You have to laugh … I remember Glastonbury, up to my knees in mud - it’s all part of the fun. Having said that, it’s unlikely turn into a survival situation in a field in Somerset, so not really that comparable …
The weather-related disruptions have caused suspension of the cleaning and emptying of thousands of portable toilets.
This sounds nightmarish. People will start avoiding the portable toilets and it will be even worse.
Radical inclusion now includes cholera
Rain outs like this are pretty common at these festivals. The difference here is that I guess it is a bit harder to leave and more remote? I’d say 20% of the festivals I’ve been to have had some degree of mud issue resulting in some degree of infrastructure breakdown.
Burning Man is in a dry alkali lakebed way out in the middle of nowhere. Normally it’s extremely hot and dry the entire time, the ground isn’t dirt but a very fine powder that blows everywhere. When it rains that fine powder turns into this incredibly sticky mud and it becomes extremely difficult to move. It’s quite a bit different than your standard muddy field kind of experience.
It’s almost as if 70K people shouldn’t be out there…
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Because there’s no infrastructure, leading to less than an inch of rain causing chaos? Did you read the article?
This mindset leads to no one doing anything interesting ever.
Skiing, sailing, scuba diving…none of it makes any real sense as the environments do not tend to have much infrastructure for human survival. But I can’t imagine life without any illogical recreational activities such as these. It’s fun.
Do you… think people don’t live in the mountains? Or that a tiny amount of rain will sink a boat?
That’s… only something someone from Southern California would think. Rain won’t hurt you unless you stupidly pack tens of thousands of people into an area with no infrastructure.
Woodstock 99 energy
Yeah, this bit stood out for me also!
Last time I was out there just because I couldn’t find a toilet I just squatted. Of course dig and bury if it’s shit. But Def need to walk a ways from the camps if it’s still wet.
I’m stuck here in the sex orgy tent…send help…
but not too quickly, take your time.
I tried doing sex acts in water, mud and on the beach. All of them sounds kinky and sexy but in reality are uncomfortable and literally unhygenic.
The beach is also very prone to get really, i mean really, uncomfortable.
Fake. Lemmy users don’t leave their houses ever.
Joke’s on you. He took his house with him.
We’re here to save you from the virgins, Lancelot…
A quite apt metaphor of Man drowning in problems that can’t just be burned away.
I have friends that help out on the safety crew. I hope everyone stays safe.
Kind of ironic considering the climate protests on the way in.
How is that ironic?
A festival shooing away protestors protesting climate change and then that festival experiencing an extreme weather event because of climate change
Ah, gotcha. I missed the story. Still not strictly ironic, but I get what you meant now.
Is there a word for it? When I posted it I was hoping someone might correct me :)
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It just happened and was in the news so shouldn’t be hard to find if you have the nagging curiousities
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Not at all. That’s how it works. More climate change, more random weather events. Or if you like things simple “it rained because of climate change”.
Do they burn a new man every year or do they burn the same person annually?
It’s short for “Burning Manny”. There’s one guy, Manuel Asada, and they burn him every year. It’s cool though, he’s into it.
Do you mean this guy? https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Manny_Garcia
I have so Manny questions…
Nope. It’s Manny Asada, he co-headlines the festival every year with his cousin Manuel Labór
It’s short for “Burning Manny”. There’s one guy, Manuel Asada, and they burn him every year. It’s cool though, he’s into it.
What’s the story behind this? Who is Manuel Asada?
“Manuel Asada” is the closest I could get to a person’s name that means “burning man”. Asada is Spanish for roasted or grilled.
Lol ah ok. I was wondering if that was a joke comment or if there’s some actual real lore behind the founding of Burning Man, etc.
In a nutshell: A lot of cultures (especially a lot of Native Americans) have a(n often harvest) festival that involves burning an effigy that represents negative emotions, hardship, etc. And it is generally human shaped because that made it a lot easier to spin it as “This effigy represents The Other tribe across the river. They are the bad people and the cause of all your problems” as needed.
And like 40 something years ago, a bunch of white artists were cranky that the locals didn’t want their input on what kind of paint scheme or sculptures would really make that ancestral tradition POP. So they made their own version in a desert with blackjack and hookers.
