this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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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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[–] set_secret@lemmy.world 168 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Burning Man 'promotes' anti-consumerism and communal effort, however attending requires significant financial resources and costs that can and do exclude (most) people, it's living hyprocracy, and an excellent example of capitalism corrupting grass roots ideals. honestly is an absolute joke of a festival.

[–] schmorpel@slrpnk.net 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is a similar thing not far from where I live. Through an unlucky friend, then the neighbour of their festival grounds, I got to discover the organizers' 'ideals' and 'ethical and ecological approach' first hand. In short: it was about money. And more money. And they managed to turn a large reservoir into a dying punch bowl of acid, piss and shit within only a decade. I suspect Burning Man to be the same, considering the ticket prices. The fact that some poor fools with their heart and soul intact save their little money to visit this monstrosity just makes it more sad.

I don't actively engage in Schadenfreude much, but I do carry a little of it in my heart. If people think flying or driving very far away for Entertainment, and bringing thousands of people into an otherwise quiet place is okay for the wildlife there, and can be in any way an ecological thing, they have understood very little about ecology. And now also ignored by most: the destruction that happens by the thousands of 'poor humans who just wanted to have fun' trampling through the last remnants of life in a drought stricken place.

We are not alone on this planet. Invading a place with our idea of fun is very damaging. We can party perfectly well at home. If home happens to be bleak and sad maybe we should work on that first before invading quiet places.

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago

Just as a counterpoint, the area burning man is held in is one of the most ecologically inert places you could go. There's no vegetation and the only life to speak of is brine shrimp eggs, which are about as threatened as mosquito larvae.

There's still a lot of trash that gets left behind which can travel with wind, but as far as impact on the land goes, it's likely significantly less invasive than your local county fair. There's just nothing out there for them to damage.

[–] wokehobbit@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

No it doesn't. Poor as dirt and go almost every year. So many idiots in this thread have no idea what they're talking about. Just parroting the media.

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[–] jimbo@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's like $400 for a ticket, and then the rest of the cost is getting there, food, water, shelter, etc. You can pay as little or as much as you want to accomplish those things. Plenty of people drive there and stayed in tents. I don't see how it's any different than camping for a few days.

[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Because I can go camp somewhere for less than $100?

[–] moonsnotreal@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lmao I've camped for free just by pitching a tent off the side of a secluded road.

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[–] WheeGeetheCat@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

check again it was up to $575 this year

Ive never been to burning man. I went to Coachella a LLOOONNGG time ago when it was hippies rolling around in the dust. Coachella ain't that anymore, it's instagram rich kids and tech bros. I assume the same thing has happened to burning man.

[–] jtmetcalfe@lemmy.sdf.org 114 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Burning Man may be the epitome of the many optimistic and maybe naive qualities of the 90s that were co-opted and exploited in the early 2000s, and turned into the very things they were built to protest against - another being the free and open internet

[–] badelf@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago

Yes. I watched it happen. The large number of people that go now pay thousands $$ for a plug-n-play camp and don't contribute their own art (if they even have art). They are not what the festival once stood for.

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[–] echodot@feddit.uk 86 points 1 year ago

Because it's a festival in the middle of the fucking desert. It's an utterly ridiculous place to have it and totally extravagant.

They'll go there claiming there to be going I to some kind of getting away from civilisation, hippie commune thing but the amount of effort and infrastructure to make that environment survivable is ridiculous they actually doing more damage to the environment by being there than if they just stayed in the city.

No one's glad someone died but their death has nothing to do with the ultimate problem of them all being there, and without being too macabre, people die music festivals all of the time, usually because of drugs. Most music festivals are held in a field, where it's at least reasonably possible to have basic infrastructure without huge expenses of money and effort.

[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 76 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

I’ve been to burning man. I sit a little bit on both sides of the fence having not felt like I totally fit in there when I went, but also understanding the original mindset behind it.

At this point, I feel the backlash against Burning Man generally is a bit overblown. These folks are at a festival (yeah burners, I called it a festival because that’s the word we use for such things in the English language) and they’re having a good time. Who cares. Most folks who go have good intentions and just want to connect and share something. Many artists work for years and months, for free, to have their pieces featured. Some of that art is incredible! My favorite parts though were literally just an astronomy camp where I looked through a pretty big telescope, held some billion year old meteor fragments in my hand, and listened to hours of lectures from science nerds about the cosmos. I also watched a magic show and got fed bacon by some drunk guy at his camp at 7 am who just wanted company. I personally havent drank at burning man, but it is a party. There are all manner of things at burning man, anything you might want and some things you might not… from talks on how to build a sustainable green energy house to orgy tents to camps offering free ice cream and French toast.

On the other hand, burners can take this shit a bit too seriously and get wrapped up in the experience to the point of being annoying. One guy in my camp scolded me for asking too much about his normal life. He was a tech worker and apparently wanted to pretend that he wasn’t when he was at burning man. How ridiculous to think standing in the desert should mean you can’t talk about your actual life. Another time I pulled out my camera (aka phone) to take a photo of some art and some random chick yelled at me to put my phone away. As if we all bought DSLRs and Polaroids for this event because it’s more authentic that way, and as if the folks that did totally aren’t going to go home and put it on Instagram anyway. There were plenty of women just posing on the playa for their photographer “friends.” I doubt they all just put them in a family photo album for the memories.

