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I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
21–30 of 122 posts
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#22Yea I wouldn't be caught dead going there today. Looks pretentious.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#23I always thought the whole point of burning man was to forfeit your soul anyway?
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#24Curiously, I found this 1995 SFGate article offering a related perspective:
> Many participants tell me this is the last year the event will be bearable before it "goes commercial."
https://www.sfgate.com/style/article/Communal-art-in-the-des...
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#25Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#26Build A 300-Mile Wall Around SF During Burning Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO_r6ndZRZY&t=1s
>A community effort to construct a 300-mile wall in one week and prevent Burning Man attendees from returning to the Bay Area.
>"I'm asking for your help crowdfunding the most ambitious Burning Man project ever a wall that's built around the entire bay area during the week of Burning Man."
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#27> ...the festival I helped invent 36 years ago. Curiously, I get this interest even though I haven’t set foot in the Black Rock Desert since 1996. Not doubting the headline conclusion, but I would have expected a better source than someone who hasn't been to Burning Man in literally 30 years. AFAICT, Burning Man was still very well regarded ~20 years ago, long after this founder stopped attending
it’s still the city. the org might be run in a lame way but any time you get too involved in something you see another layer of politics and favoritism and helping friends out that just seems wrong. most people going aren’t at that level and it’s fine. you’ll still have a good time (if you want to)
I think the point GP was making was that the co-founder was basing their judgment secondhand from stories from friends and headlines.
Another bit I found peculiar was the mentions of anarchism while seeming to have a rigid idea of what the event should or should not be. It's certainly far less anarchistic today—placements, permits, law enforcement—but it's not exactly anarchism to say it isn't allowed to evolve to fit the scale and culture of the participants.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#28Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#29Burning man is one of the biggest environmental disasters to happen by humans for pure entertainment.
Leave No Trace.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#30Honestly, a pretty incredible article. Yeah, this is what happens. And even so, as he said himself, the newbies continue to find themselves and the proles continue to gather to connect and reconnect.
I imagine many here feel convicted because they see themselves in Law’s descriptions of the well-heeled elite, and they resent Law for saying they are not transgressive instigators, anarchic fire starters, and autonomous free zone inhabitants.
Y’all. Be comfortable with who you are. Most of us just want good money, an awesome time with cool computer shit to do, and friends and family who love us. It’s okay not to be a revolutionary. What’s not okay is to trick yourself into believing you are one when it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Here’s to the revolutionaries - I get to live a more grounded life because of their willingness to live outside the lines.