i don't want to fuel larry harvey's ego by letting his dictatorship get too far under my skin. i've never met him or marian (and don't care to). they seem like exemplary 2-year olds, for whom negative and positive attention have the same value. lookit me! lookit me! lookit me! [throwing cup on floor], burningman is becoming its own stifling, faceless theif of souls (exactly what it sought to escape). we are all welcome to come play in larry's harvey's sandbox, and show our talents and spirit and wallow in our individuality, and do whatever we want, as long as it's exactly what larry and marian want us to do. otherwise, the rangers will goosestep over and kick your ass off the (public) property. this year, we're paying $100 for the privilege of shitting in a portapotty and buying ice on public land. and we have to register our CAMERAS with some bullshit administrative authority! it's a bad fucking joke, it is. like any effective liberal fascist, the bm administration invariably hides behind the rubric of: protecting the *public* (by imposing the boss's whim on his constituents). "Tiki torches are no longer allowed because they are unsafe." What they should have said was- "If you get fucked up and knock over a tiki torch, like we did, you could burn up your camp. Be careful." -or worse- portraying oneself as a fighter of the good fight (when in reality kneeling to the boss, in this case the BLM). "We are struggling with the blm but for now it looks like there won't be any open-playa driving allowed." What should have been said- "burningman doesn't CARE about what you want. what WE want is for the BLM to like us and think we're cool. so we're not going to ruffle their feathers." my cynical suspicion is that the BLM doesn't really give a fuck about larry or marian or burningman. the BLM is just a spectre raised by the bm authority whenever a bulletproof excuse for more rules is needed. it's sort of like goodcop/badcop, except goodcop is the one doing the beating AND blaming it on badcop. lights out- WHACK! lights on- 'my partner's pretty upset, maybe i can help calm him down...[hiding bloody knuckles]' 'the BLM says we can't dig holes in the dirt, or drive on the dirt this year. sorry. if you all behave EXACTLY like we say, maybe they will calm down and trust us more next year.' see the parallels? i'm sure this is the last year i will attend. i'm coming because i want to see a few creative endeavors i would otherwise miss. i will also be busy with counterpsyops against the bm administration. the more oppressive any regime becomes, the more fierce will be the resistance. see you on the playa!
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