What The Hell Is Even Burning Man?

[@hootsyoutube]

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[@zljmbo]

get. that. bag.

[@AlSpice]

lol for once a sponsor that pertains to me! I have Crohn’s 😭 I may genuinely order

[@chefofzen]

What the hell is even that blender !

[@Spookybluelights]

I'm a Silicon Valley native and I can tell you, Burning Man has a weird parasitic grip on tech workers. I used to manage a plastics machine shop that also sold fiberglassing materials in Mountain View and the amount of people I'd get yearly trying to make something for Burning Man was pretty staggering. Every time I'd ask these people to tell me about their experiences there they made it sound like a fantasy land for rich people to pretend at being Manic Pixie Dream Girls.

[@Talentedtadpole]

Getting loads of stuff made and in plastic seems at odds with the supposed ethos.

[@mundanepants]

It's because they were never cool in school and now that they have money Burning Man is their attempt to prove they were really cool all along. Never underestimate how much harm people do in their desperation to prove their coolness to other people (also probably doesn't hurt that you can make mad money connections there all at the cost of 1-2 STDs)

[@varelmarais2222]

Working tech sounds like fucking hell so I understand them taking out all their built up suffering from that godforsaken industry and just going stupid there

[@inasilentway9835]

Each word in that paragraph evoked a novel terror in me that I had no awareness of.

[@mee7er]

Working at older tech companies like Intel or Apple is like having a normal 9-5 office job in most departments. The newer tech companies like Facebook and TikTok are fucking clown shows. People standing around doing no work while mootching free snacks and enjoying the perks. Spent more times getting meets canceled on than doing anything else. The whole industry is full of entitled assholes who think they’re the smartest person in the room.

[@Rosencreutzzz]

Love the idea that environmentalist about using a bunch of resources to go somewhere people aren't supposed to be, make a bunch of things not meant to last, and then moving all the consequences somewhere else. But I suppose it's an apt metaphor for like every other greenwashed industry, tbh.

[@victoryoso4955]

"""environmentalist""" more like environmentadumb lol

[@SlapstickGenius23]

@@victoryoso4955 sure, we are greenwashed as heck!

[@oxjpmg5554]

Indeed ironic, sadly its current state is a corruption of the original idea or some may say that it is just the culmination of it. Food for thought

[@_munkykok_]

There's something artsy about it though. (#PracticalUselessness, #UnclearPotential)

[@jacksonduruy4303]

I dated a girl from Reno. She said every year just before Burning Man, the whole Reno area gets pilfered. As in, every WalMart and major grocery store gets cleared out of stock, especially bottled water. Less well off Burners have been known to steal shit, richer ones will buy up a whole Costco's worth of cheap wine. Apparently the people of Reno prep for this shit, like they'll all avoid shopping in the week before Burning Man and stock up on whatever they need. This was year and years ago, before the event got well known as being a bougie ass shit show.

[@paulpinecone2464]

"I dated a girl from Reno" is the start of a rocking Blues-Country anthem.

[@dominiccasts]

@@paulpinecone2464 "Just to watch her cry" is the only followup line my brain can imagine.

[@paulpinecone2464]

@@dominiccasts I took her to the casino, And asked if she could buy.

[@AnABSOLUTEBarbarian]

Yup, in Northern Nevada you stock up for burning man not to attend but to avoid the madness that goes on. Heaven forbid you run out of something during that time.

[@drrydog]

can confirm, I live in Reno. We buy cases of water 5 months before BM just because we know there won't be any

[@FrostyButter]

The idea that there's anything "environmentalist" in driving hundreds of miles to light some stuff on fire and then just turning around and driving back again has always seemed like a sick joke to me.

[@Shakes_Bear]

What is neat is the amount of environmentally forward thinking technology being tested out there, primarily solar projects. Its a societal experiment as much as it is a social experience.

[@ritac9769]

​@@Shakes_Bearyou mean technology that could just have easily been tested out in the backyard of the place where it was made, rather than burning shittons of fossil fuels to bring it out the desert and back? I have a very hard time believing Burning Man has ever been anything other than a place where people like to make excuses for themselves and their consumption under the collective guise of "community". Social connection and community doesn't require something so unabashedly hedonistic and green washed. The harm done by the amount of fossil fuels, resources, and plastic wasted each year far outweighs the fun had doing MDMA with corporate lawyers.

[@Shakes_Bear]

For me the connection with fire arts and the trans/general queer community brings me out there year after year. As an eagle scout, its like a big ass jamboree of sorts. Nothing is being green washed, but being able to try out solar tech under severe environmental and social constraints and stress use is a cool thing that is not easily replicated. Why just jump down and attack all peoples in a city for simply being there and doing a thing. You can't find a place in the world where so many trans folk can gather and be exactly ourselves without fear or need to be a political advocate for our existence. I know several of us might not have made it without finding such strong bonds of support and knowing that we are not alone. So is the trans community, the support and joy we feel out there just a "guise"? There are amazing community benefits from the big Burn. Inspiration has to catch somehow. It is a reasonably safe space for self exploration in a very human way. Nothing wrong with a little hedonism, you can have some hedonism, as a treat. Live your joy :) @@ritac9769

[@LuigiMordelAlaume]

Lol yeah burning man is an orgy of fossil fuels

[@saturationstation1446]

well off eurocentrics have been calling drug fueled orgies "environmental activism" since the 60's lol

[@dzhodzho8270]

The dude with the fucking NFT ape overlay is a good reason why maybe Burning Man should be cancelled for good along with the general elitist overtones.

[@mstaehely]

I feel like if you've been following the drama around NFTs and cryptobros in general, that told you everything you needed to know right from the jump.

[@Crueltycretin]

​@@mstaehelyliterally, clicked the video just to see the NFT-peddling clown in the thumbnail lol

[@Jjydvfgcmsr]

"If we're going to be a mess we'll be a hot mess! Anyway someone died last night. I went to a party and there was quesadillas" I shrieked so loud

[@biggtk]

"Mass delusion" is the word I'd use to describe this attitude,and it was present in many other BM tiktok vids as well. Smh.

[@thunderkrux7745]

Yeah that part has me so baffled

[@spaghetto9836]

Wait, timestamp??

[@thunderkrux7745]

@@spaghetto9836 Starts at 30 seconds

[@Lynsey17]

Yeah, that influencer has been in much more serious trouble than the backlash to that utterly out of touch Burning Man post (like SA allegations kind of trouble). I'd provide a source but for the life of me I can't remember her name.

[@thexalon]

Some other aspects of this that you could have gotten into but didn't: - Burning Man's official organization expects between 5 and 20 sexual assaults will be reported each year, based on the number that have been reported in recent years. And if you're familiar with how sexual assault works, you know that there are probably a lot more that go unreported. Some of those cases have even involved people on the committee that is supposed to be preventing them. - Where do you think all the stuff comes from for Black Rock City? They talk about leaving no trace, but pretty much zero of what comes in is produced sustainably and leaving no trace. Instead, it's generally the result of buying things from the ruthlessly exploitative system that the Burners claim they're trying to get away from. - Can we talk about why recreational drugs that land thousands of not-rich not-white people in jail every year are totally acceptable on the playa and don't lead to lots of people getting arrested for possession or dealing? Because I'd bet that if cops wanted to find giant quantities of drugs, they could find it by searching vehicles bound for Burning Man. But they don't. Funny that.

