A conundrum for sure. Is it arson to burn something that was built to be burned? As if the Burning Man festival wasn’t (and always has been) controversial on many levels already.
Burning Man Torched Early; Artist Held
Burning Man became Burnt Man four days early on Tuesday, and a San Francisco performance artist was arrested on suspicion of igniting the signature figure of the counterculture festival in the remote Nevada desert.
The early morning fire scorched about 85 percent of the structure, Burning Man spokeswoman Andie Grace said. Event engineers decided it would be best to dismantle it and rebuild a less elaborate version, accomplishing in two days what normally takes weeks so the figure would be finished in time for Saturday night’s scheduled burning, she said.
The approximately 40-foot-tall wood and neon structure was supposed to go up in flames in the ceremonial climax of the weeklong annual event. Burning Man, an art, music and performance festival that draws thousands of people, began in San Francisco in 1986 and moved to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in 1990.
Arsonist… or something
Dufus-fest.
“Arsonist… or something”
“Selfish putz”, more likely. There’s always some loser who ruins things for everyone else to try to grab all the attention.
Perhaps the real culprit is Absinthe?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe
Who here has drunk (pun intended) some of the green stuff?
At the height of this popularity, absinthe was portrayed as a dangerously addictive, psychoactive drug; the chemical thujone was blamed for most of its deleterious effects.
** Could someone explain how you include an image in the post?
Sheesh. What a pain it is when we don’t all pull together in counter-culture.
RBG
This is what happens when you let anyone with money attend the party. All Burning Man needs now is Paris Hilton …. That’s Hot!
Now all the dopers won’t have anything to ‘trip’ to at the end of the week.
>>** Could someone explain how you include an image in the post?
I would be interested in knowing that also.
7. Me also, it seems a well gaurded secret. I think you would have to read the WordPress users manual, as this question has been asked numerous time…no response.
If this artist picture is the real one from the police photo, it appears he did it for recognition, and not malice.
Is this in fact illegal? Maybe they had a permit to burn The Man, only on one particular day.
#8 I think you would have to read the WordPress users manual, as this question has been asked numerous time…no response.
I thought the response was that only the DU Staff can insert video/images.
10. JCD said on another post that anyone can insert images as long as they werent too wide.
Now that they’re having their own people arrested, I guess the Burning Man festival is now officially “commercial” and far too passée to be considered cool any more.
Apparently in the U.S., the universe doesn’t tend towards chaos.
In the U.S., chaos tends toward the commercial, the exact opposite of the original concept of Burning Man.
I don’t know…Burning man has just plain sucked for years…wasn’t it all about being different…sure, this guy is probably not this, but it seems it could use something to put a little chaos and spark back into an otherwise completely non-counter culture event that claims to still matter.
No kidding! Let’s see, this is a counter-culture event. Sooooo…… in some sort of endless loop, once you get a bunch of counter-culture people together, doesn’t that form some kind of culture? Soooo…. in order to run counter to the counter-culture-culture, this sort of activity was bound (nay, destined) to happen!
And, since this guy was counter to the counter-culture-culture, shouldn’t the rest of the counter-culture be sitting around saying: “whoa, dude, that was totally marvy!” instead of having the guy arrested?
Now, since they did have him arrested, we can assume that rather than counter-culture, Burning Man is now only considered sub-culture, or even haute-culture. So, the guy was still true to the intent of Burning Man, which was a celebration and expression of counter-culture. Although really, he was being counter-sub-culture or counter-haute-culture.
If you’ve read this far, you lose 10 IQ points, do not pass go, do NOT collect $200.
:^)
The real story here is in the headline.
….Maniac Torches Structure
Who would have thought there was a Maniac at the Burning Man Fest!
The guy’s what, 5’6″? 5’7″? Gosh they make selfish smug pyros short these days. Worst part is, he’s even smiling in the mugshot. That’s presuming the photo above is of the arsonist. If he wanted to set a giant wooden construct on fire, he should just make his own. Leave other people’s stuff alone for pete’s sake.
#4: You killed me! 🙂
He looks so…friendly and harmless…apparently it is becoming more difficult for the ego differentiation. In my earlier times – a long hair would do, and today? Tattoo, piercing, shaved heads – still not enough – so setting the Burning Man on [premature] fire would fit the bill, no? Job well done, dude!
I would not be surprised. if the entire “desert parade” were more infiltrated by the FBI than the old CP of USA.
There is more:
This is not the first time the Man has required rebuilding. In 1990, the Man was accidentally cut up with a chain saw while in storage prior to the event. It was fully rebuilt in time to be transported to the desert.
Accidentally?
Ha Ha
The whole thing stunk of that 90’s “Look, look! We’re almost like the 60’s!” zeitgeist. Actually, the diminutive pyromaniac is more 60’s than the nattering nabobs of “Edge City” that he offended. He at least carries on the tradition of tearing up money and throwing it down upon the NYSE floor like Abbie and Jerry did.
Remember: an incendiary society is a polite society.
I love it. Punk’d Man!
Maybe now our society can get back to eating TV dinners in front of “Gunsmoke” reruns as God intended us to do.
Burning man has been going on for 21 years now. While I think this guy is a dumb-*ss, maybe he was just making a statement and trying to shake things up a little about people’s preconceptions of how Burning Man is supposed to play out. Burning Man is supposed to include the unexpected, no? Maybe by having people create their own impromptu man to burn, a different angle is introduced.
If you know HTML, you should be able to insert an image.
But be aware that some sites do not let you link to a photo. They either don’t show at all, (like Wikepedia) or end up displaying an ad instead of a photo. I was not able to post a photo linked from Wikepedia. If you really have to post a photo, save it, post it on a photo site and then link to it.
I’ve never heard of any severe penalties for jumping the gun.
Hoo boy, all those poor desert hippies. Whatever will they do now?
#1 You’ve obviously never been to burning man. I doubt you have an appreciation for art.
Your summary of the festival you’ve never been to is an excellent reflection of your intellect.
You guys really are shallow unimaginative fools.
First of all Burning man isn’t a celebration of counterculture. It’s a temporary community dedicated to art, experience and self expression culminating in a cathartic burn.
You’ve obviously bought into the mainstream media’s popular misconception about the festival. You have no clue what it’s actually like. Please don’t attend as you probably won’t fit in here.
Classic 195 pixel wide picture of Johnny:
Did it work? If not, follow the link, it’s a great pic!
How about this one, at 230 pix:
Did it work? Well, if not, at least links work…
#26 – no. its about doing a bunch of drugs, and partying hard, seeing crazy shit and a huge bonfire.
thats it – it just ended early this year…
So then #26 tallwookie have you been or are you talking out your ass?
So NOBODY has sampled Absinthe?????
For the picture, I know HTML, I’ve tried, doesn’t work.
So there must be a WordPress way of doing it.
[IMG=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Absinthe-glass.jpg]