yut wrote:that sucks how free and existential they think they are because they have dreads, tatoos, multi-colored hair, piercings, etc. and they just look like a smaller subset of cretins. There's nothing original about it, but they claim to be these existential bon-vivants who are so into non-conformity and so individual...
Most of these people lead lemming-like, unexamined lives and do whatever people in their anti-culture clique think is cool. But they will tell you how weird and non-conformist they are.
I don't mind if these folks get together and have fun, but let's stop with how original and free these "weirdos" are. They just conform to a different standard.
If you want to find free-spirited and free-thinking people, look for the modern theorists in any university. Look beyond the clothes, hair, bullshit, etc. and listen to the ideas... This is just a big party with a sheen of environmentalism and bullshit pseudo-left-wing politics.
i pretty much agree with all of this. i've never been to burning man but i know a LOT of people who have been (i live on the central california coast not far from where burning man began, so they are everywhere) and who go regularly and NONE of these people i'd want to hang out with, ever. if marsupialized likes it cuz he can get laid easily, that's one thing. but there is a definite pretense in everyone i've met who attends: the talk of their "tribes" and how they are going to prepare. for a bunch of "free" people they all feel a large need to conform to the culture of burning man.
also, every guy i've ever met and every girl i've ever met who regularly attends (and this applies to most "hippies" and "new agers") conform perfectly to typical male/female roles. perfectly.
of course, i'm using a sample of about 20 burners to extrapolate on the other 29,980 but that's ok with me.
it's a corporate event at this point. insurance, government deals.
