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:
