Some high drama going down in the British Columbia Burning Man Community, again.
They just had their BITF (Burn In The Forest) party, in the middle of a state-wide total fire ban and a State of Emergency where 45,000 people have been displaced from their homes by wild fires in the last few days.
Organizer Krystal says (I’m paraphrasing) “there is a total fire ban every year, the fire chief and local tribe chief both approved our burn, so this is a non-issue”
Long time community member Jackson Smith points out that in past years, they had decided not to burn due to community sensitivities, and had discussed the issue as a community. This year the process appears to have changed, with some hints that a move to the local indigenous reservation may be making it easier to burn.
When do local sensitivities matter? I would think “all the time”, but sadly Burners leave trash and cause problems in many local towns. The “Leave no trace” rule at the Black Rock City event leads to overflowing trash bins in Reno.
Are the Ten Principles just marketing, something to pay lip service to as the corporations sell the tickets and bank the cash? There’s nothing in them about helping communities around the Temporary Autonomous Zone, anyway.
Here is the essence of the question raised. Are we there for ourselves, or are we there to spread Burner culture to the local community?
Great question. Are the Ten Principles only for the event, or does it matter how Burners interact with the Default world? Is the point of all this hedonism, or making the world a better place?
These fires are no joke. Many people have lost their whole community. The Premier of British Columbia declared a State of Emergency, 155 fires are still raging, and 45,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to take time out from his busy schedule of globalist bootlicking to Tweet about it:
To the thousands of evacuees in BC – we're with you & doing all we can to help. A huge thank you to everyone working to keep people safe.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) July 17, 2017
Still, Safety Third, right? Sucks for them, but what you gonna do? There’s fun to be had, and occult rituals to be done. Party up!
This is the official statement on the BITF situation from the event organizer.
Sounds reasonable, right? They consulted with local authorities, the fire chief and the tribe chief said “burn”, so they burned. What’s the problem?
Well, I wasn’t there speaking to the local community about their feelings. We have to rely on multiple accounts from concerned Burners – all of which, of course, were dismissed by the organizers who are trying to bring any questioning offline. Did they learn that in spin class at Esalen or the GLC?
Here are some highlights from the Facebook discussion, I’ll spare you the endless back and forth. Simon Saxomasaurus appears to be the decision-maker. His reasoning for being insensitive to the local disaster and for wanting to stop public discussion and only answer questions by private message? “I’m just a big meanie”. Ok then. There’s nothing in the Ten Principles about Big Meanies, other than that “Radical Inclusion” means you have to let serial killers and child molesters in just as much as Kardashians and Jersey Shore frat bros.
Read the rest of the discussion at the BC Burning Man Community Facebook Group.
I’ll let the lead fire performer safety tech have the last word:
Maybe do something besides copying Burning Man. It happens in a desert for a reason.
There are not enough trolls in the Burner “community”. Actually, what ‘troll’ has come to mean is – someone who says something I don’t like. The community is so conformist, and so many snowflakes melt at even the slightest disagreement, that I’m inclined to side with Jackson as the lone voice of dissent.
LOL. Clearly you haven’t been paying attention. It’s as though trolling people and groups is a full time gig for this guy. He brings nothing to the table except negative feedback. He’s a massive fuckwad.
The jury is still out on who the fuckwads are.
In typical Burner fashion everyone gangs up on the person with a difference of opinion or behavior, using character assassination. Does he hate kittens, too?
It’s all part of group psychology, as exploited by the Borg:
https://vid.me/Nomad-Traveler/albums/group-dynamics
In particular: https://vid.me/Cio0
On the contrary. As a group we have a lot of differing opinions and usually discuss them openly, honestly and respectfully. He could learn a lot by paying attention to those discussions but he’d have to pull his head out of his ass first.
Hi Drama? No Burners.me, no drama in BC. We are actually a pretty fun chill community, except for our resident troll Jackson. You really have to wonder why such a troll would continue to participate in local events that he then spends so much time bashing. To my estimation, since the local burn happened here, he has spent nearly 20 hours creating FB posts, replying to them, contacting other local FB groups to stir the pot, and even trying to stir the pot with local agencies. Jackson doesn’t realize how closely he’s being watched by multiple law enforcement agencies for his actions. He thinks he can stir up shit to his heart’s content with no repercussions. But that’s besides the case, and he’ll likely find out why very soon.
