[I_Like_Plants]

Let's discuss Burning Man?

What's Burning Man, you ask? Lucky you don't know.... it's a sort of "do", a get-together, out in some Godforsaken flat place in the desert outside of Black Rock City, AZ. Basically salt flats. People go out there and live self-sufficiently for about a week - they have a barter economy, everything you bring in, you bring out, that goes for what you create too, from sandcastles to your poop. It'd be nice to say everyone sat around and chipped arrowheads and sang folks songs and got all warm and fuzzy and kum-ba-ya, but nope that would be too easy. Instead they set up roller rinks and show off their "art cars" (burning man is actually rather petroleum-intensive) and give each other silly haircuts dictated by the spin of a wheel and serve each odd drinks in exchange for underwear and all kinds of silliness. It culminates in the burning of the Man, a man-shaped effigy that goes up with lots of sparks and flame and insult to the atmosphere. Not to be confused with the big effigy a lot of these people's parents burn at their own little meeting that Alex Jones likes to crash.

I call this "burning white suburban man" lol - sunburn is rampant. Also "playa foot".

Although it's only a week, I think there may be some interesting effects of these people being away from suburbia, and I wonder how many of you have been to it? I myself have not. Frankly, I watched the videos taken at it on YouTube and that's enough for me. Just find the one with the naked folks following the water truck and you'll see..

So, let's discuss it, Burners and non-Burners alike!

[gw]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'b')urning man is actually rather petroleum-intensive

[Aaron]

The Million Moron March

"I made a boo-boo in my pants"

If you made a set of choices in life which eventually brought you to this event... you have my sympathy.

And little else.

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gw', 'T')his year's theme is "Green Man." I can't wait. This has got to be the ultimate in hypocrisy.

[snowshoegal]

Just went to their web site. I've always thought that this was a dudes only getaway thing, but apparently it is a family affair. (No pets allowed, though. Thank dog!)

From the Rules:

"You are responsible for removing all waste you bring into Black Rock City. This includes cigarette butts, boa feathers, pistachio shells and couches."

There is a shuttle that will drive you into town if you need to buy something. But "You must be fully clothed and sober to ride the bus."

I enjoy making art in the outdoors year round, in fact I do it for a living. But not with 25k people, portapotties and rows of air conditioned fifth wheels filled with screeching brats. Art cars?? As soon as I saw the pictures of body painting I knew it wasn't for me. The fact that they encourage amplified music sealed the deal. Scares the birds and animals away. How they will make this event "green" for 2007 mystifies me.

[SevenTen]

Isn't it better for the future of humanity and the rest of the biosphere if we are as wasteful as possible, burning up as much as possible as quickly as possible, ushering in a faster die-off?

I think "Green Man" will be a good thing. It will promote lower energy usage.

And foster multiple Green Man sites all around the country.

So that all year-round we'll have ecologically sound, renewable, burning Green Mans. Burning Green Men. Whatever.

Burn, baby, burn!

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', 'T')hanks, but I think I'll stick to the gatherings where we chip arrowheads.

[gw]

Cult of the petrol-burners:





A participant's description of the burn$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f you want to live in a trailer park with 40,000 people where insane drinking, drugging, public nudity and lawlessness are the norm, Burning Man is for you.

This finale of Burning Man is a kind of hippie Nuremberg Rally.

The burning of the man is 90 minutes of fire dancers and neo-pagan ritual, all centered on a god-like central figure, with his arms raised in triumph towards a frenzied, expectant crowd,

As the Burning Man burns, both his arms eventually fall to his side. Curiously, his left arm dropped first, leaving his right arm raised in a straight-armed Nazi salute. At that moment, a spontaneous cheer went up a thousand right arms were raised as one over the smoky playa. Heil hippie! No shit, I have it on film.

Thousands of cars and RVs, combined with the constant wind, kick up a massive storm of alkali dust. Dust masks are required gear at all times though many do not wear them. Even with a mask on, it is impossible not to inhale alkali dust at Burning Man.

Despite its pretensions as a wacky art project, Burning Man is not about art. Most of the art was terrible with garish acid-inspired images and other peeks into Hell.

The word “nausea” barely covers the full body ache you feel when “acclimating” to the Martian landscape and punishing heat of Burning Man. You can’t move, you can’t escape the dust or heat and you are surrounded by some of the most perverse and deviant people you will ever meet. Everywhere you look a “porno-copia” of sagging balls, flopping peckers, hairy asses, flabby breasts and other uninvited unattractive nakedness will strip away any remnant of goodwill you may feel towards your fellow burners as the caustic alkali dust strips away your exposed skin.

