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I am with you on the dislike of Burning Man[1] . It seems, to me, as though a great number of privileged individuals are spending a lot of money and time on something that seems really rather selfish and self-indulgent[2]. It seems, to me, as though if a person with that much money and creativity could, or would, direct that energy towards participating in their communities where they live--volunteering, working, or building in their ‘real lives’--as much as they do for this once a year hedonistic blow-out, they could really do a lot of good toward their fellow man, rather than indulging in various substances, loud music, and loose sex out in the desert[3]. It also seems to me to be a bit destructive of nature, to have all those thousands of people showing up and kicking up dirt and dust, running generators, scaring whatever wild creatures live out there, and messing up the ecosystem[4]
But let me emphasize: IT SEEMS. TO ME. Clearly, I am not the target demographic of this event, nor a participant. I don’t like noise, crowds, camping or licentious behavior, so it’s not my thing. But I know people who do enjoy it, and that’s OK. I’m not going to ‘yuck’ their ‘yum’ simply because it’s not something I understand or would enjoy, and it’s certainly not my place to criticize wealthy white successful people in a society that values individual freedom and the ‘free market’ value of letting people spend what they earn and use their free time in whatever way they like.
From what I gather, people who attend BM feel as though they are coming ‘home’[5] to their ‘real families’ or their ‘tribe’ and expressing their ‘true selves’ in a way that they don’t feel they can do back in their ‘real lives’ or ‘mundane’ life. They seem to get a lot out of it, and find a great deal of value to the experience. For some it may even be spiritual[6]
However, in more recent years, it seems that there is a great deal of commercialization that has taken place; people buy ‘corporate packages’ and have their Burning Man experience served up by caterers and whatnot[7]. At that point, if you are paying 10k for someone else to pitch your camp, cook your food, and make your costumes, the ‘core values[8]’ of burning man are not at all in evidence. You may as well take a fancy vacation to somewhere more pleasant.
It isn’t my thing. If I was that privileged and had thousands of dollars and hours of free time, creative/manual labor, and construction equipment to give, I’d prefer to either try and improve my community, or do my own arts and crafts projects at home, or take a nice vacation. And if I wanted or needed a spiritual community or a sacred path, I’d try to get involved in a local church.
If I were looking for narcissists or predators in the burn community, I’d be looking at the people selling the ‘package experience’ or the people making money from the event [9] , not the participants themselves. The participants themselves seem to be lost hippie children who don’t find enough meaning or connection in their home lives, jobs, churches and communities of residence, or personal relationships. And that is sad, but relatable. I think a lot of modern people living in cities do feel that way. Burning Man is just a way for them to try and find or make that meaningful personal life, which is not narcissistic at all.
Footnotes
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