The real question is, does Jackson really think he is welcome ever again at any burn event anywhere? What kind of person trolls his friends, his local events, his fellow burners like this? What type of personality flaw does he have that makes him think anything he is doing is helpful? Multiple people have now been asking him this question. Imagine if he put all this time and energy into something useful to the actual community he purports to be looking out for?
As a troll, we all know Jackson is watching this comment section desperately hoping for some validation from the larger community. Nevermind that he has been roundly trounced in his local groups including his own pet group. Jackson is the classic case of the fool cutting of his own nose to spite his face.
So Jackson calling you out publicly here. Man up. Stop being an asshole to your community. If you can’t do that GTFO, or we’ll help you. You have a habit and history of being a misogynistic threatening troll, who is borderline psychotic and mentally unstable. Multiple women in the community have protection orders against you. You’ve been thrown out of multiple Facebook groups, for threatening or abusive style behaviour. How much of a clue to we have to give you? Can you take a hint? Radical inclusion has its limits, and you’ve far exceeded those.
If you want advice, leave quietly. Say nothing. No one wants to hear ANY of your opinions about ANYTHING ever again. You’ve burned all bridges. Move along to go troll some other group of people.
For the rest of you enjoying your popcorn and following along, ask yourselves this. What does Jackson hope to achieve with this type of inflammatory rhetoric and pot stirring? What’s his end game? Is this the actions of a sane person?
I’m actually concerned for the safety and well being of the local BC community.
I couldn’t have said it better myself! You’re not the only one who’s been concerned for the safety and well being of the local BC community. To answer your question, no these are not the actions of a sane person.
Well, you’re not calling me out publicly are you? You’re hiding behind an anonymous internet emoji hurling BS. So who’s the troll? And threats? Seems more likely that someone is just afraid of addressing real topics and issues in the community.
This is pretty simple. People heard “fire ban” and mistakenly interpreted it as meaning “ban on absolutely all fires.” So they got upset at the idea of some people having a fire. Understandable.
But they didn’t know the reality, that there is not a ban on all fires, and that planned safe fires under the supervision of fire prevention professionals are allowed. The ban is on ordinary burning by the general public.
This is hardly something new. Fireworks are banned here — everybody knows that. But everybody also knows that licenced pyrotechnicians are allowed to set off fancy fireworks in permitted shows with fire crews approving and standing by. Nobody gets upset, in fact people like it. If you whined “how dare you have a pro firework show when fireworks are banned” and got told “they are not banned for professionals doing it right” the response should be, “Oh, I didn’t know that. Complaint withdrawn.”
What I seem to see here is “Because people won’t know that professionally planned fires are not banned, they will get upset, so we should not have our fire because they don’t know this.”
https://www.e-know.ca/news/fireworks-cancelled-as-temperatures-soar/
Cranbook elects to not have fireworks on Canada day during fire ban this is 2015.. But a quick search will show that sometimes large shows are cancelled in support of the folks working the fires.
Anyone who knows the real back story about Jackson Smith, knows that he is BC’s #1 troll. All BC burners are well aware of his multiple instances of trying to stir trouble at every opportunity. This sad excuse for a burner really needs to get a life. One only needs review the postings in that Facebook group listed, to see how he interacts. Oh, that is of course if you can read the posting before he deletes it. You see, for those that aren’t in the know, Jackson created that little BC burning man group above, so that he can moderate discussion, and remove things he doesn’t like. Just check out the screenshot above, where he makes some vague comment about removing a post blah blah.
Jackson is a tiny immature highly function wanna be with Asperger tendencies. He seeks attention any time he feels wronged. In this case he was snubbed by the event several times leading up to, and during the event in his feeble mind. He’s had an axe to grind for years, and the fact he wasn’t getting attention, even though he’s been screaming from his baby crib to be heard.
Jackson and everyone else was invited over to the genuine BC Facebook sites to continue the conversation. No one was hiding behind anything. People are just tired of having him tarnishing our region with his inane half baked rants on his personal Facebook group. Don’t believe me? Go review the link posted above, and see how many likes people posting to him get, versus the almost universal zero likes his posts get.
Burners.Me should be ashamed to print this story. Its pure gossip and click bait. Then again, that is what this site is known for.
You’re welcome to write a guest post.
Ditto reply as to So Tired. Nice try at smear campaign.
In solidarity with the lead fire performer safety tech, maybe burn some of the BRC rave camps this year? Just a question.
Ooops, I may get sued by the Borg. I think Decommodification LLC has claimed trademark/copyright/patent/proprietary rights to all burn-related drama.