Adventures with the BurningMan Power Elite! [this is a multi-part, text-y thing. It will be interesting only if you love or hate BurningMan] If you've arrived in the middle, go back to the beginning. NOTE: throughout this series, marian's writing looks like this. My writing to her looks like this. And my commentary added here, on these pages, looks like this. [At this point, I had completely abandoned the idea that marian could accept & discuss any criticism at all. So I just entertained myself by hammering out cruel truth after cruel truth, and exposing layer after layer of hypocrisy. I open by quoting marian.] you have been needlessly harsh. Oh, please. apparently, it is 'needlessly harsh' to offer criticism in simpler & simpler terms in hopes of having it understood. Yet is perfectly acceptable [for you] to address the critic [me] as, um, quote, a "FUCKING MORON" repeatedly. I'm glad you appointed yourselves dictators of your own little flea circus, instead of running for public office. The BM admin is so willfully blind to their own foibles, and so driven to wield power over someone, anyone, that you would probably get elected. Imagine how quickly you could destroy the concept of 'community' in a civic setting! Why, you wouldn't last a week governing anyone but random stoners and your own band of sycophants. If there are specific issues you'd like to have addressed I'll give you email addresses for the organizer in charge of that area. I give up. I've tried, but all you can do is write back complaining about how hard you work and how hurtful my opinions are. This, interspersed with far more 'needlessly harsh' language than I use. I hope you buy a ticket and volunteer in the future. No thanks and no thanks. Do something worth a hundred bucks [or some of my time] and I'll cough it right up. Until then, I'll stop by and do interesting things in the desert, without feeding your coffers or your egos. thank you for your comments. Oh, thank YOU. It's been most informative. You have reinforced my initial contention that 'you folks are a fucking piece of work.' I feel like i've utterly wasted my time [except for the entertainment value of your comically egocentric responses] trying to communicate my feelings about what is supposed to be a 'participatory' event. Apparently, 'participation' means giving you money and kissing your ass while you act like child-kings. No thanks, I couldn't live w/ myself. [and now for the cruelest truth...] btw, how exactly do YOU participate, marian? [Wha'?] Pushing paper? Deciding how much ticket-money to dole out to your friends for their art installations? [BIFF!] Assuaging your guilt & liability by offering survival tips to the masses? If that makes you a participant, then the guy who rented the warehouse to Andy Warhol was an artist! [BANG!] I think you're a drone with delusions of grandeur and a stunning knack for hypocrisy. [POW!] I'll soon be posting our exchange on my website (the one that you never visited b/c you're sure I'm a 'fucking moron'), in a new section entitled "burningman is dead". Should be good reading. I hope you've enjoyed this lengthy exposé of exactly what kind of people are behind the BurningMan enterprise. Please send in your comments. Unlike marian, I can accept both criticism and support. Back to the Front Page