Consider 45,000 Mellows Officially Harshed

Arsonist causes Burning Man to burn four days early. Hippies blame the man, man.

The mugshot of the alleged burner burner is fucking priceless:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

oh shit, dude, that mugshot. i can't stop laughing.

my take on it is this (and consider, i've never been to BM, so i may not really get it, and i understand that; and i'm not trying to tell someone who's been how they should feel about the situation): but the way i've always understood BM as a layperson, was that it was supposed to be this free-form, impromptu, time of expression that went against the norm and what was expected (at least in its nascent years). so isn't this the perfect example of just that? isn't waiting to see the man burn on a set day and time and being pissed off about it, against the idea itself?

again, if you've been to BM and feel i'm talking out of my ass here (which i admittedly, very well could be), please let me know.

Between the facepaint, the tan, the subtle suggestion of sand/glitter on his awesomely tribal tattooed shoulders, and the smug shit-eating smile on his face, It is pretty much the best thing ever, is it not?

it's definitely cleaner and happier-looking than any "celebrity" mugshot i've seen in the past ten years.

Exhibit A:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

The original Burning Man:

No. I'm not a burner, and frankly, the idea of spending a week in the high desert with a tens of thousands of really high people fully offsets the amusement value for me. Ain't going.

That said, the core idea is not a hard concept to grasp. It's called make your own fun and be amused by others that do likewise. It's not about chaos or freedom from responsibility. It's about freedom from stricture. There are rules, there are customs and there are manners. Destroying something that others worked to create isn't impromptu, or free form, or creative or provocative. It is the expression of a juvenile, drug addled moron, who I'm sure is very much less cheerful now.

But isn't the man going to be destroyed anyway? Isn't the difference in this case, when it was destroyed? And by whom? Is there a usual group (I'm assuming the people that created the structure) that are the ones designated to burn it? If that is the case, I don't understand why the Burning Man is the center attraction -- to me, that seems counterintuitive, like it undermines the individuality and importance of the different installations/exhibits around the rest of the playa, made by other people -- to give one a hierarchical superiority over the others.

If this is the case, then how is BM different from any promoter-based concert/event, where the organizers have control over the content. I always assumed the content of BM was driven by all who attended. As long as no one got hurt being the golden rule.

Again, I bring my severe lack of knowledge about the event to the forefront. I'll jump on wikipedia or the BM site now to find out more about it before I post anymore.

oh, and btw, i just want to add that i do think it's in bad taste in most situations, regardless of the underlying rules, spoken or unspoken, of the moment, in the sense that i would never destroy someone else's art (even if i would gladly destroy my own, in the vein of some of the Tibetan Buddhist destruction rules of the mandala).

assuming i was displaying my artistic work in a gallery full of other artists' works, it would be reprehensible for someone else to destroy my work, and vice-versa.

but maybe i'm just being naive here, but that's not what i thought BM was about. again, i'm going to go inform myself a bit some more before i post again.

since i've already kind of committed to this thread, i feel i should just say my peace and leave (and i'm sure regular BM attendees will probably hate me for this or think i'm a fool for even taking part in a thread based on an event i have no firsthand experience about). sure, i read up more about the event, and ultimately i think BM should be about whatever its participants decide it's to be about. maybe that's my naive way of looking at it.

but to me, this dude flaming up the man days in advance is the epitome of what this event was supposed to be about in the first place -- going against the norm (as long as it doesn't physically hurt someone else) - pure and utter disruption of the status quo. otherwise, what is it? if one cannot celebrate the madness and reckless abandon in this act, why attend? why not just get dressed up in your backyard and invite your friends over to your Temescal apartment if you want to have control over events? again, i don't officially celebrate this event, so my opinion will probably be cast aside i'm sure, by some of those who disagreed with this face-painter's actions. but personally, if what this guy did is such a cause of contention, i'd much rather celebrate my own event, ya dig? that's where the true freedom is, right? why should i submit to BM otherwise?

i'll shut up now.

SuicidePuppies will light his neigbor's house on fire later tonight in an act of solidarity with this crazy, face-painted weirdo

He looks like Strong Bad, to me...

I'd just like to take this moment to say Performance art sucks.

Thank you and goodnight.

Oh, they got buuuuurned







Wait, they arrested him? I heard that he burned the burning man but they actually arrested him?

My question is: When they set the burning man on fire, is it some type of controlled burn? I would think that burning something that large would need some basic safety precautions prior to and during the burn that weren't set in place should someone just decide to go light the thing. A regular bonfire can collapse and hurt people if it isn't burning correctly, and I'd imagine that something that big could really really get fucked up. Just my .02, though.

My understanding (from Burner friends) is that it is a controlled burn, with the intention of leaving no debris or damage behind on the ground.

As for SuicidePuppies's point, there are obviously some Burners who would agree with him, and obviously many who don't. Myself, I'd lean against it. It's intended to serve in major a public ritual, which the clown in question unarguably violated to know purpose save his own gratification.

Well sure. The thing didn't belong to him and he destroyed it. It's still destruction of property or vandalism or whathaveyou.

It's still murder, even if they're on death row.

I guess I don't know why I thought they wouldn't
But, I mean, so they're at Burning Man and the thing burns and they're all like "hey you know what we need, here at Burning Man, where we are right now? Some cops!"?

I don't know, there's just nothing that's not funny about this

That made me laugh. You're right.

"Guys! The law has been broken!"

The burn is the central unifying event of the festival. It is no more or less important than anything else, it just gives cohesion to the event and the community. Thats why its called burning man. And yes, there is a large group of people who work very hard to make it happen, and safely. So yeah, the difference is when it was burned and by whom and also how, but those are very significant differences. It was burned as a petulant anarchic fuck you, by a guy with no right to do it in a flagrantly dangerous manner.

burning man isn't really my thing (for those curious, my thing involves showers and constant access to the internet) but fucking something up for tens of thousands of other people just so you can flex your personal agenda is a pretty serious dick move.

I think this is hilarious. But that guys still sucks. Even though he has awesome face paint.

It's no different from owning a vehicle which is gratuitously loud, or running your stereo loud after midnight, or setting fire to heathland, or any other form of flexing one's personal agenda at other people's expense. (I choose those specific examples because assholes round here do them with malicious intent; and because my father has tinnitus, to the extent that he has physical pain from loud noises. It's not just "personal expression" when it hurts someone.)

Edit: This is not a personal dig at you, d20 .

I think I will be him for Halloween this year. I'm excited. It's the perfect costume!

His smile just seems to say, "Fuck yeah. I'm awesome."

And man is he ever right.

Edit: I also expect he's giving a thumbs up out of frame. Possibly the double thumbs up.

I wish I was him

Er, he's about to go to prison on federal arson charges.