That said, Burning Man is a unique event and most folks are just trying to share and view some of the most unique art in the world and connect with others. At my age, I generally find most festivals annoying and burning man has plenty of people to be annoyed at, but it is what it is and frankly I don’t know that it deserves more hate than something like Bonaroo or Coachella. At least Burning Man is full of folks trying to be more than mere passive consumers of entertainment. The mandate is for you to be a participant. God forbid you attend an event where you’re asked to do more than consume, but rather give, anything you want or feel others could benefit from.

If there were 10 other events like burning man, I’d say we should look for the best one, but it is the only event like this. That said, as time goes on, it needs to change. Burning the art has to stop, for instance. Also, some of the more snobbish cultural aspects of the event could die off and I wouldn’t cry.

Not sure I’ll ever go back, but its mostly because I’m too old for this shit and seriously get off my lawn. But, I got the idea and, I won’t hate on others who feel drawn to it, unless they’re insufferable.

[–] Blastasaurus@lemm.ee 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well put. I've been twice, 25 years ago and 8 years ago. Some aspects are really cool. Burners can also be insufferable, especially when they make it their entire identity IMO. I will never go back either. Also too old for that shit.

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[–] notannpc@lemmy.world 73 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Most people don’t even think about burning man at all.

And well, the people of the internet tend to be less fond of more wealthy people, like those that can afford to spend thousands to party in the desert. I may not want them to die just because they went to burning man, but I will laugh at the world essentially raining on their parade.

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[–] Deestan@lemmy.world 67 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

A lot of the time, people hear about Burning Man in the context of which privileged asshole grifter attended it. Elizabeth Holmes, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, etc other billionaires or influencers... And it is described as "tech bros' favorite party" in the media.

So, given that impression of it, I can see how the default reaction to it failing is unsympathetic.

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[–] kttnpunk@lemmy.world 53 points 1 year ago (13 children)

Well far be it from me to judge anyone at a music festival but I think for many burning man has some bourgeoisie, fake hippie sorta connotations?

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[–] reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago (5 children)
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[–] sederx@programming.dev 40 points 1 year ago (62 children)

i dont care what happens to rich people

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[–] morg@programming.dev 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It’s just a playground for the riche to do a music and drug festival pretend poor style. Or maybe it has something to do with a bunch of those hippies that nearly killed climate protestors blocking the road on their way in.

Every Burner I’ve ever met has been one of the most entitled, out of touch, morons I’ve ever had the displeasure of talking to. Let’s see where their “radical self reliance” gets them now.

[–] SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org 36 points 1 year ago (6 children)

This thread is wild. I suspect most of you who seem completely positive you're right to judge thousands of people and what they deserve would be very indignant and angry if someone lumped you in with a category of people you somehow are tangentially related to.

It's kind of depressing. I thought Lemmy wasn't a wasteland of humanity like reddit was, but if I was only going by this thread I'd have to conclude it definitely is not a damned bit better than reddit.

[–] happyhippo@feddit.it 41 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I completely agree with you, although:

I thought Lemmy wasn't a wasteland of humanity like reddit was

Never had any hope for that. Humanity is what it is, shitty folks are everywhere, it's statistics.

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[–] ChrisLicht@lemm.ee 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You’re not traveling in the wrong circles. Come to a VC fund dinner in September where junior VCs and 28-year-old “mortgage disrupter” CEOs brag about the air-conditioned plus-and-play camps they spent tens of thousands on, and play wink-wink with each other about all of the fun they had.

I’m a multiple-time BM vet, but it’s mostly an expensive, bureaucratized drug party for tourists now.

It’s perfectly fine to goof on it as it sinks into a physical and moral quagmire. Forgive a poorly scaled analogy, but your logic is the NRA’s logic when there’s a mass shooting: “Now, when everyone’s attention is focused, is not the time to highlight the underlying issues.”

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 year ago (35 children)

Holy crap, I just checked the actual numbers and their mortality rate is lower than the average in the population, they're doing fine

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db456.htm#:~:text=Age%2Dspecific%20rates%20increased%2010.1,44%20(248.0%20to%20287.9).

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[–] Treczoks@kbin.social 25 points 1 year ago

I'm just surprised at the sheer stupidity of those people. There have been pictures on the net, showing the festival area completely submerged just a few days before the start. Yet, they still moved there.

At that point, when they noticed that the mud was knee deep, they could have left. They decided to stay.

Now there is an emergency involving 70k idiots who put themselves wilfully in a dangerous place without thinking.

[–] stepan@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago

Strong MORALS?!?!?

[–] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 24 points 1 year ago

it's just an us based festival, why do you make it sound as if its a larger than life event.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I got shit for this in another thread, but I will stand by it- you do not go into the desert without checking the weather report, and if it says rain, light rain, heavy rain, sprinkles, doesn't matter, you do not go into the desert. These people did not do the most basic bit of safety you could do.

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[–] deweydecibel@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

strong morals, personally and financially responsible, a career. Upstanding members of society for sure.

These are extremely generic platitudes that could apply to just about anyone.

Which morals specifically?

What's your definition of "financially responsible"? Because that's frequently a watered down way of saying "well-off" while trying to attribute it their character and not their situation.

"Upstanding member of society" is outright meaningless without context.

So why are we supposed to take these hypothetical friends as evidence of anything?

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[–] snausagesinablanket@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

It used to be about spirituality and the rest including hard drugs, alcohol, and social media bringing in that crowd has ruined it permanently.

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