#2014 distrikt feeeeeeeeels

[citrusandbergamot]

Hi guys, actual Burner here.

I'm gonna ignore the whole millionaire plug-and-play side of this, because that's a whole lot of burner politics that I don't care to get into. And I'm ignoring the very well-articulated points about 'eat the rich', because y'all said what needed saying. I just wanted to add my own perspective on this, as a fairly poor Burner. (I cannot believe that burning man discourse has crossed onto my dash, what the fuck is this timeline.)

Poor-ish people can DEFINTELY go to Burning Man. Of course they can. They do. Most people I met out there were regular people, with regular jobs. Quite a few I met were people with irregular jobs (drifters, faire workers, performers). It's also an all ages event. I met a virgin burner in 2015 who was in her late 70s. I met some pregnant people, a few toddlers.

first time I went, I was unemployed. Actually, I went three times and I was unemployed each time! Cause my job history is full of holes! It's actually not that expensive? I mean, it is, but most burners work towards burning man all year. Do you have money travel for a week off work? Then you have money for Burning Man.

A lot of it depends on what kind of infrastructure you have access to. People spend thousands on burning man because the infrastructure (stages, sound, storage, transport) costs thousands. When I went, I went alone. I didn't know anyone or have anything. My costs my first year were approximately $2500 (I think), including the price of the plane ticket from eastern canada to cali, the bus fare from SF, buying all the camping stuff, food, and alcohol. The cost of the ticket into the event was around $170 because I applied for a low income ticket. I found a rideshare into the event and a different ride back to SF. I had no camp fees, because I chose a camp without fees (woo Stag).

The cost IS prohibitive, I get that, but MOST of the city is made up of ordinary people. The tech bros and the instagram models and the millionaires... they're tourists. They certainly don't BUILD the city. They don't contribute to it.

Ahh, I said I wasn't gonna get into that.

Well, except to say: the most Burner-type of all Burners are resto. They're the ones who build and finally tear down the city. They pick up every single bit of MOOP (matter out of place) out there. I'll eat my tutu if any resto makes more than 50k a year. The whole damn process takes MONTHS (july to oct), you guys, and the city could not exist without them. Resto is gonna be a hard one this year. Fucking tourists.

Look, burning man is supposed to be radically inclusive. In many ways, it isn't. It has become commercial in ways that I don't think it can recover from. But no one can BUY burning man. It takes thousands of people to build that city. If someone tried to buy out the event, the event would simply cease to be. No burner would go, and so, there would be no city. And people don't get paid millions to perform there? I mean, I can't say for certain that DJs don't get paid. They probably get their tickets comped and their food and travel provided. But no DJ would ask for money to play at burning man. They honestly probably put in their OWN money to get the equipment out there. Cause like, a DJ would get ostracized if they got paid big money. And Burners would find out. Burners are the pettiest gossips you've ever met. No one would go to that DJ's set. The soundcamp wouldn't get placement (look at the shitshow reaction to OT flying Infected Mushroom in for one night? Come on). Like, it'd be a shitshow. DJs get paid in vibes, my dudes. Vibes and drugs.

For what it's worth, every single Burner I know who went this year had a fantastic time. Fuck 'em.

This post I need a reminder as to why people go to Burning Man. Have some 2014 Distrikt feels.

Seeing the notes on posts about the Burning Man Debacle™ and for fucks sake I am taking the phrase 'eat the rich' away from y'all until you can CORRECTLY IDENTIFY the rich

Rich is 'arrived by way of their private jet', is 'dropped $500k on a submarine ticket', is '$500 is a rounding error'.

'$500 dollars for a nine day event they must all be rich white people' no you reactionary rotten potato that is actually an entirely reasonable price for an entirely normal person to pay for an annual event! $500 over the course of a year is approximately equivalent to one big takeout a month! Being able to afford that doesn't make you rich it makes you probably not poor! The 'rich or poor' narrative is a false dichotomy that completely excludes the fact that 'richness' or 'poorness' is a SCALE! It's not fucking categorical! You don't one day magically flip a switch and go from 'poor' to 'rich' or vice versa you see incremental changes over time! Wealth distribution is a (these days, admittedly, rather wonky) motherfucking BELL CURVE! . The fact that capitalism is driving more and more people to either extreme of said curve is just evidence of a broken system, but it doesn't change the fact that most people should have a decent amount of disposable income!

The fact that many people don't have said disposable income doesn't magically make the ones that do 'rich' it makes everyone else poor. And the people at fault for the massive and growing percentage of people living below the poverty line are not the ones managing to stay above it, it's the fault of the actually rich, the ones stealing our time and our health and our wages and our future in pursuit of a number on a screen. And the rich are the only people you're helping by hating the people struggling slightly less than you.

When it comes time to 'eat the rich' you're going to be murdering dentists and librarians and scientists while the actually rich point and laugh from a safe distance as you solve their problems for them.