Burning Man Wednesday to Friday was a cauldron of dust, heat and shabby monster trucks (some absurdly labeled as “art cars”) crammed dangerously with partiers blasting bad music from blown speakers. Every day the noise and number of yahoos increased as the weekend approached. The post-apocalyptic spirit of Mad Max and Beyond Thunderdome were all around: monster cars, noise, chaos and intimidation.

[kochevnik]

Art imitates life - it does not precede it.

It's pretty clear who/what 'The Man' in Burning Man represents. To me it is simply a gathering of those who already know in their subconscious that the collapse is coming. This website (PO.com) is the refuge of the Enneagram 5's - the thinkers - the logicians - that's why we have endless analyses of how minutely the curves of collapse will differ - meanwhile things collapse around us as we argue over abstract trivialities.

Burning Man people strike me as the same as us - only coming from the emtional - artistic side. This is their way of coping what is to come. They revel in craziness to prepare for the even worse craziness to come.

I'm sure someone here can make a graph/research paper to better differeniate the sociological profiles of both groups.

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kochevnik', 'A')rt imitates life. I was going to say it does not precede it but I think that's wrong. I think lots of humans have 'premonitions/feelings' about things to come - only a few of the more wacky ones (like me) take them somewhat seriously and act on them - however small the act.

It's pretty clear who/what 'The Man' in Burning Man represents. To me it is simply a gathering of those who already know in their subconscious that the collapse is coming. This website is the refuge of the Enneagram 5's - the thinkers - the logicians - that's why we have endless analyses of how minutely the curves of collapse will differ - meanwhile things collapse around us as we argue over abstract trivialities.

Burning Man people strike me as the same as us - only coming from the emtional - artistic side. This is their way of coping what is to come. They revel in craziness to prepare for the even worse craziness to come.

I'm sure someone here can make a graph/research paper to better differeniate the sociological profiles of both groups.

[kochevnik]

Absolutely.

But just because you have money doesn't mean you don't have feelings / intuitions / intelligence.

Burning Man would have fit in perfectly as a scene in the Mad Max movies. That's my point - I don't give a shit about WHO goes - and in fact doesn't it make it MORE interesting to know that people who are supposedly 'success' stories in this culture and age, find the need to do spend so much time, energy, and money on such an event.

That tells me that it's more thane entertainment.

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kochevnik', 'A')bsolutely.

But just because you have money doesn't mean you don't have feelings / intuitions / intelligence.

Burning Man would have fit in perfectly as a scene in the Mad Max movies. That's my point - I don't give a shit about WHO goes - and in fact doesn't it make it MORE interesting to know that people who are supposedly 'success' stories in this culture and age, find the need to do spend so much time, energy, and money on such an event.

That tells me that it's more thane entertainment.

[TWilliam]

Tho' I've never been to Burning Man, I personally feel that we could use more events such as this. The "tribal orgy" has been a basic element of human culture since the dawn of man, one that serves to renew and strengthen our connections with, and empathy for, our fellow humans. I think a case can be made for the idea that it is the rise of the "Cult of the Individual" that is at the heart of many of the problems we are now facing as a species. It's easier to justify "me first" thinking and the actions that follow when one has no sense of connection with others...

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', 'T')ho' I've never been to Burning Man, I personally feel that we could use more events such as this. The "tribal orgy" has been a basic element of human culture since the dawn of man, one that serves to renew and strengthen our connections with, and empathy for, our fellow humans. I think a case can be made for the idea that it is the rise of the "Cult of the Individual" that is at the heart of many of the problems we are now facing as a species. It's easier to justify "me first" thinking and the actions that follow when one has no sense of connection with others...

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', 'I') don't disagree with what you are saying, but this event is totally contrived and artificial. The real thing will be much more interesting. This is just a bunch of poser 'wannabees'.

[I_Like_Plants]

Quite a while back, somewhere on the internets, I found a blog by a guy who went there, somehow he got seperated from his money (no ill deeds, he simply lost it some foolish way) and he spent a miserable week at Burning Man, hungry, cold, thirsty, and trying to get by.

Even in the best of circumstances, it does not sound all that much fun.

[Zardoz]

Temple Burn 2004

Got Fire 5

What does it all mean?

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', 'O')h I don't doubt that to be the case now. However from what I've heard and read about Burning Man over the years, there was a more "genuine" impulse behind it originally.