[@raven_g6667]

Facts

[@AnABSOLUTEBarbarian]

And to add the try to leave no trace in Black Rock but eagerly over fill dumpsters in Reno and the other small towns along the way.

[@eloylie]

Thank you for this and keep speaking up. ❤ Thank you for adding this and I hate when content creators gloss over this.

[@jordanwhite352]

So the mention about the cops thing. When is that most of the people who attend are rich? So you know cops are basically security for rich people but the second thing is is that I remember my state before the lead was legalized. There used to be like a ton of large cannabis concerts. Nobody got arrested there and it was for the exact same reason which is that there's no way in hell. A group of 40 police officers aren't going to be able to rest like 4,000 people. Like for example, let's say there's a truly a giant revolt in New York. Even all like 2000 or so police officers wouldn't be able to stand the chance against millions of New Yorkers, all mobbing them at the same time even with armed and better equipment. Is why when things like protests happen they try to break chunks off of the crowd and pick a few and then call it a day. Because there's no way in hell they'll be able to get a mob like that without literally resorting to like beyond martial law. Everything else you mentioned though is completely valid.

[@YuriMuff]

to add to the list: the culturally insensitive and racism that occurs at that joint is consistent and ongoing

[@glenn_desert_witch]

What I think is really great about Burning Man (the big one, local small ones are generally a bit different) is just how much it actually IS a clear showing of what libertarianism leads to. You have a party that is not only inaccessible to those who have low-paying jobs (I wanted to go for years, and even with a gifted ticket, two whole weeks off of work was completely unaffordable for me, let alone all the other gear you talk about), but also to the disabled (sure, radical self-reliance is great if you are healthy, but if you have mobility issues, trying to get around is either impossible or even more costly (having to rent a dune buggy or some other vehicle, that also cannot just be vehicle cause those are not allowed -- it has to be an "art car"), and if you have health issues the extreme heat and cold can also be a huge problem, thus requiring even more gear to be acquired. And, of course, all the RVs and generators from the upper class at the burn cause noise and air pollution, but it's totally okay for them to bring that equipment, since they can afford it, and have important jobs to get back to, so they can't just, you know, suffer -- so asking them to *not* bring the RVs and other creature comforts would be "unfair". Those richer attendees don't seem to understand at all just how elitist this is, and how unfair to those who have less than them. And of course they argue that if I went and needed to be heated or cooled, I surely could find someone who would let me share their space once there -- like I am super looking forward to going to an event and then having to shack up with some unaccompanied dude who has an extra bed in their RV, especially saved for wayward girls like me... And anyone out of my social class who participates is used to having to do more of their fair share of cleanup and general service/volunteering. Cause let's not forget that there is an army of volunteers working BM. And while tickets have gone up significantly (and are generally further inflated by scalpers), a decade ago, when many of my friends were religiously attending, a ticket cost around $300. Now imagine that you get a free ticket, or a free spot at a camp in exchange for volunteering... You are working for free for a week for $300. AND you have to bring everything you might need from home. Like, I have both volunteered and used volunteers for events, and when events lasted long enough to warrant a need for food, we would feed our volunteers. Usually volunteering also meant you got drinks or other perks, and when that was not the case, we comped tickets worth some $50 for a few hours of work -- not for being on an entire day (and, no, BM did not require people to work for 8 hours a day the whole 7 days -- but there was usually prep before going, and you often did work about 4 hours a day for 5-6 days, depending, AND you still have to be there, with all the expense that entails). IMO, this is incredibly exploitative, and this doesn't even touch on those people who volunteer most of the year, or those who make amazing art installations for basically free -- work that often takes 100s of person-hours. Anyway, I have done a few regional burns and enjoyed it, but BM always seemed like an expensive pipe dream, like a that dream vacation you know you'll never take but that seems fun to dream about, and eventually I started to get just how fucked up the whole system is, and just exactly what it says about that type of society. Thanks for another excellent video!

[@jordanwhite352]

Burning Man to hippies sound like how Hackers view Black Hat USA.

[@PeachNEPTR]

This was basically my experience with it too. I went to small local events, hung around with the local burner community, did a lot of fire dancing and so on…But there was no way I could afford the ticket, the time off work, a vehicle that could tolerate the drive, the dessert and hauling all the stuff I’d need. And the massive waste never set well with me. Countless plastic bottles, all the trash bags, all the single-use waste, the immense fuel use or art displays which shoot giant balls of fire into the air all day, burning gas just to watch it burn. I actually ended up getting out of the fire dancing community because of that. A lot of them thought themselves hippies and environmentalists as they had parties with littered solo cups, burning Coleman white gas or lamp oil into the wee hours of the morning, just because it looks cool when you swing it around. What didn’t even get mentioned here is that the event itself CAUSES environmental disasters. The event is famous for its giant dust storms which are honestly kind of horrifying and seriously dangerous, and they impact communities outside the desert. Well those dust storms are ultimately the result of all these thousands of people disturbing the dusty ground, to whatever extent they occurred before they became significantly worse as a direct result of the event which punishes the outside communities. There’s something unique about a multi day party where you’re encouraged to just live as if the outside world doesn’t exist. It’s freeing and I think it’s an experience I recommend people try at some point. But these big burns, and their rampant hypocrisy is enough to justify never bothering.

[@suzbone]

My husband and I are in a Texas regional burn theme camp. We attend Flipside, Myschievia, and Freezerburn. We looooooiove it. Where do y'all burn?

[@PeachNEPTR]

@@suzbone mid-atlantic but I’ve been out of it for over a decade.

[@edayavuz1667]

Yeah, grow a d*ck before u go to BM😂 honestly don't go into other ppl RV (be it with a man or a woman) this BM experience could change a woman's life in the worst possible way😔

[@austensg9596]

Oh I’m so glad somebody is gonna dive deep into this…whatever it is. I dated a burner who goes to local burns, and it felt very off to me. She befriended a high-up HR person from Amazon at a burn, and told me about it like it was a good thing.

[@hootsyoutube]

😩

[@ghostfrequencies]

god i'm so tired of libertarians cosplaying as radical anarchists

[@mikey-wl2jt]

ancaps are literally the worst

[@commieswine]

It's because everyone knows libertarianism is a cover to justify the worst types of abuse and exploitation. So now they have to say they're anarchists to mask their doodoo ideas/behavior.

[@callusklaus2413]

Libertarian was a leftist word before right-Libertarians stole it, I guess they're trying to return to tradition lmao

[@randomtinypotatocried]

Same here

[@buckmoonmedia5113]

big mood

[@twistysunshine]

Burning man now has the vibe of Marie Antoinette cosplaying a shepherdess... if she had gone around and bragged afterwards that knew what hardship was bc she'd spiritually connected with the shepherdess she was pretending to be

[@rudetuesday]

A friend lived in a small town that's regularly stopped in as people head to and from Burns. Every year, loads of garbage gets left for the town to deal with, and very few Burners who deign to interact with locals are kind. Annual nightmare.

