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A phenomenon like Burning Man needs to be somewhat inaccessible to actually work. If it's too easy, it fills up with people who aren't committed enough. In the

A phenomenon like Burning Man needs to be somewhat inaccessible to actually work. If it's too easy, it fills up with people who aren't committed enough. In the beginning, that inaccessibility was provided by the sheer obscurity and a somewhat remote and hostile location. But now Burning Man is famous and some tourists are willing to make the effort. But tourists just aren't committed. That means it's time to raise the stakes. Start holding the event in some even more remote and inaccessible place, like the top of Denali. Those who are willing to go that far will be a smaller but more committed group. "That's the door. The only way in. Small and extremely uncomfortable. And anyone who wants to know us has to find out how to get through that door. Brother cardinals, we need to go back to being prohibited. Inaccessible and mysterious. That's the only way we can once again become desirable." -- The Young Pope

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
pssflops 8y ago
This cripples the transportation of the art and constructed vehicles in the spirit of the festival. I still think the conceptual 'raising the stakes' holds merit but perhaps not making it entirely physically restrictive.
jackfoxy 8y ago
The organizers have been doubling down on the radical inclusion principle in recent years. Burning Man is just not the place for (probably) most people. Even the low-end turn-key camps and Burner Busses (well-meaning to reduce road congestion travelling to and from BM) can weaken the radical self-reliance principle.
bsder 8y ago
> A phenomenon like Burning Man needs to be somewhat inaccessible to actually work. If it's too easy, it fills up with people who aren't committed enough. In the beginning, that inaccessibility was provided by the sheer obscurity and a somewhat remote and hostile location. I suspect that the greater general acceptance of drug use is probably the real gating factor that dropped. However, the primary issue has been that the Burning Man leadership drove it to this spot. Are you leading a small gathering of burned out hippies from San Francisco or are you leading a cultural force in the broader society? The leadership chose "we want to be a big cultural force", and you don't get there without broad appeal to the plebes. And the plebes nowadays include a boatload of wannabe social influencers on Instagram, Snapchat, etc. And that brings with it all the toxic "hot chicks" marketing garbage. Furthermore, given many of the actions that the Burning Man leadership have taken in the past years, this smells like more than a little bit of hypocrisy of "Other people are getting paid and we're not getting our cut."
xkcd-sucks 8y ago
Yeah the tricky part is figuring out a form of inaccessibility that isn't nullified by wealth
- johan_larson 8y ago
  Mandatory nudity from ankles to eyebrows, sunrise to sunset.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

pssflops 8y ago

This cripples the transportation of the art and constructed vehicles in the spirit of the festival. I still think the conceptual 'raising the stakes' holds merit but perhaps not making it entirely physically restrictive.

jackfoxy 8y ago

The organizers have been doubling down on the radical inclusion principle in recent years. Burning Man is just not the place for (probably) most people. Even the low-end turn-key camps and Burner Busses (well-meaning to reduce road congestion travelling to and from BM) can weaken the radical self-reliance principle.

bsder 8y ago

> A phenomenon like Burning Man needs to be somewhat inaccessible to actually work. If it's too easy, it fills up with people who aren't committed enough. In the beginning, that inaccessibility was provided by the sheer obscurity and a somewhat remote and hostile location. I suspect that the greater general acceptance of drug use is probably the real gating factor that dropped. However, the primary issue has been that the Burning Man leadership drove it to this spot. Are you leading a small gathering of burned out hippies from San Francisco or are you leading a cultural force in the broader society? The leadership chose "we want to be a big cultural force", and you don't get there without broad appeal to the plebes. And the plebes nowadays include a boatload of wannabe social influencers on Instagram, Snapchat, etc. And that brings with it all the toxic "hot chicks" marketing garbage. Furthermore, given many of the actions that the Burning Man leadership have taken in the past years, this smells like more than a little bit of hypocrisy of "Other people are getting paid and we're not getting our cut."

xkcd-sucks 8y ago

Yeah the tricky part is figuring out a form of inaccessibility that isn't nullified by wealth

johan_larson 8y ago
Mandatory nudity from ankles to eyebrows, sunrise to sunset.