BurningMania

[athelind]

McBurners
by Mark Pesce
"I skipped Burning Man this year and realized something. It’s become a cult. And it’s about time we all woke up and recognized it."

I haven't attended Burning Man myself, but I know more than a few people who have. I'm interested to hear their thoughts on this article.

Comments

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

I've never been to Burning Man either but this guy's article just reads like someone who's done something enough, gotten bored of it, doesn't realize that they've gotten bored of it and move on with their lives, so instead latches onto something and makes big proclamations about a) how it's moving in a bad direction and b) how much better it used to be.

In other words, like every Burned Fur and jaded "ex-furry" who still hangs around the fandom, sniping and kvetching.

If this guy didn't feel like going to Burning Man this year because he's done it many times in the past and knows what the score is, and didn't go, then that's not a story. But placing the blame for his jadedness on Burningman's "con staff" and saying that "it's turning into some kind of cult" is classic furry behaviour.

All subcultures are alike under the skin.

[paka.livejournal.com]

I dunno. Any weird, fringe/counterculture thing either dies or lives, right? If it lives, then it's a little scarier. There's no way to romanticise it out of proportion, because the unromantic reality is there slapping you in the face. I think by definition survival means getting toned down. Modern Islam isn't a wave of Sufi-like ecstatics pouring out of the desert to rip upwards through Spain and into France. Modern furry fandom isn't a wave of sex and curiousity surfing the independent comic boom of the '80s. Modern gaming geekdom isn't the tentative misfits on pilgrimage to Lake Geneva in late summer. Things change. Talking about the good old days is valid if you make sure to bring those good old days into the new, tamer days. Otherwise, you're just contributing to the death of something - so you can romanticise it out of proportion, sure, but what's better, a world that can look back on the heyday of gamer/furry/burner/hippy weirdness with a soft sigh, or a world that still has some sort of gamer/furry/burner/hippy weirdness?

[kaijima.livejournal.com]

While I haven't been to it either, I dunno; I think I have to agree with the current comments that it sounds a little bit much like ex-fan jadedness. If what he describes is really accurate, which I can't be sure of considering how Ex-Fan Brand Jade (c) tends to twist things around, I do have to agree that the entire thing sounds a tiny bit too much like the traditional cult image, more so than other fandoms, such as furry.

However, if it's a cult, it's a very artificial and manufactured one - I also get that vibe. In point of fact, the ranting about how it's becoming "commercialized", franchised, etc, seems vaguely dense because the entire thing sounds like an enterprise to start with, claims of counter-culture values notwithstanding.

I think what it reminds me of there, are furries like Chuck Melville acting vaguely confused and outraged that like, weird and bizarre animal spiritual people got attracted to and supported by the fandom which celebrated human-animal hybrids and loved fuzzy things. Like... gimmie a big, rousing round of "duh!!"

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

Cross reference: Burning Hypocrisy

Tend to agree with the article.

[yasha-taur.livejournal.com]

I have never been to BM, even though I have had a vauge desire to go for over a decade. I also have a few friends who do regularly go, and one friend who definatly falls into the 'I drank the Kool Ade' cult of BM. So I do get reports back on some of the events at BM, and some of the politics and planning.

The early days of BM were pretty organic, and the growth was unplanned. But in the last several years they have started charging big-bucks for entrance, and the 'performace' seems to have become more and more 'ritualized'. They also make enough income to have a full time paid staff of several core organizers, and they have bought a 'ranch' out near the playa to act as a staging area. As the guy says in the article, they have managed to 'get the press on their side', and they have done a great job of 'selling' it to their 'target market'.

I love the 'art project' aspect of BM, the reports that I have gotten of some of these sound truly creative and inspiring. (And sometimes, they are out on the playa miles from the base camp.) The art can be in structures, performances, cars, costumes... you name it. But between the 'BM machine', and the long arm of the various Goverment agencies, it does seem like the creativity is slowly being squeezed out. (The county that BM is held in makes out like a bandit from various 'fees and permits' that they have BM pay.)

To wrap up this ramble, I can see why this guy is ranting. BM >WAS< a true creative mecca, but seems to be falling into an all too predictable decline, mostly because of it's own success.