[@enviisyk]

not very "leave no trace" of them huh

[@lauriegentry7764]

Thank you! I live in a town that they pass through, too and from. They disgust us townsfolk. The trash and the disrespect is mind blowing.

[@lauriegentry7764]

Thank you! I live in a town that they pass through, to and from. They disgust us townsfolk. The trash and the disrespect is mind blowing.

[@elsiekarlak741]

as someone who went to burning man as a kid~twice in the early/mid 2000s with my parents (yes my parents are weird and i love them), everything you said is pretty spot on. it’s definitely changed a lot over the years, but some of the libertarian streak was always there, much like tech and the bay area generally. i think my parents and i both look back at it fondly, but if at one point it was feasible for two weirdo working parents to bring their 4 year old to the burn and have a community structure which supported kids (there was kids area!) it definitely is no longer. but at the time, from what i remember (i was 4) everyone was really nice and accepting to me as a little kid being there! from my hazy childhood memories, i had a good time. as an adult would i go now in 2023? nope! i do think it has overstayed its welcome in many ways. wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t get their permits next year

[@vvitch-mist20]

I really doubt that they will. This is now a health hazard, and I'm sure the locals have been complaining about this since the 1990s.

[@LeoFieTv]

I will never not be mad that these techbros call their week long camping trip "radical self reliance".

[@SapphireFaden]

I appreciate this video a lot for helping crystalize my thoughts on Burning Man (and also confirming some biases, tbh). It's overused, but I think "pretentious" is the best word for it, in the sense that Burning Man relies heavily on maintaining the pretense that it's "not like the other expensive party events", when the actual differences are not all that meaningful if we're being honest. Most notably, you can list whatever principles you want, a high monetary barrier to entry really kneecaps any claim on radicalism, inclusivity or egalitarianism. Paying for everything up front and not paying for anything else while you're there isn't really radical, fucking cruise ships do that! The only real difference is the logistics.

[@Tom_Bee_]

"... Fucking cruise ships..." nailed it 😂

[@dstarks360]

Well, at least on a cruise ship you can take a shower

[@mattvanmantgem8600]

I'm a Gen X burn out. I attended Burning Man twice- in 1988, and again in 1991. I'd never call myself a "burner" in any capacity. I'm not trying to establish any "hip" or "street cred"- I view both of those as mistakes made when I was a College and Grad student, who had a yen for "alternative" culture- I was up for just about anything, and Burning Man was sold to me as part of the same stuff that I'd enjoyed- like SRL events, Desolation Center, the Cacophony Society and so on. Nope. Bunch of people who were Mondo 2000 and Wired readers playacting like the punk/hippie weirdos, but unable to generate the same vibe. So, for what it's worth, I agree- Burning Man is a Peter Thiel and Nick Land version of authentic counterculture. disgusting, even without the mud & portapotties

[@Spencerdoken]

A giant monkey face filling the entire screen and saying "Does this look like a national disaster to you?" is just the mist dystopian shit

[@KarlSnarks]

"Well I don't know what it looks like man, cuz your giant virtual head is in the way!!"

[@SeeMeRolling]

lmao my abusive drug addict step dad is obsessed w burning man and would go party every year (and probably still does idk and idc) doing drugs getting drunk and assaulting young intoxicated women while his wife at the time (my mom) stayed at home taking care of her 3 kids and not being allowed to make any financial decisions like sometimes he would block the credit card just because she bought us some new clothes or took us to a fast food restaurant... also ofc he is a programmer at google lol

[@KarlSnarks]

Did he also pose with hippy values like 'peace and love' while being a dick, or was he self-aware enough to know that that would contradict his actual behaviors?

[@SeeMeRolling]

@@KarlSnarks he definitely hides behind a facade of being a very nice and fun person and stuff like that, and very manipulative so a lot of people think hes a good person and don't ever realize he is narcissistic and violent

[@KarlSnarks]

@@SeeMeRolling Yeah it's a shame, for outsiders narcs often seem like nice people because they can be really charming and extroverted.

[@nutsack-ky8wp]

@@KarlSnarks i think sexually assaulting women already proves hes an evil dickhead

[@ayarcy5303]

Reno local here (as in, I have lived here 21 out of my 29 years of life) who might have some insight. My mom has been complaining about the gentrification of Burning Man since at least the early 2000s. Her perception is that, at one point in the early nineties, it was much more accessible and marketed more toward locals. Now when the burners come in they clog up an already congested highway system, drain the local groceries of supplies, and are just a general nuisance for two weeks. The clip showed was at the Grand Sierra Resort, which is somewhat near the airport and right across from the busiest Walmart in town-I mention this because the area itself is low-income and then snatching up everything at that Walmart specifically is, well, kinda shitty. On a side note, my friend's dad got himself a staph infection one year because he painted his entire body with spray paint that wasn't safe on skin. FAFO As far as the torrential rain goes, it wasn't just an unseasonably wet September, it has been a wet year. Which honestly has been nice, since we haven't been plagued with the wildfires of the past few late summers. For two winters now, people have been stuck in town while visiting for the holidays because the highways and airport shut down to to heavy snow.Speaking of plague, I have no way of proving this, but I suspect the "Ebola" outbreak might have been Norovirus. It was going around the shelters and schools earlier this year (I ended up getting it in March). I hope I didn't ramble too much here 😂

[@Aellef]

Too much? Naw, fam, PREACH! Honestly Burners feel like the people who pay for drinks at the casino whenever I consider that we have a whole ass ArtTown they could be doing for nearly free a month earlier... But it doesn't come with as many drugs, orgies, or clout ~Your Basically Neighbor of 21 Years

[@oiytd5wugho]

wait, he took a can that tells you in big letters you need respiratory protection to use it and though he could use it on _his body???_

[@danielgreen6302]

No meandering at all, reading personal experiences is soul food, it can only enrich people's viewpoint. It just sounds awful to deal with.

[@Aellef]

Reno native here. Thank you very much for this video, particularly for mentioning the trash. We're kinda used to it, Reno not being the cleanest place at the best of times, but it always kinda suks to know that while Burners are all about keeping the desert clean, they don't seem to care much for the hub they travel through. That said, some of the best people I've met here are what I like to call accidental transplants -- people who got stuck here because they couldn't afford to go home after the event and just kinda end up living here. (Also, side note, my brother got stuck there this year. Told his foolish ass not to waste his money 🙄)

[@KarlSnarks]

Is that a thing, people not being able to afford their way back home and just being like "ok I'll just stay here I guess"? Or are they usually already wanderers who don't really have a home somewhere else (like living in a van/rv year round and such)

[@Aellef]

Bit of both, really. Some folk do the transient thing. Some folk decide they like the area and stay permanently. Some folk just work here a couple months til they can buy a ticket home

[@KarlSnarks]

@@Aellef interesting, it never occurred to me that people can get stuck that way (if they have enough money to attend the festival, you'd expect they'd have the funds or at least their social network at home they could rely on) but it I do like that attitude of just making it their new home instead ;)

[@alicethemad1613]

Honestly the main appeal of burning man to me has always been the idea of a week long theme party where you can abandon your identity and become a new character, take a bunch of hallucinogenics, and set a big dude on fire in the desert. Had no idea it had any kind of supposed high minded ideals or even that they claimed to not impact the environment. If they ditched that whole shtick and just called it a weird rich people party where everyone is rolling, it’d feel a lot less gross.

