Social media seems to be laughing its ass off about this tragedy, is it because the folks at burning man are perceived as frivolous hippies or something? Everyone I’ve ever met who was a regular burning man attendee has been a solid human being with strong morals, personally and financially responsible, a career. Upstanding members of society for sure. I guess all some people know is the sensationalized drugs and sex. A person died. This is a tragedy for an event that brings positivity into the world. Kind of annoyed.
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It’s also because Burning Man, at least in the last decade or more, just turned into another affluent, rich white people and influencer event. Whatever it was to start, it’s effectively glamping now.
Sure, there are definitely some genuinely good people there, lower middle class, saved up and took their only vacation time they get all year to spend a few days there, and it sucks this happened to them. If those people end up in the hospital and the shitty insurance they get from work does fuck all to help mitigate the expenses, I’ll even get angry on their behalf.
But the majority of them? They spent a lot of money, money most people don’t have the luxury of getting to spend, on a pointless self-indulgent festival in the fucking desert, and this time it’s come back to bite them. My sympathy is extremely limited.
They’ll be miserable for a few days, get out, dry off, and go back to their easy lives. Their affairs are taken care of back home, they can miss days of work, their hospital stays will be covered, etc.
It’s kind of like the Fyre Festival. Those people got fucked over hard, but those people were also not the kind I particularly pitty. Spending a lot of money on an experience only to be miserable for a few days is not a tragedy. What happened to the poor people that lived there is the tragedy.
Edit: Also just want to point out OP is trying to call this a “tragedy” when there’s only been one suspected death, the cause of which is unknown as it hasn’t even been confirmed yet, but the overall mood is positive, and by all accounts everything is being managed. They’re trapped, not dying.
https://apnews.com/article/burning-man-festival-flooding-entrance-closed-d6cd88ee009c6e1f6d2d92739ec1ca18
I’m pretty sure it’s been that way for at least 20 years…
The only people I’ve personally known to go to Burning Man was a rich kid in high school who went with his dad who was a marketing high-up at a very big tech company. Always came back talking about trying drugs and seeing some crazy shit, but then on Tuesday it’s right back to full days of pointless meetings I guess. I’ve never been and I frankly don’t ever care to, but that alone gave me the feeling that Burning Man is where tech suits go to play hippie for the weekend, and that always felt lame as fuck.
I went a couple of times years ago when it was just starting to turn into what you describe. Had a great time, but it quickly priced me out. Now, it sounds like an influencer-laden hellscape. The addition of premium plug and play sites was the nail in the coffin. That said, a lot of the old time Burners are fucking amazing, creative, resourceful, and helpful people.
Blame sensationalist media on this one, but it’s a misconception. Very few victims spent a lot of money on Fyre Festival. Most got tickets which were purported to be “all inclusive” for <$1500 USD (a pretty good deal, had it not been fraudulent). A handful of tickets sold for the $12K price which ended up in the headlines, but the standard price was a fraction of that. There’s a good summary of this discrepancy here: https://youtu.be/UBPg5ftCMv8
One of the things I’ve learned over time is people can have vastly different perceptions of what being “poor” is, and I suspect that’s what’s happening here.
I think there are those who could not afford to put down the 1.5k you’re quoting.
Well yes of course, but there are lots of “poor” people who have maybe been saving up for a vacation and could make $1500 appear for an opportunity if the value seemed good enough. My family wasn’t rich growing up, but we would still go on one frugal vacation a year, which probably ended up costing a similar amount. It’s definitely not a demographic that I would feel “deserved” getting defrauded and left in a FEMA tent with no food and water for a weekend.
That’s not poor at all. I was one of eight kids growing up, and we never, ever, went on a vacation of any kind. It just wasn’t possible at all.
completely agree with this take, also OP screams american excepcionalism.
Wouldn’t every event or festival be an exercise in waste and excess? May be e we should just stay at home forever and work
I’ve heard smaller, local burns are better experiences now and are less wasteful. Just like most things, the original spirit and intent of an event gets lost when it becomes bigger and commercialized.
Well it being in the middle of a desert makes it more wasteful.
But yes giant festivals that encourage a lot of travel and needlessly burning things are in general wasteful and potentially excessive. There are other leisure activities, so discouraging festivals is not equivalent to working nonstop.
Isn’t unnecessarily lighting stuff on fire kind of the point?
Fireworks?
They build and set ablaze a giant man! It’s eponymous!
Yes.
People always judge personal waste as something they don’t enjoy. It’s fun to hate on people who enjoy things.
I have never went but the people I know who go have been going so long that their kids are bringing their kids. It sounds like a great community event where most of the point is to meet the people who go there.
The desert is usually a good place to host a mass event since it is a flat large area. By definition rain is rare in a desert.
small local burns are more true to form in that endeavor. people clean up after themselves and are generally respectful.
some bad actors, but it’s a nice disconnect from technology.
I like to go and host a alternate dimension themed arcade with silly obscure games.
Hilariously, this exact thing happened to Alchemy in Georgia in 2015. The year of Alchemud. Got us kicked out of the county for a bit. Had Alchemy in Wakanda one year, but far too many fire ants.
Ive heard of this lol
Alchemy is usually the second largest burn in the US. Though it’s Alchemy’s ~3.5k people, vs Burning Man’s 75k. Still, ton of fun for the art, music, and psychedelic crowds.
haha come on. what are you talking about?
One of the festival grounds we tried out was where they filmed parts of Black Panther outside of Atlanta.
ohhh. I thought you were roleplaying at first!
Ooh, what games? Where?
local burns, whatever seems whimsical and trippy
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