September 4, 2016

But isn't the whole thing a vacation from sense? If you create another world, then what sense flows from that?

"Mob justice at Burning Man: Luxury camp that lets guests pay to skip the complex logistics of attending desert festival is vandalized by a 'band of hooligans' who cut power lines and glued doors shut."
'What happened last night should be known on social media,' [White Ocean Camp] wrote in a post on its Facebook page.  'A very unfortunate and saddening event happened last night at White Ocean, something we thought would never be possible in OUR Burning Man utopia. A band of hooligans raided our camp, stole from us, pulled and sliced all of our electrical lines leaving us with no refrigeration and wasting our food and, glued our trailer doors shut, vandalized most of our camping infrastructure, dumped 200 gallons of potable water flooding our camp.... We have felt like we've been sabotaged from every angle, but last night's chain of events, while we were all out enjoying our beautiful home, was an absolute and definitive confirmation that some feel we are not deserving of Burning Man... We actually had someone from the organization tell us that in paraphrase "it makes sense that you have been sabotaged as you are a closed camp and not welcoming."'
Well, of course, it makes sense

But isn't the whole thing a vacation from sense? Nonsense gives rise to new sense. If you create another world, then what sense flows from that?

"If this unusual thing is true, what else is true?"/Si Haec Insolita Res Vera Est, Quid Exinde Verum Est?" That's the motto of the improv organization Upright Citizens Brigade, which I happened to be reading about (in The New Yorker) when I encountered this dipshit revolution at Burning Man.

25 comments:

Crimso said...

"something we thought would never be possible in OUR Burning Man utopia."

I would bet that every utopia in human history has experienced similar or equivalent experiences. That's just one of the reasons why utopias suck.

Sebastian said...

"it makes sense that you have been sabotaged as you are a closed camp and not welcoming." Neither were the Kulaks. Nor most of the 100 million victims of communist violence.

Jacobin jackals running wild, for over two centuries now. "Sabotage" is what the left does.

mikee said...

One cannot have an openly elite group at a festival devoted to anarchy, at least not while there is poo to fling or other mischief to be made.

Fritz said...

Government not only protects us from the criminals, it protects the criminals from us.

whitney said...

I went about 10 years ago. I did not enjoy myself. Everyone emphasized this wonderful sharing economy while completely ignoring the 1000's spent to supply the camps, not including tickets and transportation. Also, I hate hippies. I don't know why I went. I'm much too contrary to find something like that fun.

traditionalguy said...

Sounds like a pagan religion's group initiation and vision quest. Are they arguing over some people not sharing their sacramental drugs?

gspencer said...

Where are all the enviro wackos on the Burning Man?

If nothing else, 000s of board feet of lumber* utterly wasted** releasing their dreaded CO2.

* And it's not as if the stuff was scrap lumber not suitable for any meaningful other use. It is good quality.

**"It's not wasted, man, only we are wasted at the moment. No, all that wood was for our cause, our cause, man. Like you know, it is called the Burning Man, man."

Rob said...

Barbarians at the gates. It's the 99 percenters, taking matters into their own hands. Frustrated with the Burning Man equivalent of congressional gridlock, they issued their own sort of executive order. It's life in the Age of Obama.

MD Greene said...

Every generation wants its Woodstock fantasy.

Clyde said...

Envy is a four-letter word.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

If the men weren't murdered and the women raped they should consider themselves lucky.

MAJMike said...

They forget that "utopia" means "no where."

MikeR said...

Guess I'm out of touch. I've never read such a long article where I left it with absolutely no idea what the festival is, or why it was vandalized, or anything. I could google it, but that's kind of neat.

Laslo Spatula said...

If they really meant it they would have vandalized naked.

I am Laslo.

Big Mike said...

The common people are revolting.

David Begley said...

'If this is true, what else is true?'

buwaya said...

Like most of these things, it started as anarchy, beach bonfires made of driftwood in Northern CA - not the specific ones or specific people mentioned in the Wiki, re Baker Beach in SF, but a general practice down the coast, Ocean beach, Pacifica and Half Moon Bay for instance. I saw a lot of this at the time and its still done, you can walk down these beaches and find driftwood arrangements and the remains of bonfires, some kids spending an evening at the beach getting high or blasted.

The organized thing in the desert always seemed to have lacked the spontaneous romance of a (cold) night at the beach. Its in no way as beautiful.

NMObjectivist said...

Big Mike -- that is perfect. This is the year of the elites against the common man. And it is worldwide.

Earnest Prole said...

I’d say the incident reveals the conflicting human impulses toward civilization and social organization -- living by rules, peacefully and in harmony -- and toward the will to power.

tim maguire said...

The billionaires tried to slum it without giving up the perks of tneir fabulous wealth and the peasants reacted badly? I'm not surprised, I'm just surprised it took this long.

buwaya said...

Marie Antoinette and her toy farm on the palace grounds, designed for a comfortable sort of bucolic interlude.

GRW3 said...

If "Black Lives Matter" actually wanted to impact the people responsible for their plight, this whole affair would be a target. But, of course, it is not.

eddie willers said...

Every generation wants its Woodstock fantasy.

And the Woodstock Generation wants it over and over again.

Bruce Hayden said...

Find this hilarious. Burning Man was always terminally hip. Now, some of the more normal kooks and crazies take down the elite pretending to be such, using tactics appropriate for the venue. One of the attys in the office always went, and I was going to go with her at some point. But the air show in Reno (that she also attended religiously) sounded like more fun. I used to fly in or out of the Reno airport at least once a week, and you always knew when it was coming and was there, from the exhibits at the airport. The hotels hated it, because they would end up with weeks worth of sand in everything, as the participants cleaned up on their way out of town. Still, it was kinda fun having it, and all its kooks and crazies around every year.

Peter said...

Welcome to anarchy?

It's a shame some land can't be reserved for anarchists, so the rest of us could finally see whether an anarchist experiment would be utopian or become more Lord-of-the-Flies- ish.

Although my guess would be that whatever group was strong enough to establish itself as government would do so, thus ending the experiment.