[@diegowushu]

It sounds like my worst nightmare tbh. Spending a lot of money to bake in the middle of the desert with a bunch of rich ""libertarians"". I'd end up as one of the s*icides.

[@KarlSnarks]

Based that you put libertarians between quote-marks, nothing libertarian abour right-wing libertarians.

[@nutsack-ky8wp]

LITERALLY.

[@ryanguy9000]

I love ape boy showing exactly 0% of the playa behind him as proof that the media was lying about it being a disaster 😂 great video! This channel is quickly becoming one of my favorites, and I know I'm not alone there. I gotta watch the Malcom in the Middle Burning Man episode now!

[@ZagTheRaccoon]

at burns it is considered extremely rude to record other people (even incidentally) without active permission, generally that makes pointing a camera at larger areas a default no-go. Although, I also definitely believe the guy was full of shit lol.

[@galamotshaku]

Although those art installations have a lot of effort put into them and can look cool sometimes, they often just strike me as tacky and lacking of any depth or meaning, it's like "Hey look at this cool giant steampunk metal armadillo with spikes and lasers with some hot semi-naked neon goth chicks on top". It's like something you would find decorating a vape shop or the room of a teenage boy. No wonder its full of people that think NFTs are a legitimate type of investment.

[@lemsip207]

Or it's like the Trash City part of the Glastonbury Festival which comes alive after the headlining acts leave the main stages. I've only been there in the afternoon and once in the evening just after sunset before the crowds came. There's the obligatory female DJ with spiked blonde hair and shaved at the sides. Yeah seen that in a Sugababes video.

[@Squella7]

Ive been to a regional burn in the southeast US and really enjoyed the community atmosphere. Kids were present. Good representation of folks from LGBT and POC communities. Didn't find anyone to be elitist during my time there. Spoke with two long time burners that finally made it out to "The Big Burn" earlier that year and were massively unimpressed with the attitudes of attendees. Lacked the community structure they were used to at regional events. Was an interesting perspective to hear about. Also that video at the end had me rolling 😂😂😂😂😂

[@KarlSnarks]

Yeah the Titanic part was hilarious XD

[@ConvincingPeople]

A lot of the folks in the comments here who've attended regional burns seem to have a similar perspective. I suspect that part of it is that a lot of these local organisers who have to do things without the massive corporate infrastructure of the main event tend to take the ostensible underlying principles of inclusion and sustainability far more seriously, even if some still wind up having similar issues.

[@drsuchomimus]

This pretty much confirmed every pre-existing bias I had about BM. Thank you.

[@els1f]

Never saw it shortened to BM before, and it fits perfectly with my own pre-existing bias of the event😋

[@aazhie]

​@@els1fXDDDD How have I never thought of it like that? I feel the same lol

[@jackmeoff9917]

It's a BM for sure. Hahaha

[@Ziggi_onthe_RISE]

I met a good friend who told me she went to burning man in the early aughts, and that it was a great experience back then, but she came to describe what the friends she made there felt about the decline of burning man, and she said while it was an impactful experience for her in the early-mid 2000s, it is not what it used to be, and is totally exactly as you described, a farce/sham of an experience that started with an ideal you could get behind, but has devolved into a technocratic playground of a networking experience that is not in line with the ideals it used to have and still claims to stand for. Great video hoots!

[@holocoffin]

Grimes coded 😂 you are hilarious Hoot.

[@Ophelia381]

I do go to a local week long witchcraft camping retreat where I meet a lot of cool folks and creativity, but it's more of a skillshare kind of thing where you meet other cool witches than any pretense to change the world. Also lots of queer orgies there but witches are like that. It doesn't cost anything to attend beyond camping equipment and it's a good time. Burning Man sounds miserable in comparison.

[@princesskittyglitter]

I mean that's what burning man is too. The only thing you pay for is your ticket in.

[@Ophelia381]

@@princesskittyglitter Nah, we don't have libertarians and billionaires at ours. Which is a net positive to me.

[@glenn_desert_witch]

I would LOVE to know what that is... :D

[@Ophelia381]

@@glenn_desert_witch I can't really tell you that unfortunately as there's a couple of weirdos trying to figure out where I live on this website and I don't want to drop the name of places.

[@FuckYourSelf99]

Kids are safer around witches than around libertarians.

[@CthulhusBFF2]

I hate how often people will adopt the ‘fun’ aspects of hippie culture (the aesthetics, the ass & grass, etc.) without any of the politics that made the Hippie movement…you know, a MOVEMENT instead of a cultural fad.

[@KarlSnarks]

As I understand it the hippy movement was always a bit vague in its ideals beyond 'peace, love, freedom, community' etc. although it definitely did have more explicitly leftist tendencies within it. In some places (mostly in the LA hippy scene iirc) where it was considered acceptable to spike other people's drinks with psychedelics to 'open their minds' without consent, while in other places (like the NYC hippies, who were also more radical overall) it was strongly condemned.

[@PrincessNinja007]

Tbf many of the problems with BM were present in, and older than, the original hippie movement

[@StinkyBlack1]

It was a cultural fad wtf are you smoking.

[@darajeffus]

I LOVED this take! Thank you for taking the time to put it together. Bravo! I have thought for some time that the event is elitist and blandly conformist bunk for rich kids pretending to be hippies.

[@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023]

Exactly this!

[@redsands1001]

I remember learning grover norquist loved going to burning man and that set off alarm bells

[@glenn_desert_witch]

Ew

[@desertkhaat]

omygoodness fukn GROVER NORQUIST?!?!?! so depressing. I've gone, but it was a long time ago. lovely experience. & no, i'm not a rich tech bro!

[@redsands1001]

​@@desertkhaatthe way he talked about it and things he liked about it are def a lot of the things addressed in the video but didn't realize the organizers were so much like that

[@user-xsn5ozskwg]

Well it turns out I had a much gentler perspective on the event than what it's due. I figured the "leave no trace" ethos was nonsense, and always quirked an eyebrow at people claiming it was just like any other big event people save up for, but between seeing who's involved and the principles clashing with the reality of the event I'm even more saddened they're happy to destroy the desert (and surrounding towns and cities) for this thing. Also, I had to pause the video at the "negotiation" story. Gross stuff.

[@samzystrange]

As one of those “old burners” I was very nervous about an outsider who hasn’t attended sharing another inane opinion. This was really well researched and also well informed. You expressed my critique of BM (and why I haven’t been in 6 years and don’t mean to return) quite well. Well done Hoots!

[@tomockakillingbird2848]

At first I thought you were being too kind, but by the end I felt so vindicated. I had two friends about a decade ago that tried VERY hard to convince me that I would not hate Burning Man. Like, over and over for months, no matter what I said. They failed, but I felt ten years ago like I was the only person who thought it was entitled rich white revolutionary cosplay. Everyone else's criticisms I heard attacked it from the right, which just made burner libs feel more proven right. They got SO mad at me when I made even my gentlest criticisms, and I still to this day think that gentle pinprick to their ego is a big part of what soured the friendship. I think they really do rely on it as the proof that there is a part of them deep down that is truly revolutionary, so they don't feel as dirty being sellout libs or worse the rest of the year. No real loss friend wise, but I felt like it was my duty to confirm your suspicions. Even 10 years ago, well off lib burners thought of themselves as lefties just because they went to burning man. And there was never a point in trying to challenge that idea, their actions, or black rock city itself. It's self-justifying, and to them it's self-evident and requires no explanation beyond pointing back at burning man.

[@roxyamused]

I had several close acquaintances who always were on and on about it. All I thought is it was expensive and expensive to have water and food. It sounded fun only because I knew there's a lot of good drugs that are mostly free. I also generally found the hippies that attended to be really obnoxious and particularly egotistical about going. I've read in a Salon expose that there's also a lot of sa. Like one of their black rock rangers saw a senior black rock ranger sa someone, then the rest of the Rangers convinced her, while she's probably in shock and terrified, to not file a police report. The ranger that witnessed the assault said the "rangers and burning man behave in a similar way as the Catholic Church." It seems predators are more protected than the victims "out on the playa".

[@smallspidersad78]

Omg I had an ex who was obsessed with it, she claimed to be anarchist but she was v obviously actually just a internet libertarian. To quote the video, grimes coded

[@Thaelyn1312]

Remember, being a Leftist means grand gestures towards some revolution & then that just, carries you through the rest if your life :p No work, no self reflection, no unlearning your own bias & bigotries, no learning theory, just this vague idea of a free society 😂😑

[@madameedwarda]

@@roxyamused I know a lot of burners as well, and I can confirm that I heard a lot of sa stories

[@fionatastic0.070]

I don’t want people to not have fun. I think you could do something similar to burning man that isn’t problematic (in my little utopian pipe dream anyway), but I roll my eyes at progressives who think that conservatives disliking a thing means it’s instantly progressive. Like conservatives hate burning man because they can’t stand anything camp, progressives are critical of it because it’s inaccessible and bad for the environment.

[@TheGallicWitch]

Thank you for adding closed captions! Creators with millions of subscribers aren't even doing this and I'm grateful for this accessibility decision you made.

[@jesseboyd8412]

"Everything is Grimes coded" might be the funniest thing I've ever heard

[@binaryrainbows]

I'm heavily involved in organizing regional burn / my local burner community because of much of the spirit covered in the start of the video but... there's a reason there's plenty of us who make regionals happen who don't go to to Gerlach. There's something really wonderful about putting together this big dumb event with a bunch of other people whose idea of fun is spending half your year on hardcore planning and logistics so that all of the freaks you know can spend a weekend making magic for each other in a field - using the tents and coolers and gear we use for camping all summer, where the average travel is about 2.5 hours of highway driving. It would be great to see BMorg move towards a focus on regionals, but ultimately I really think if I wanted to go to the desert and look at that many LEDs, Vegas is at least honest about what it is.

[@ZagTheRaccoon]

a non-white leftist burner perspective: I think going into regional burns and researching how endemic (or not) these problems are in that context is a pretty important topic to cover to criticize the events concept. The regional burns presumably is where the test of the ethos would really happen for decentralized discommoded self created micro communities. Burning man is pretty despised by a huge amount of burners, as you correctly pointed out. But I think a bit more could have been done to investigate how deep the issues go beyond that one festival. Burner community in regional burns are essentially an entirely different class than burning man. For context, the burn I go to costs 35$. There's a lot of screwed up stuff in Burns. The "radical self reliance" is rife with outdated political tensions, and the different political forces within burning communities is much more complicated than just it's libertarian roots. You alluded to this, so I'm guessing you were brief just to avoid overextending beyond what you were able to reasonably research as someone who hasn't dealt with it personally. There's also the topic of the coronavirus, how much of a political education the burns themselves in practice amount to, and how the event serves as a microcosm for a whole host of social problems being amped up to 100. There's a lot of other lessons leftists can learn from the successes and failures of burning man as far as creating parallel societies go too. And there *are* a lot of successes, at least at the more local level where burns can be a space to explore that. This is still a good video. It's just not as in depth on some of the issues I personally had wanted to hear talked about. Love your work as always.

[@btarczy5067]

Hey, I‘d be interested if you made a video relating Burning Man to Avatar Day ;)

[@ZagTheRaccoon]

@@btarczy5067 the parallels are honestly minimal beyond both having a ritualized effigy burn. Although an excuse to talk about it would be fun.

[@ahobimo732]

I think "Grimes-coded" is the perfect description of Burning Man. Rich people suck. There is no exception to this rule.

[@Rocketboy1313]

This reminds me of the song "Common People" but even more so. Because it is about richer people than the girl in the song pretending to be even poorer than the guy in the song. I wanna live like common people I wanna do whatever common people do Wanna sleep with common people I wanna sleep with common people Like you Oh what else could I do I said I'll, I'll see what I can do

[@ChristopherHallett]

I love how they dribble on about "radical self-reliance" when there's not a single person there who could actually survive in nature in a non-glamping scenario.

[@DrIzixs]

I first heard about BM when I was still an undergrad (aka, 1000s of years ago). And how it was sold was giving me a mix of 'huh, that seems neat' and 'that actually sounds like it would suck to do'. And that was the most charitable reaction I've had since that point as I've run into others trying to pitch it as a good idea to go. Community art project to art themed party to something something art something something lets wander around drunk & high with the ultra rich because like that's just how cool a place it is man and no I won't say how much it cost me to go and why are you leaving? Recently, I went to play D&D in Seattle. My trip back had me sitting next to a couple folks in their 20s. A girl who'd gone to burning man and a guy who wanted to get into her pants and thus was happy to let her talk about her experiences being stuck in the mud and almost dying so he could seem like he was doing more than glancing at her chest. This was a little annoying as I was trying to nap on the flight home, but it did let me listen in on the absurdity of this gal's experiences. The general 'oh yeah there was some cool stuff' part was super short and basically focused on which parties she and her friends crashed throughout the week. The rest was about getting stuck in the mud and having to hike miles to get a ride out was totally worth it. And never mind that a guy in the next camp over totally died, it was a great time. And sure we heard rumors about some folks getting roofied but yeah we had a blast so it was all okay. And... Well suffice it to say, I was delighted to spot your video here. Because I'm kind of done with folks singing the praises of BM uncritically.

[@nilesta]

I'm a burner. I mostly only do regional burns. I haven't actually gone to the big one, mostly for the reasons you spell out here -- who wants to party with tech bros? I understand from a lot of camps that do go to the big one occasionally that if you walk away from the tech bro camps, you'll find the "real" burn. Personally, I think my heart is still with the regionals. There's something really satisfying about showing up in a field with 50 of your closest friends and building a city.

