Gotta Pathologize Other People's Recreational Choices: Sneering At Those Who Go To Burning Man As Middle-Aged Losers
I listen to music all day as I write, but I hate going to music. Hate, hate, hate it.
Especially music in clubs.
They never go on anywhere close to the time they're supposed to [fixed that!], and it's loud and often hot, smelly, and expensive.
However...feeling this way does not cause me to sneer and huff about the empty lives of people who go to concerts or nightclubs when friends post or tell me about attending some music thing.
I also do not have any interest in camping or in the camping (or sometimes glamping) that is burning man. (I'm descended from Eastern European Jews and Wite-Out, and the Jews left the desert a long time ago, and I have no desire to go back.)
Well, in a piece by Michael Kaplan in the NY Post, check out the need to pathologize Burning Man:
Sure, it looks fun to spend a few days enjoying a gift economy, listening to techno, cooling off in refrigeration trucks and gawking at surreal sculptures or taking in offbeat performance art But, according to Daniel Yudkin, a social psychology Ph.D. candidate at New York University, as reported by Quartz, the eight days of decadent hedonism provide once-a-year opportunities for attendees to experience bona fide connections with others. All the other non-Burning days of their lives? Not so much.Rather than reflecting how much fun Burning Man is, the reality of people spending thousands of dollars -- on travel, accommodations, tickets and drugs -- serves as proof that their non-Burner days are pathetically empty. "I think the fact that people invest so much of their own resources and time and energy to going to Burning Man suggests that there's something missing, that there's something Burning Man fulfills for them that they don't get in day-to-day life," Yudkin says.
Sadly, then, if Burning Man sets the stage for them to be the way that they really want to be, every other day is just the opposite.
Oh, please. Little Shiva, who designed my masthead, has gone to Burning Man -- a bunch of times, I think. Note what a sad gray wren she is in "real life." (When's the last time you went to a museum in a panda mask and a dress and pompoms made out of trash bags?)
I know other people who've gone to Burning Man as well, and they aren't living sad little lives the rest of the time.
And frankly, though I don't want to go -- because, in addition to not doing well in heat, I don't do well (meaning, I'm a huge baby) without modern conveniences like running water and a refrigerator, and I hate crowds -- the floats are great and the thing looks like a fuckload of fun.
I guess this -- headline on the Post piece, "Going to Burning Man is a middle-age cry for help" -- is how you get eyeballs on your story these days. I mean, if you can't just write and think compelling enough for people to read you without that.
It's a pretty good substitute for a Grateful Dead concert.
Bob in Texas at August 30, 2016 6:10 AM
"They never go on anywhere near when they were called to"
Er, explain? I read that three times and still don't get it.
lenona at August 30, 2016 6:16 AM
One of my regrets is not having gone when I lived in CA.
On the other hand, I hate hot weather if there are no trees and ponds or pools around. So I probably wouldn't have liked it as much as I like to think I would have liked it.
NicoleK at August 30, 2016 6:25 AM
Slightly off topic, but since you've mentioned it, I've long wanted to compliment you on the masthead. Using the binary encoder wheel from a rotary encoder as your halo was inspired; it screams "science" and "rationality" to those who recognize what it is. (And since many won't recognize it, it's a fun in-joke, too.) Kudos to your designer!
Brad R at August 30, 2016 7:00 AM
Lenona, I think Amy is saying that on the occasion she goes to a venue to watch a band, they're never on at time promised.
I R A Darth Aggie at August 30, 2016 7:27 AM
While I'd never go (I hate camping), Burning Man has always sounded pretty cool, and all my friends who have gone always come back with amazing pictures.
I hate it when people criticize how other people spend their free/vacation time. I always want to say, "But you don't move from your damn couch during baseball season. One could argue that's pathetic, but I won't, because you're passionate about baseball and it makes you happy."
sofar at August 30, 2016 7:35 AM
I generally hate festivals, but it takes all kinds, ya' know. Would the author argue that when non-burning-man-folks choose to go on a vacation or to a health spa or yoga retreat, that their lives are otherwise empty?
We just got back from a wedding in Playa del Carmen. One of the men in our group- a man in his 50's- stayed so stinking drunk the entire time, it was disgusting. Like, passed out at the dinner table during the reception drunk. One night he had to be escorted back to his room by security and HE TRIED TO RUN AWAY FROM THEM! Of course, dude's a drunken idiot when he's home in Austin, too. It bothered me because I felt like his behavior reflected badly on all of us, and he was an obnoxious pain in the ass, not because I really care what he chooses to do to recreate. That's really more an observation about who you're traveling with, though, versus where you go or what you attend.
