What Are The Burning Issues?

Recently our post on crimes got a response from someone calling himself “Larry Harvey”, who purports to speak for Burning Man. They said that the rape kits issue had been dealt with, there was no point getting them on the Playa or anywhere else because they weren’t equipped to handle them and so any samples taken on the Playa couldn’t stand up in court. I thought crimes were decided by a jury and case law, but I’m no expert. Even if they are right on the legal issue, that doesn’t make the actual issue go away. This is a community education and social issue, it’s about protecting the weakest members of our community from those who are clearly invaders, trying to hurt our people and destroy our culture.

Anyway, Larry Harvey’s “nothing to see here, move along, this one’s an old one folks” attitude is completely at odds with my own view of what’s important at Burning Man. I talk to Burners all the time, hundreds of my friends are Burners. Rape kits is by FAR the number one issue that gets brought up that people want me to cover on this blog – mainly because of this ostrich stance from BMOrg.

As the party gets bigger and more famous, less of the sparkly San Francisco rainbow people and more of the druggy thruggy Vegas crowd are going to show up. This is no newsflash, they’re already there. More people, more fame, more demand – but tickets fixed in number for the next few years, and the population cap reached – almost breached. People who bought tickets, in the line for hours not being allowed in. Gate computers going down. Exodus of 9-12 hours for some. MOOP. Trash. Lazy Burners leaving early before teardown. More cops. Cops with dogs. Bicycle theft. Funding art projects. People in RVs. People in plug-n-play camps. People in private planes.

Gee whiz, there’s a lot of issues for Burners. So, you tell us…what do you think are the most pressing issues of the day, for the Burning Man Community? Please comment if you have others.