[@glupik1234]

wdym by building a city

[@Romanticoutlaw]

imagine going out into the desert to get high and you _want_ corpo rats and techbros there. I'd get high with heavy metal and punk folks instead any day

[@raven_g6667]

You know it! 🤘🏾

[@Shakes_Bear]

There are multiple punk and metal camps, Especially Death Camp - They build a literal Thunderdome that people fight while in bungee harnesses. I love climbing on the thunderdome and watching some fights. Wasteland Weekend is what you want (a lot of those cats come to Burning Man)

[@justin___]

23:00 - 23:25 > I think if you’re a Burner who really believes in the anarchic, socialist vision of Burning Man, maybe that version of the event is better expressed in the handful of regional Burns held throughout the year. Maybe the Big Burn has been gentrified past that utopian view. Maybe the barrier of entry has been made too high at Black Rock City and Burners need to finally do what they’ve always promised and bring that spirit to the rest of the world. _This, very very much._ This is what I kept thinking throughout the video and there you go, summing it up succinctly. As someone who has a deep history of feeling exhausted and apathetic about any change in the world, I have, in the last year or so, become invigorated by @TheLeftistCooks: start small and start with community. Everything grows from there. And what a boon it would be to so many communities to have an amazing, well-backed, highly-visible festival like Burning Man... but on a smaller scale. Is it possible to franchise something in a safe, anti-capitalist way? I don't have the patience to do research right now. And since there's so much white-technocrat-money that fertilized the festival all these years, should the anarchic, socialist Burners start anew? I've had a handful of friends/acquaintances that tried to get me to go to Burning Man in the past. Their ad-line: "Burning Man can be whatever you want it to be. Drug orgy? Sure. Dapper, wine-fueled Roaring-20s-style soirée? Hang out with a bunch of old hippies? Sure!" But, if there's anything I've come to understand about our world, is that _everything_ and _anything_ can get too big. It'll eventually start failing in one way or another. We belong in tribes.

[@samuelajah8649]

I was planning to talk about burning man for a video but through a marxist lens! Great video and shout out to Zoe Bee for sharing your Prager U video!!!

[@S3lkie-Gutz]

As a mixed indigenous and Roma person I've always despised burning man, just general racism and redface all around. The absolute disconnect from reality and colonizer privilege. Burning man and hippie culture is all the same to me personally, but when Roma and indigenous people show pride in our culture and resilience we are punished for it. I don't doubt local level burns are completely different and more open minded but gentrification has completely jaded me from this world. I wish you had mentioned it in your video how rampant redface and anti-Roma and anti-indigenous racism and colonial violence are in these spaces

[@adrenalinevan]

I thought before that Burning Man is just like "What if Stonehenge Free Festival was invented by Americans" But I watched this video and realised, wow BM really is just the polar opposite of the Solstice Gathering.

[@iamjustkiwi]

Gotta admit, at first i thought the sponsor was satire because of how ridiculous the name colonbroom is 😅

[@FuckYourSelf99]

I guess 'Turboshits' probably failed the branding focus testing....

[@mellow_mallow]

right?? It borders on sounding like something from the Simpsons (take my word with a grain of salt, I've not watched much Simpsons)

[@s.s.6661]

I had very little knowledge of Burning Man prior to the news breaking about the weather conditions and people being stuck...and when I saw the people like "oh yeah it's a great opportunity to be self-reliant" or whatever I was like. lol ok then

[@rigelb9025]

''I was afraid they would throw me into the fire as a joke''. If that statement doesn't send chills down your spine, I don't know what will.

[@anaturn12]

thats same as being afraid they sacrafice you to voodoo gods just becase there are mostly black people around you

[@thebaker525]

I’ll be honest I was a bit taken aback when I saw a lot of people online acting so hostile towards the burning man attendees when the shit hit the fan. I thought they were just some stoners, had no idea the event was so corporate and technocrat-y

[@Tom_Bee_]

It's not just rich tech bros. There's also a few drug dealers who can afford to take time out of selling drugs to give them away for a couple weeks 😂

[@Shakes_Bear]

I was out there. I am a disabled transwoman (poor too of course_, in 2017 I cofounded a performance troupe that now has 150+ alumni, I was our first director. There is a wide variety of people out there with last year's being the most diversified census yet (love to see it). I'm a frequent drug user, but at Burning Man I don't touch anything - its way too fun out there, way less people do drugs out there than you think (though still plenty). Lotta artists, builders, engineers, teachers, helpers, folks in over their head, Eagle Scouts, that super cool camp of Iranian artists who built a massive interlocked wooden tea house with no metal (the saffron tea). You meet people from around the world. I get to hangout with 100s and 100s of trans people in the gayborhood. Its better than you think.

[@stellabee2026]

it’s wild to me that anyone thought staying in the middle of the desert as soon it was clear, several hours in advance, that heavy rain was on the way was a good idea. cus, like, deserts just flood.

[@PrincessNinja007]

The idea was to stay where rescue crews will find you instead of getting lost before the rain even hits

[@yournamehere100]

hoots Premiere right after caelan premiere? Surely they planned this.

[@robertreed7767]

I was just thinking the same

[@spantigre3190]

"Leave no trace" is an absolutely bizarre idea when it comes to burning a statue, because smoke is aerosolized unburnt material. You're literally going to a place to change the chemical makeup of the air, and acting like that's "leaving no trace". It's not better. That's like saying my house creates no waste because I burn all my trash in a barrel. I know I'm a month late, but I'm so fucking upset at how these people invented a corporation to green wash their own event. Edit: Fucking hell! I forgot about the climate protest. Like come on, this group is 'radically self-reliant' but they had to call 911 to stop someone from standing in the street.

[@williammcleod1496]

So an FYI, those weren't cops that got called on the climate protesters. Those were tribal rangers. Multiple members of the Paiute nation informed the protesters that they were trespassing on Tribal land. This is a very bad idea because no one has constitutional protections on Tribal land. As the Tribes are not a party to the constitution, the only law that matters is tribal law per Talton v. Maves. Since the Tribes did not send (and were not asked to send) representatives to the constitutional assembly that created the constitution, and since the only entities represented there were the American people and the 13 rebelling colonies, no american has constitutional rights like free speech on tribal land. Their land, their laws. I have some friends who live in Reno, and they're very insistent that if you ever drive on pyramid lake land, you go the speed limit and don't cause any trouble because the Rangers and a good chunk of the Paiute would prefer it if you had to show a passport to enter the reservation at all. Edit: I don't remember why I followed you and clicked that bell, but I'm glad I did. This video was excellent.

[@nondescriptname]

So, they were cops, just not American cops. Same function, same result, different paperwork.

