Click here for note regarding
recent technical problems.
This is a curious little narrative. You can actually see my point of view changing, as I write it. At the beginning, I say that I don't know if I even want to set up a Burning Man page, any more. By the end, I'm talking about how to get a group of burners going and giving the reader a set of local links.
Why don't I go back and revise the beginning to give this piece a coherent point of view? Because that very change in point of view was an important part of the experience, and the experience wasn't really complete until I wrote about it. Coherence of viewpoint would come at the expense of the honesty of the writing. One should not adopt an angelic point of view when writing in the first person, because that's not how we experience life.
Also, I'm not quite sure what to make of Burning Man or of the Burner subculture, yet, so any "ultimate point of view" taken here would be a premature one, subject to massive revision in an unforeseeable future. I have seen some burners behave in a manner that suggested kind intentions and responsible attitudes. But, when I see the level of petty vindictiveness certain members of BMORG are willing to encourage over the slightest bit of dissent, I wonder if what I have witnessed is a reflection of the best that man has to offer or the worst. Did they do what is kind (or right) by design, as a matter of individual choice, or did they do it by chance, the reflex of those who have been conditioned to go along to get along? Was I being shown the goodness of strangers, or merely being appeased as a matter of habit?
I don't know. I think the optimistic view is more accurate. My guess would be that the online Burner subculture and the offline Burner subculture are two very different entities. Further experience may prove me wrong, or I might never find out at all. Until I do, though, I am not about to pretend that my perspective in this story is anything other than a work in progress to any substantial extent.
Here's the story.