Ahw at August 30, 2016 8:55 AM
Sturgis, Mardi Gras, Caribbean cruises, pursing any activity on a competitive basis, ...
I was going to say Daniel Yudkinis Yutzi (someone that is stupid) and probably a bit insecure, however then I read this at Quartz:
"Daniel Yudkin, a social psychology PhD candidate at New York University, who has studied transformational experiences at Burning Man ...".
Getting someone to pay for you to go to Burning Man to study "transformation experiences" is pretty cool. A very good gig.
Bob in Texas at August 30, 2016 10:27 AM
"Different People Enjoy Different Leisure Activities, and That's Fine" just doesn't make for a grabby story.
I don't like the Grateful Dead, and going to a GD concert happening would be my idea of hell (right behind Burning Man). But you know what? I've known some people who really enjoy it. Good for them. They're hardly losers. Same with Renaissance faires, monster truck rallies, Disney cruises, romance-novel conventions or what have you. I'm not quite sure why this cat chose this one yearly event as "pathetically empty."
Kevin at August 30, 2016 10:52 AM
Lost my interest in "big" crowd events a long time ago (1 hour to get to car, another to get out of the parking lot).
Best trip ever was to the beach. Oceanfront room. Wife out shopping. Cold beer. Collegiate women's volleyball match below my balcony.
The good life.
Bob in Texas at August 30, 2016 1:14 PM
> the binary encoder wheel
> from a rotary encoder
Never noticed it!——
> And since many won't recognize
> it, it's a fun in-joke, too.
—— Excluded by the cool kids once again.
Crid at August 30, 2016 1:29 PM
Oh, thanx Brad R. Glad you like the encoder! Yeah, I went to Burning Man five years in a row (2002-2006) and had a blast. Now I'm working on a secret land project with lots of nature and no people. No solid shelter, electricity or running water either... and I'm lovin' it. First time it ever dawned on me that I could live without running water and other modern conveniences was at Burning Man, and I always get a kick out of that connection to what I'm doing now.
Little Shiva at August 30, 2016 5:49 PM
"They never go on anywhere near when they were called to"
Sorry -- I could use a little more sleep these days.
They don't go on on time.
And Little Shiva, I didn't want to mention that since I didn't ask before I wrote this, but FYI, everybody else, this is cool as hell, what she's doing.
Amy Alkon at August 30, 2016 6:10 PM
I seriously wonder about this author. What deficiency does he have in his life that would compel him to label Burning Man devotees as middle-aged losers? I'll admit, I don't have much of a life myself, but I suppose that big road trip I take to some part of our glorious country every year means I'm even more pathetic than I realized, in his not-so-humble opinion.
Heh.
mpetrie98 at August 30, 2016 8:02 PM
Seems like he is saying anyone that spends oodles of money going on vacation anywhere are pathetic middle age losers."Hey, you spent thousands on a Hawaiian vacation, you must be a loser. Hey, why is your life so empty that you need to spend thousands to go to Europe, or the beach, or anywhere" As Bugs would say "What a Maroon"
BobN at August 31, 2016 1:52 AM
I spend less going to DragonCon every year than my friends do going to Disney…
They do not stand a chance of engaging in conversations with some of the people I have met at DragonCon. There are very few places where you can speak to deputy Surgeon General Ali Khan and Traci Lords in the same place!
They have writer's workshops - which reminds me that Crid should write a book or two. Spending $200 will not make you a writer… you have to have that gift!
Radwaste at August 31, 2016 6:36 AM
Simply brilliant, Little Shiva. An image that is simultaneously subtle and potent. I salute you!
And Crid, this may be the first time in my life I've been called one of the "cool kids."
Burning Man is not my cup of tea, but it looks like fun, and I can see why people would enjoy it. Certainly it's no more deserving of ridicule than any other choice of vacation. I'm planning a visit to Bletchley Park in the U.K.; is that proof that my days home are "pathetically empty"?
Brad R at August 31, 2016 8:04 AM
Making fun of other people's avocations is an American pastime. Look at how fans of certain sports rag on other sports. But yeah. Burning Man doesn't sound like my thing, but if you enjoy it, go and have fun and don't let me stop you.
Cousin Dave at August 31, 2016 11:36 AM
Lots of people making fun of Pokemon Go players.
The irony is that I still feel funny about admitting it here.
Katrina at August 31, 2016 11:54 AM
For the time, money, and effort, I'd rather do a camping weekend in wool at Gettysburg. It's not something I confine to just one weekend, either, it's all year round! I do vary it with pirate weekends, too.
Speaking of music events-- the best ones to see are often local free concerts in the park.
jefe at August 31, 2016 3:27 PM
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