[@McDun07]

Great take cogently argued. I’ve long been curious about Burning Man but the cost alone made me inherently suspicious about the more high minded claims about its purpose. I guess in their 10 principles they forgot to leave out that their fundamental guiding light is the Golden Rule: he who has the gold…

[@williammunhollon203]

It’s the pagan rituals without the heart for me, you good lady they deserve the side eye.❤❤❤

[@Shakes_Bear]

There is certainly some heart to it. I have been a performer and performance troupe director for the fire conclave. We put together a large group choreographed performance and dance in front of the Man before they burn it down. At the beginning of the week a caldron of fire is lit by the sun and kept burning all week, it is then moved to a mobile caldron that is paraded around the perimeter of the Man, us fire performers collect the flame and all 28 performance troupes, hundreds of dancers, we all use the same fire that had been burning all week. A lot, if not most, Burners actually don't know all these specifics. The burning of the temple is an incredibly solemn and beautiful event. It is watched in silence. The temple is a beautiful and sad place. It is where people make alters and leave messages to those we have lost. I hung an outfit from my friend, wrote "I wish I could hug you one last time" and hugged the empty clothes wishing I could be in her company one last time. There is some powerful emotional magic out there, it is completely secular and very human.

[@Lastprogramer]

like less than 10 years ago "Leave No Trace" was a specific set of protocols including even incredibly specific step by step instructions for relieving one's self, making fire pits that don't leave a mark when you're done, even how to make sure you don't miss trash in your camp site, now that term seems like a meaningless pr thing.

[@MollyGaia]

People who love raves and party: strangers may be smiling at you and sharing drxgs and shit but they are NOT your friend. Most people will NOT help you if you're in need, they are there to have a good time while high af they won't wanna turn their trip into a nightmare or comply with someone else when there's so many people to help why would I ruin my trip for some.stranger. I would help but not everyone would especially when high af. Take care of yourself go rave with trust worthy friends

[@ruckly1241]

The talk about the "Big Burn" vs local burns made me think of a post-apocalyptic world based on burning man's principles, but the big, centralized society is built from the top down, while the local ones are community driven and built from the bottom up. Naturally, the two cultures would go to war with each other, as people in the post apocalypse never have anything better to do. It could be a way to explore and contrast the consequences of right-Libertarian ideology with a more truly anarchic ideology. And I recognize that that is giving local burns way too much credit. Still,, it's an interesting idea.

[@laurelgardner]

The small burns aren't culturally different. They're just small. You might not get the silicone valley billionaires, you just get the local dweebs who idolize them.

[@KarlSnarks]

Sounds like a cool idea, though I don't think the issue with real life Burning Man is its size that makes it top-down.

[@WillaGem]

Burning man must be a major covid superspreader event. Also surprised you didn't mention that Burning Man itself has contributed to how bad the mud was because of how it has historically kicked up a lot of sand

[@Shakes_Bear]

There is no sand, it is a clay dust. The mud was that bad because it is a seasonal lake bed that is very good at retaining water. so that 1.5 inches of rain felt like a foot of rain. Essentially ever year the desert goes mostly back to square one due to it being a seasonal lake..

[@WillaGem]

@@Shakes_Bear I don't really understand what you mean by 'square one' but I do think the correction about it being clay dust is important thank you

[@Shakes_Bear]

@@WillaGem Its a winter lake. The ground itself reforms (mostly) flat when it dries up and returns to its regular brutal desert conditions. With all the previous rain a month prior, it was one of the flattest years. The mud being sloshed up by the fools who didn't want to shelter in place will impact the lake bed for a few years as the deeper trenches take more time and lead to what we call "dust puddles". It is an unique desert environment, I've lived in many deserts and Black Rock Desert is different from any other I've experienced. We had a great time in the Mud, the neighborhoods really came together in beautiful ways.

[@billie-1373]

How flippantly they talk about the person that died there… it’s scary.

[@Shakes_Bear]

People do die there. It is an 8 day event with a max population of 80,000 people. If you look up 2017 Burn Night, you will see articles of a guy who ran into the Man as it burned, he lept over my performance troupe and we had front row seats to his gloriously terrible demise. That was my second burn, i've there 5 times. I was also an emt long ago. I tend flippant on these topics.

[@renaigh]

I was disappointed to learn Burning Man didn't actually involve burning a man in ritualistic sacrifice.

[@KarlSnarks]

Preferably Jeff Bezos in a cyber-warrior costume.

[@jacobvardy]

The final skit was fantastic.

[@tikimillie]

A man once ran full speed into the burning man fire.

[@anaturn12]

god i wish that was me

[@Flesh_Wizard]

literally a burning man

[@MediaFaust]

My idea of a life affirming festival is the one where they hang the last "tech bro" from the intestines of the last venture capitalist.

[@miz_logo_lee]

I have a bunch of social connections to OG Burning Man (like back when it was still on Baker Beach) and it always had a bit of libertarian bent. My first main disappointment was the year they did some kind of Hell-CO theme around 1995 where they decided to burn “stupid books” like romance novels. Geez, not everything is a joke…

[@DavidLindes]

22:32 - and rightly so. So many things do variations on greenwashing, reputation washing, etc., and it's often successful at duping folks. This is an important critique to be raised. Thank you.

[@Ancusohm]

I never knew much about Burning Man. Thanks for the video!

[@chellybub]

We had a similar fest where I grew up, it was basically a bunch of indy bands and DJs coming together for a week with a bunch of party animals in the bush to have a mad party, and camp in the wild. It was in the middle of nowhere and because it was on private property, clearing it with the neighbors who lived many ks (kilometers) away was fine and yeah it was just a good time. Fast forward a decade and now there are barricades, police and security in and out, sponsorships, can't bring your own booze, no drugs allowed, have to pay for water, etc etc etc. Basically the normies found out about it and then took over and turned it into some THING. So all of the original spirit was gone. It seems like that has happened with burning man. I mean, every year people still talk about this fest, and I know plenty of people who still go and smuggle stuff in. But I can't wrap my head around it anymore. Just because there are bigger bands doesn't mean it is better. Love your work darling xx when are we getting another respect the dead? I miss them :(

[@OrgaNik_Music]

Not even two minutes in and you're already selling snake oil

[@montecristo1845]

First learned about Burning Man while attending SFSU in 1996 or so. Never got to go, but fellow theatre student told class during discussion how “commercial” it was becoming. Can’t remember details, but now glad I never saved up to attend. Cross that one off my bucket list, I guess.

[@Orphus]

Have the same feelings about it. In my teens/twenties it seemed like it would have been cool. Stupid youth notion.

[@RainSnail]

Great video! Considering these guys hate regulation you just know if it wasn't for the regulators putting their foot down about cleanup they'd just be leaving a string of unfinished prop cities across the desert. Gross how they're citing as a "core value" something they're only doing because they'd be sued into the ground otherwise.

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

3:25 it’s actually really strange to see people who went to burning man post online during it Usually people just… completely unplug/disconnect

[@Frosted_Moontips]

That Burning Man event sounds like the perfect setting for a Motorstorm game lol

[@ThemedNumber02]

This video absolutely SLAPS!!!!! This is my first time visiting this channel and I am beyond impressed. Her jokes hit every time, as well as the takes she proposes. I have to subscribe to this channel immediately, I fear.

[@latexrope1358]

Well done for putting into words what I have always suspected.

