Anything with a soul that gains popularity is doomed to value extraction.
I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
51–60 of 125 posts
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#52An aside though about the whole "lost its soul". I was looking up Marion Goodell's salary and it's pretty high. The Burning Man ORG spends a lot on salaries, especially since it relies on a mostly volunteer workforce. She and the C-suite for the Burning Man Org make like $300,000 plus. It's not a HUGE amount in San Francisco if you consider tech salaries but I parsed salaries of CEOs of arts organizations in Californ…
That's a huge amount even in San Francisco. Sometimes I'm shocked what working in big tech does to people's ideas about what a normal annual salary is. Burning Man is a once a year event. Being a c level for that is not comparable to being c level for a lot of other even non profit orgs not to even mention for profit orgs
No opinion on the salary, but just because it's a once per year event doesn't mean the work isn't year round.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
They can be, but unfortunately the org has threatened to revoke official regional burn status unless they followed all the same rules, in particular, that children be allowed. There used to be some leeway on that, and there were really wonderful regional burns that did not permit kids. They were forced to, which resulted in the "real" burn being in a small taped off area. Seems insane to me to think kids should be at…
That’s because it’s easier to recruit kids into cults or whatever
> That’s because it’s easier to recruit kids into cults or whatever
That's what Sunday School is for.
I lived in SF at the time of the original burns on Baker Beach and heard about them but I was too lame and isolated to ever participate but followed their antics (and the Cacophony Society) from afar.
The universe arranged for me to go ten years ago and I found the experience magical. There's an exhibit that shows how each wave of newcomers has destroyed burning man which I found to be a cheeky take on its evolution.
The kids I saw there were doing kid friendly stuff and them being allowed there was clearly to allow their parents to come without having to leave them behind.
There's plenty to hate about it but in the end it's about people coming together to have a good time, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#54I don’t know anything about burning man except the actor who originally played Dr. Weir on Stargate SG1 was fired (essentially) because she misled the producers about attending it. Tory Higgens did a fine job as her replacement though.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eDriBfoPzsA&t=120s&pp=2AF4kAIB...
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#55I started going in 2002 and have friends who have gone every year since then. There has been a meme that burning man sucks now and used to be better that entire time. That doesn't mean the meme is false. It definitely has changed. There's an article in sfgate today that quotes the head of the Death Guild (Thunderdome) camp as saying something like, do people want to carry on the traditions their parents had, or inven…
Festivals have changed. People want high speed internet, good food, professional security and not having to put up their own tent.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#56burning man is cringe and you can downvote me if you want. it just proves my point.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 fi…
Every anarchistic community ends up with rules to ensure things run smoothly. I think anarchism should be viewed as the movement towards less rules, not a movement that allows absolutely no rules. Allocating office desks so that everyone knows where their desk is is just common sense - if you're concerned about people envying the best desks, randomise it every week. You have to mark out roads if you want there to be…
The absurdity of anarchism is thus shown. It always ultimately ends up re-inventing government.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#58I don’t know anything about burning man except the actor who originally played Dr. Weir on Stargate SG1 was fired (essentially) because she misled the producers about attending it. Tory Higgens did a fine job as her replacement though. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eDriBfoPzsA&t=120s&pp=2AF4kAIB...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Steen#Career
From the narrative on Wikipedia, it looks more like she was fired not because she hid the truth, but because she was indeed attending Burning Man and the producers didn't like the idea: "committed to naked drugging in the desert" as opposed to misleading anyone. If she'd told the truth, it'd probably have the same result.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#59About 15 years ago it really started to get corporate. Big money came in and created camps with air conditioning, huge RV's no bartering, etc. Dustin Moskovitz and the like started going and wouldn't dare behave the ordinary peasants, by sleeping in tents, participating in the community, bartering for things. Heck Zuckerberg took a helicopter there one year. instead they just threw money at the event so they wouldn't…
I think this is where my head goes when I think of the event: a large portion of the attendees have gone from community members to customers.
Re: I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
#60I have attended festivals for more than half of my life and they're all suspectable to the same gentrification problem as cool neighborhoods: fun/artsy people create fun environments, fun environments attract others who genuinely appreciate fun/artsy but are professionals themselves, professionals attract other professionals but shallower with more money. Or, in short, they get hugged to death. Rinse, repeat.
Same thing is happening with Garbicz festival in Poland, arguably Europe's Burning Man equivalent for many.