B u r n l o g

A Persian Woman’s View on Burning Man by Maryam Karimabadi.

Dear Miss Karimabadi,

I appreciate your negative opinion on Burning Man. Certainly, while there is much to be stimulated and amazed by at the burn, there is also much to be desired. It will never be the perfect event for everyone at all times. What event could ever be?

I also realize you have a unique view based on your relation to Iraq having lived there. I too am appalled by this travesty of misguided bloodshed rooted on inhumane guile and treachery that is largely the fault of the U.S. Still, to target your anger and revulsion about the war at Burning Man attendees because they’re having a brief, good time is far from useful nor tolerable.

You may as well rail against every single boat enthusiast who took their holiday on lakes around the country while dripping fuels into the waters and propelling exhaust into the air. There were certainly far more people doing that around the country and beyond during the Labor Day weekend.

Why not bitch about the millions of people who stayed at home for the holiday. They no doubt raced around towns in cars, trucks, and SUVs to gather tons of food for parties, most of which is planted, grown, harvested or butchered, packaged, and transported via irresponsible and flagrant use of hundreds of petroleum products. Later, they struck up their millions of barbeques which many environmental organizations are finding as much more of a pollution source than previously imagined. Again, I assure you there were far more people at their homes for the holiday than at the burn.

What about just a single day of the holiday weekend in a major Asian city like Calcutta or Beijing where millions are driving recklessly around blackened city streets in filthy cars with little or no pollution regulations? Then there’s China (and the U.S.) with multiplying coal-firing electrical plants from which perhaps billions are receiving power to do things like leave unused lights on, burn toast, play video games, watch bland TV shows and YouTube videos (sorry YouTube, you’re fun but also the tops in largely mindless drivel), etc. The list goes on.

Why is Burning Man singled out then? Is it because people are expressing themselves creatively? Is that a sin or wasteful compared to more “normal” or everyday behavior? Is there wrongfulness inherent in cutting loose and thinking about new things in a new context while having a good time for just seven days? Would it have been okay if everyone at Burning Man went there to drive around in tens of thousands of cars as though running daily errands? Why does Burning Man deserve your ire especially over countless other arguably more frivolous activities elsewhere that don’t even involve art, some of which at Burning Man was intelligent commentary on the war and other social issues?

In the end, my comments are not even about a comparison of polluting activities. They’re about the absurdity of haranguing one group over another just because they’re not thinking like you would for a few days out of the year. You would appear to be asking everyone to only think of the war at all times. That’s not possible nor is it desirable.

We all have to have some fun time away from a thoroughly mangled world at least some of the time if only to recalibrate our thoughts and feelings and to find new perspectives. Here is where Burning Man shines: alternative ideas and communication which is not always about just partying (see below).

P.S. Since you expressed some concern about the apparent lack of “green-ness” at the burn, I’d like to direct you to a recent assessment of just how green it was. You may be surprised and find it in your heart to rethink the surface of event compared to its own heart.