Then twenty-ish years ago, a bunch of rich folk and the nouveau rich techbros realized that these artists with their excessive amounts of hallucinogenics and “free love” lifestyle really know how to party. So they took it over as a way to party for a week or two every year.
And the key is: Regardless of your socioeconomic backgrond, you can come together with the joys of getting high, oogling some hot chicks, and appropriating some culture. All while talking about how this makes you a better and more enlightened person.
And in all seriousness: if you ever get the chance, go to an ACTUAL effigy burning festival. A lot of, generally Southwest, cities still have them and still respect the origins and it makes for a truly fascinating and, honestly, kind of spiritual experience as you learn, eat amazing food, and take part in something that goes back thousands of years… even if a lot of the Others were the American people…
Santa Fe has a pretty decent festival.
But it has been a few years since I lived in New Mexico. It could have devolved into Corpo garbage.
Yeah. Been to Zozobra a few times over the years and it is always a blast. There… is a lot of “artists” doing the cultural appropriation with that too but it feels more like a natural evolution since it is the character of the town and a lot of Native Americans are still involved.
I have also heard there are some amazing festivals out in Arizona but travel never lined up for that.
And in all seriousness: if you ever get the chance, go to an ACTUAL effigy burning festival.
I would, the way you describe it makes it sounds like a really nice event to see.
That is, as long as there’s not heavy torrent of rain washing everything out.
Thanks for the reply / explanation, it was a good read.
And it is generally human shaped because that made it a lot easier to spin it as “This effigy represents The Other tribe across the river. They are the bad people and the cause of all your problems” as needed.
It’s too bad that the “other tribe” technique still works so well in today’s politics.
If people ever started paying attention to the meta of the species, they’d realize we’re all more like each other than we think.
It’s pure head canon my friend. If you like it, feel free to take it and expand upon it
If you like it, feel free to take it and expand upon it
Nah, that’s fine. I’ll take the chuckle the explanation gave me, and move on.
I’ve been to burning man, but even I can’t help but laugh a little bit at this… you wanted “radical self-reliance”? You got it.
The “news” is bullshit. I’ve got friends there right now and they’re fine. A little muddy and wet but nobody is in danger.
I’m so annoyed with our “news” lately (and by lately I mean years). It’s so fucking sensational and fear inducing it just makes me sick.
News told me LA was underwater and it was the end of days. Friends there told me some places had some flash flooding and it sucks, but overall it blew over.
NYC had that flooding a couple years back and I was going on a trip there and the news was literally warning people of how bad it was. I got there and it was literally like nothing happened.
Here in Seattle my relatives tell me they STILL hear about CHAZ/CHOP. Like asking if I’m safe. It was 3 YEARS AGO and lasted a few days! I literally walked through that park a couple days ago, but they’re terrified of it out here.
I hate the people who claim conspiracy everywhere, but there is a clear profit motive to keep us afraid and clicking refresh on news sites. I’m freaking tired of it.
One person died already.
As a consequence of the rain?
I don’t know the information about it has been slim. Could have been anything.
I heard that was an unrelated accidental electrocution
Yes, but was he in danger?
Well, he isn’t now.
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Don’t cut yourself on that edge kid
What is burning Man? I know it’s a festival of some sorts that’s done in a desert, but that’s about all I know.
What happens there?
Rich people travel 1000+ kilometres to gather around and pretend to be not rich and just like common folks! This is my understanding as someone who isn’t american.
Also drugs. Lots of drugs.
Also sex. dusty, dusty sex
Call me Boba Fett because I’m about to enter your sarlacc pit.
My mother in law took us a few times and the most we did was pot. Also I was unemployed both times as I was laid off and got a cheap ticket. The original burners still go and they’re definitely not rich.
Burning Man was an amazing event when I stumbled across it on the internet in the late 90’s. I must have been 14 or 15, it used to be a real “go experience, experiment and find yourself” setting. It’s since gone the way of SXSW. It totally goes against what it was intended for.
That’s what it is today. Use to be more underground and subversive, even if it took money to be involved.
Id say for the past ten years, it’s been a rich person’s fantasy of poor hippy lifestyle
It’s trying to recreate the glorified vision of Woodstock but with more drugs and more money
Burning Man is a festival celebrating creative expression. No one there is pretending to not be rich
Yeah a lot of them stopped pretending.