[@zekewalker1350]

You noted the wealthy person’s desire for self-imposed hardship and I raise you white peoples’ desire for a sense of community that they simply cannot forge in their own spaces. last year on TikTok white people were realizing that their lack of cultural identity was causing them to primarily identify with commodified entities like sports teams movie/tv characters, or even habitual use products . So on top of this lack of shared identity, they dominate the current system of capital, and thus are generally excited participants in a system of competition that makes forming community nigh impossible. Therefore, white people who are disillusioned with the system go out every year for a week to pretend they live in the kind of tribal community their ancestors annihilated. last week I saw a TikTok of some Puerto Rican guys in the Bronx roasting a pig for their whole neighborhood to eat(the racist caption then likening the Bronx to a third world country is why I used this example) Black people and POCs don’t need to go to the desert for community but white people very much do.

[@GradyBroyles]

1996, the first year someone died by car, was the last one they allowed driving on the playa and the last time the event was in the middle of the playa, the last year I attended and as much of a cliche as it is to say ... the last great Burn. BM is and has been dead for years years. A few years ago they built and burned a giant UFO (there's video of it) made of ... wait for it > 6000 trees. Six THOUSAND. Which burned in ~10 minutes. They promised to plant 2 trees for every one they burned. Did they? Who fucking knows? No one is talking, there's no evidence they ever did. You would think if they had planted ~20k trees, that they would want people to know

[@kolonarulez5222]

This is as close to an authentic experience the rich will allow themselves yet refuse to respect or acknowledge what they've destroyed. I'm sure Burning Man was truly something in the early unsaturated/uncommercialized days.

[@dentyH]

I love the vid, nice pacing! Bonus points for the titanic bit at the end

[@davidchess1985]

Ha, this was very interesting! I've always wistfully thought of going to Burning Man because the chaos and art sounded excellent; but the techbro aspects for sure give me pause. Maybe I'll look into a local one, as more feasible and perhaps less problematic.

[@aabrightlove]

So, something that is often understated is the existence and quality of local burns. You have one or two in your state every year, most likely, and they are much smaller, more intimate events with a lower barrier to entry and lower survival challenge as well. The main burn is definitely something unique and different from your local burn.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

Sacrificing a fatted calf to the almighty algorithm.

[@theeNappy]

"Sure, someone died but I went to a party and there were quesadillas so live laugh love!"

[@Balmarog]

Just recently discovered your channel and am loving it!!

[@gregmiller9957]

Great Video and well presented. Nice to see the hypocrisy of "leave no trace" being pointed out. It should be "leave no visible trace" because you can be sure that the carbon footprint of this event is enourmous. This came up on autoplay - I wasn't aware of your channel before. I look forward to watching some more.

[@BarbarianGod]

I've never looked at the festival that closely cause I'm from east europe, but it always gave me the sort of impression that you ended up explaining so well in this video!

[@shruglifecomedy5709]

One great thing about burning man is that it becomes really easy to park in San Francisco for two weeks

[@730ways]

Gonna get "radically self reliant", eating someone else's quesadillas and bacon, I guess.

[@agoosed3281]

This one is gonna be good. Very excited.

[@dinosaysrawr]

Like many things, I reckon Burning Man has become a victim of its own success. Once something becomes "cool" or "hip" in the eyes of the masses, it almost always starts to lose its original vibe, spirit, and purpose, and there's often no true way to reverse course once that's happened. I think it's also a reminder that there's a light side and a dark side to "radical self-expression" and/or to being in a space with ostensibly no rules and no (formal or overt) hierarchy, and that segues into an additional lesson that how we interpret, perceive, or experience something may be entirely separate from a) how others interpret, perceive, and experience it and b) how that thing was intended or meant by its creators or purveyors to be interpreted, perceived, or experienced. In any case, call me a wimp, but if I want to see cool art, inventions, or self-expression, I'll just go to a furry convention, a Maker Faire, or Grand Rapids Art Prize, thanks, because I need a flush toilet, reliable access to food and water, and a serviceable bed to enjoy the above. Also, the show "Silicon Valley" parodied Burning Man quite brilliantly back in the day, and things have seemingly only gotten more That Way.

[@l0_0l]

i did forget, but i’m grateful for this video reminding me.

[@drrydog]

lmao, the plug for your product for pooping... what timing.

[@dstarks360]

Excellent take. This has me wanting to check out your other videos.

[@desertkhaat]

this is a long one. --- I have to say, this makes me incredibly sad. and tired. I hope I don't get dog-piled on, 'cause my take doesn't have the tingle of schadenfreude so so many commentators have re: Burning Man..& its attendees.. no, I'm not rich, libertarian, suck @ tech, & am black. I went once to Burning Man. The Vault of Heaven. It was magical experience. & no, I didn't spend thousands of dollars to get there, make gifts, or on elaborate outfits. my fits were homemade super-simple, & like everyone else, i ran around half-naked anyway. my way was sketchy, my initial craigslist ride rather suss & I wound up with a completely ride from San Francisco (another craigslist find), meeting my future camp family who adopted me. the stray BM kitty. I got to spin records- thanks to the generosity of a member of my adopted camp fam, who was a dj- steal kisses, wander in this gorgeous open space & look at stars.....really actually SEE the stars as I lay down in the playa dust & gaze at that inverted ocean sky above. (something I can't do as a City Kitty) it was a transformative experience, & at the time, I didn't see or meet tech-bros. it was just a beautiful moment in my life where I got to honor my late kitty in my own gentle way, as so many people honoured their people or lost loves- whatever that meant to them- in the Temple, before the Temple Burn. **** oh, and I did take showers: my adopted camp fam set up a solar shower in their self-build & lovely shower stall. + I had my lil bucket. so I kept reasonably fresh late afternoons, after the sun's fervid heat cooled....... **** I guess I was supremely lucky with my $150/$175 ticket. & the fact I have lovely friends who were so happy to receive me in Frisco. **** I took so many photos... videos. ( I think I still have rolls of film left from that time yet undeveloped. I told you I'm not a rich woman.) **** It took years later, when fb came out & I joined a Burner group, that I saw I side I hadn't quite expected. That conservative/libertarian angle I hadn't anticipated, for all the talk of radical self-reliance and inclusion. an ugly racist thread that had me leave that group & never revisit it. *** I bought a ticket to go the year after *the Vault of Heaven*, but family tragedy struck, & I sold my ticket (again maybe around $200?) to a virgin Burner from my adopted camp fam. **** I know people laugh at the camp attendees. like i said, people get this mean cruel streak. think everyone who goes is a tech bro, millionaire. whatevs. I get it. y'all think it's punching upwards. & for the most part, it might be. I honestly can't fault people who resent the flashy bro-tech burners. I had a friend who went this year. They're fine- I'd checked in 2 make sure. *** In watching the opening @hootsyoutube, I couldn't help thinking that the *Burning Man* himself is a gauche, vexed anachronism in a world burning with raging wildfires....& gendered self. that was the first time that burning effigy had ever hit me this way, tbh. & I guess I've changed as well. There is an ineffable sadness in that. *** i found so much joy in that experience. hyped it to my friends, or the curious who'd asked me about BM if it came up in conversation. now that feels strange, distant. & kinda tortured, like the idea of travel now. travel is great & expansive for the mind & soul, yet an environmentally conscious no-no. *** so exhausting. & desolate....

[@datafoxy]

I never watched anything about Burning Man but I have been reading playa wrong for years