Burning Man Appeals Probation over Crowd Size

Organizers of the Burning Man festival are challenging the federal government's decision to place them on probation for exceeding the crowd cap last year.

I admit it, I’ve always wanted to use all the liberal tools and calculate what the carbon footprint of the Burning Man festival is, then go out there with a billboard trailer and publicize it to all the liberals who attend the event. ‘’This event emits more carbon emissions than every single coal plant in the United States!’’ just has that ‘make liberal heads explode moment’ written all over it.

My favourite story from burning man was about a guy who built a working lighthouse mounted in the bed of his pickup. Because the event was held in the desert with no landmarks, at night people used it as a reference while trying to find their way around. What they didn’t realize was that the guy was slowly driving the truck around.

I went last year and the experience was beyond words. There is truly something for everyone and everyone’s experience is different.

It is very non-political and the greatest concentration of friendly, respectful, intelligent people I have ever been around. People that are smart enough to see politics as dirty BS that just divides us.

What I felt there I can somewhat describe as “the natural, relaxed state of mankind”. A complete vacation. Not just from your job, but from everything in society that restricts self expression. At BM, everyone is accepted as long as they hurt no one else.

It took me 4-5 days to relax enough to start taking it in. Once it clicked, it was a nonstop learning experience. A few of the realizations I took back with me:

-With no canned or pre-planned entertainment, you realize that just being around people is far more entertaining once their uniqueness shines through.

-With no currency/trading, human relations become the true currency. This is because you can't “make” or inherit money and then hire nameless/faceless poor people to do your bidding. The only way to be “rich” is to show you are a good person that is valuable to the community.

-I think society greatly limits and shuns “play” once we become adults. Adults are expected to be so serious and most adult entertainment is very canned, predictable and limited. Society laughs at the way many people have fun at BM. IMO, this lack of release and self-expression is what drives so many people to seek chemical vices like drugs, illicit sex and gambling.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.