Lol this thread is so weird. I have several friends who attend. Exactly zero of them I would consider “rich.” Artsy hippie types, sure, but lmao not rich.
Lots of know-it-alls commenting on something they’ve never been to and know nothing about. Just hop on the bandwagon for internet clout.
They read an article about some tech guy enjoying burning Man, once. Just kinda the way the site works
idk people here think being rich means you need to own a yatch…
Nah people here think being part of the lower-middle class makes you rich.
Watch Malcolm In The Middle, season 7 episode 1 “Burning Man”. It’ll give you a fair approximation.
Love that episode, my personal highlight, cracks me up every time.
Good stuff. Thanks
That winnebago has seen some shit.
It started as a bunch of hippies in California decided to travel to the desert and do a week long festival (party) that was for expressing art, living care free, and being self-reliant. You brought everything with you when you came, and you took everything out when you left, leave nothing behind. Over time it has grown bigger and bigger, there are other smaller instances all over the country. The smaller ones still have a lot of the original vibe. The main one still has it, but now a lot of tourists go just to party, do drugs, and have sex. Yes, a lot of the artists have a lot of money, people talking about rich people, it was never about money or not having it. It was about living carefree.
I like the bring everything with you and leave nothing behind sentiment.
I’ve heard the recent ones leave a lot of trash.
My favorite part is that you can be naked everywhere
Not true. Only in certain parts. There are family friendly areas.
Weird. When I was there people were naked everywhere. And Im European, so “family friendly areas” allow nudity too. Nudity is different than having sex.
I think they set somebody on fire every year.
They have a lottery every year for it, it’s part of the thrill. Party likes it’s your last day on earth, because it might be.
Based as all hell
Burning Mud.
Everybody there is now suddenly a Primitive Technology fan
Except they are lacking the firewood to make the nice pots and bricks to build huts.
Extinguished man
I’ve come around. Us internet dwellers should take it easy on the judgment and cynicism about this festival.
People take the internet too seriously these days. Let the festival people have fun.
Now its Muddy Man Festival
Who would think an old lake bed in the middle of a flash flood prone desert might be an issue
More like “Drowned Man” this year.
The biggest celebration of capitalism I’ve ever seen.😒
This looks like a pithy truism but it really just sounds idiotic. You ever been to, like, a trade show?
Burning man is far from perfect but it’s a step in the right direction.
Burning Man WAS a step in the right direction.
But for the past decade or two it has been coopted by the techbro crowd to a point of mostly just being rich folk larping “being a poor” while pretending they are artists or care about art. Also, lots of drugs .
That isn’t to say that normal people don’t go too. But it is very much “See, Zuckerberg is a human. he is grilling” in that “This is something humans would do… if you squint a lot”
But yeah, that was very much a “This marvel movie is the worst movie ever made” level comment.
Smokin them meats, meats like a brisket
Yes absolutely, because it’s radically inclusive so anyone can come. I’m also nor a fan of the rich paying people to set up their camp, flying in for two days, and dumping tons of trash on the road back to Reno… But everything good about the festival is still there also.
A week long vacation in a desert with no natural resources that more or less requires people to ship in all of their supplies for their stay is inherently not inclusive. It is “inclusive” in the same way “just take a gap year and go backpacking around Europe” is “inclusive”. The only people who think “anyone can do it” are those who have lived incredibly privileged >= middle class lives.
Like just about all of the “ten principles”: Maybe it was true at one point. It has not been true for decades. And, in a lot of ways (especially “leave no trace” and “civic responsibility”), it is antithetical to them.
And, just to make it clear: I am not saying it needs to be inclusive. I am a rock climber. You don’t get much more “privileged yuppie white guy” than that. But this “it is radically inclusive” nonsense is exactly why Burning Man is more or less “larping as a poor at a rave” for techbros.
In this provocative piece, a wealthy white guy reads a Slate article and goes on a rant about how fellow wealthy white men ruin everything.
Performance art is truly the heart of Burning Man.
Assuming that sounded more “witty” and less “obnoxious teenager” in your head, huh?
No it still reads solid if you’re not as dumb as the guy I’m responding to
You really start to wonder if the Lemmy Communists who make this comment in every thread realize that they sound like children.
Clearly you’ve never been to a shareholders meeting.
