
Tech Elites Aren’t Ruining Burning Man. They Get Their Hands Dirty, Too - josealicarte
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/22/you-can-go-your-own-way/
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devindotcom
Well, you can't ruin something that's already ruined - that is to say, Burning
Man hasn't been _Burning Man_ for a long time. I don't mean that in a cynical
or superior way, just in a realistic one - it's become a very different thing
from what it was even ten years ago, let alone twenty. What was once anti-
establishment has become established, and an iconoclastic anti-brand has
become the most powerful brand of its kind. It's a triumph in a way; it means
it struck a chord and, as Josh says, it's a net positive. But the changes have
rewrought Burning Man into a Burning Man theme park. The lunatics have
surrendered the asylum. It's okay to mourn that, but it's a bit late to be
pointing fingers. If you don't like it, start something new. That's how things
like Burning Man happen in the first place.

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georgemcbay
Yeah.

I've never even been to Burning Man, but this is a completely predictable
result for anything that reaches any level of popularity.

No system made up of people can scale and maintain its original identity,
whether it is a IRL event like Burning Man or a website like reddit or Hacker
News. People who were there before some new group will always define an easily
identifiable scapegoat group of those who are ruining the thing, but really it
is just a numbers game. The more people you add, the less easily identifiable
shared culture there can be, the more regulations have to be put into place
and the more that community loses what the original members saw as its
identity.

I believe this is an immutable, unsolvable problem short of (as devindotcom
suggests) breaking off and starting a new new thing that replaces the old new
thing (and obviously this is only a temporary solution that will have to be
iterated again if the new new thing becomes popular).

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andkon
"Look at all the cool things we build and bring to Burning Man - no way we're
ruining it!" is pretty much the exact same argument as "gentrification has
resulted in far better brunch options in this area, no way we're ruining it!"

That being said, I thought this piece was super awesome for the insight into
why tech folks go: it's a great way to show off and build something cool.
Probably, folks are motivated by the same reasons my engineer friends back in
Saskatchewan build progressively wackier campers to take to Craven Country
Jamboree: a little to flex their hacker muscles, a little to blow off steam, a
little to fly their freak flags and see who clicks with them. And that's nice.
But it's worth noticing that so many pieces of Burner lore are now dependent
on being subsidized by really rich folks. If we're being honest about how the
economy of Burning Man works, it's becoming less an example of extreme self-
reliance and more an example of of extreme patronage on behalf of the really
rich.

And in itself, patronage isn't bad at all. It's great! But why doesn't this
attitude extend to life back in the city? Why is Burning Man the one place
that a rich person can help other folks out? Why is Mark Benioff the one dude
who seems to give substantial amounts of money to people in the place he
lives?

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tptacek
An outsider's perspective:

Burning Man : Silicon Valley :: Gathering of the Juggalos : Rest of America.

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droopyEyelids
Is the joke based on the idea that Juggalos are the dregs of society, and the
dregs of Silicon Valley go to Burning Man?

Or do you mean it's a camping and music event for Silicon Valley?

(a further-outside-era perspective)

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euroclydon
Let's put it in English: Burning Man is to Silicon Valley as a gathering of
Juggalos is to the rest of America. He probably means there aren't a whole lot
of influences that can be detected in either direction in either of those
relationships, he's surprised at the line: "In the end, Burning Man has likely
influenced the tech industry’s culture much more than the other way around."

~~~
tptacek
Yes, except to add that the annual Gathering of the Juggalos is a single big
event that people from around the country go to, not just something that
happens when you get a bunch of juggali together in a single location.

~~~
jfarmer
> juggali

I lost it at this. Can't contain myself. Maybe it's because I'm from Michigan.
_sprays Faygo everywhere_

