster after they're gone. I'd feel much better if it was about communing with nature and learning survival tactics, etc... so, no cel phones, nothing made of plastic, etc...

Davis has "Earth Day" once a year, and all the hippies commune to the quad and play drums, and when it's over the grassy quad has been turned into a festering mud-hole from all the foot traffic and abuse. Then later they all deny that they could ever be a destructive force in the slightest.

With Burning Man, I can see the appeal of having a flat expanse of land on which to unleash one's "wacky" "weirdness", but really, isn't this just the conquest of man all over again? Egotism defouling everything in its path?

[thegoodreverend.livejournal.com]

Conceptually, I can appreciate Burning Man...everyone doing "their own thing", in an open expanse, as you said. It's the faux-spiritual "purpose", among other things, that makes it so fake for me.

[garote]

If there's one thing I definitely can't stand, it's a bunch of people telling me I should join them, in order to be myself.

[garote]

Heh.

Burning Man: College For The Stupid, Rave For The Old, Pagan Festival For Texans.

>:)

"What's wrong with Burning Man"

[breakpoint.livejournal.com]

Generally, when people tell me "what's wrong with Burning Man", I smile, nod, agree, ignore it, show up anyway, and have a great time.

Some situations are meant to be enjoyed for what you can get out of them, not analyzed into the ground.

And this is coming from someone who has a hard time just "letting things go", so you might give it a +2 bonus or something.

One thing that I have to say, and I know it sounds cliche, but it's kind of "If you haven't been there, you definitely have no idea what the fuck you're talking about." I would also add, "If you hung around the same 20-40 people for the entire event, you STILL don't know what you're talking about," and, "If all you hung around were hippies, you'll NEVER know what you're talking about."

But that's just me, and god knows *I* don't give a shit. If all the people who complain about Burning Man happen, by some unlikely coincidence, to actually form an event, I'll be happy to check it out.

Re: "What's wrong with Burning Man"

[garote]

Very nicely said, though yes, a bit cliché ;)

[garote]

WATER IS GOOD

:)