It was vaguely interesting after skimming past the self-stroking prose of just how superior a drug-fueled (trust-funded?) life of art is and the name-dropping of the fiancée...I said vaguely! And then I got to the word “mulitverse.”
It said to me, "I'm a drugged out 60 year old who sent time at a drug fest. Aren't I cool?".
Call me narrow minded but I don't tolerate drunks or people who use drugs. They disgust me. That may seem harsh but if you watch a movie where the actors are smoking marijuana, they think they are so cool just because they take mind altering drugs and demean those of us who don't.
Somebody has to work and support the economy and the freeloading drugies.
Nick Gillespie is an editor at large at Reason, the libertarian magazine of "free minds and free markets," and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie.
A two-time finalist for digital National Magazine Awards for his work on "UPS vs. FEDEX: Ultimate Whiteboard Mix" and the documentary series Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey: How to Fix the Mistake on the Lake and Other Once-Great American Cities, Gillespie is co-author, with Matt Welch, of The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America (2011/2012).
…”For the past 20 years, Gillespie has been a writer, editor and intellectual godfather for Reason, the movement’s leading journal since its founding in 1968." The Daily Beast named him one of "The Right's Top 25 Journalists," calling him "clear-headed, brainy...[and] among the foremost libertarians in America."
Gillespie served as the editor in chief Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 through 2017 and was Reason magazine's editor in chief from 2000 to 2008. Under his direction, Reason won the 2005 Western Publications Association "Maggie" Award for Best Political Magazine. Gillespie originally joined Reason's staff in 1993 as an assistant editor and ascended to the top slot in 2000. In 2004, Gillespie edited the book Choice: The Best of Reason, an anthology of the magazine's best articles.
Sorry Ann, I just don't have any tolerance of someone who promotes drug use. We have a huge drug problem in this country and having a prominent person extol the use of drugs is too much for me.
I expanded my mind once many years ago with LSD. It really did have a positive affect on me. It did open up my mind and I saw the world as a metaphor for the first time. But I did it once and that was enough. I find a great book or a great poem or a great movie to have the same effect on opening up awareness and I never needed a drug to enjoy nature. The last time I saw Timothy Leary he had to be carried. He seemed to possess the mind of gourd. That can happen to anyone for many reasons but I certainly saw it as many years "responsible" psychedelic use. There was no one inside his body. Not everybody can afford to "drop out". That often takes a trust fund or friends with cash to spare. Food costs more that drugs do these days and you have to find a way to function and get food. Someone has to feed us. Pot is now legal as I think it should be. Alcohol and alcoholism doesn't make for a sharper mind but they have always been legal. So there are lots of ways to damage our brains. But the libertarian ideal that we can do whatever we want has always come off as arrogant and narcissistic to me. Life isn't easy. Love ends up causing us grief. Losses are hard to take. Aging is hard to accept. But I choose things like baseball as an escape from the weight of responsibility. I drink coffee every morning and it wakes me. "Woke" is not a part of my vocabulary nor is it a threat to me. It's a political ploy. I write and I'm an actress but as you get older you realize life is about your friends and family as we face the inevitable. We have to be there for each other. And I think you have to have a mind grounded in that reality to do that.
Sep 7, 2023·edited Sep 7, 2023Liked by Nick Gillespie
“ Somebody has to work and support the economy and the freeloading drugies.”
Just pointing out the discrepancy between what you wrote and the reality of the situation. The author works and supports a lot of other people working (his staff). You made it sound like he didn’t. Considering the cost of attendance at BM, the overwhelming majority of attendees also work.
OTOH, you’re correct that we have a drug problem, but it cuts across all classes. Locally I have found out that the police where I live have stopped arresting for certain drug offenses because most of the rich people in our gated community are a lot of the offenders. If the cops only went after the poor blacks and ignored the rich whites, it would look bad. Also, the inhabitants of the gated community are very influential on top of being rich and they will make trouble if approached, so they have to be ignored for political reasons. So now the police don’t go after anyone. Fentanyl, I believe.
I don't disagree. I generally agree with the Libertarian idea that people should be allowed to do whatever they want with their bodies. However, most of these drugs are still illegal. If it's legal and purchased at a legal US business, cool. However people that use illegal drugs are funding the the most disgusting things. If you buy illegal drugs, you are supporting cartels, murder, human trafficking and the worst atrocities committed by mankind.
prominent people extolling the use of drugs, best you not watch Bill Mahrer on the Joe Rogan show or you will go bonkers. . Bill is 67 and evidently doesn't realize that instead of making him look cool, he looks and acts like an immature teenager.and an unfunny one at that. Indeed,at times he seems desperate to ward off aging.
On his Man Cave show, Mahrer drinks and smokes during the entire hour long show until he appears disheveled and glassy eyed- not a good look. Plus he is not funny - indeed a think his nemesis Donald Trump is far funnier.
At least it appears that this was a one time thing for Gillespie not a way of life. - .
Did you see the masculine energy...her picking up him...her proposing...her running 31 miles...what happened to men getting down on a knee and proposing...
After being more in my masculine, I welcome him to take my role back. It's a hard dynamic to reengage when you have been driving the bus so to speak. I prefer to be the passenger!
Joe Biden was there. Played lead guitar for The Beatles. Right after giving Jimmy Hendrix a lesson. Flew home from Viet Nam just to attend. Had to pilot a beat up Huey copter. He's now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The vote was tied, but at the end of the show they turned off the lights and had a recount...it was unanimous.
Sep 7, 2023·edited Sep 7, 2023Liked by Nick Gillespie
Oh come on, it was nice to read about communal showers without the author droning on about the degree of equity afforded male, female, trans, cis, bi, questioning…. participants. It seems the only concern among them was making sure to wash off that awful sweat/sunscreen smell after a week of 100-degree weather. I don’t share the author’s fondness for “mind-expanding” chemicals and my extreme experiences don’t include camping in an area so desolate and inhospitable that even bugs avoid it, but hey, to each his own. Dehydration and sunburn aside, it was probably a better “extreme experience” choice for him than say, rock climbing a sheer cliff with the risk of falling into a canyon while his mind was expanding.
I’m on board with the whole premise though. It strikes me as a sort of Woodstock without the great music. In a country of increasing regulation, mandates and tribalism, I’m not surprised that 70,000 people showed up to let their hair down and take their clothes off for a week of uninhibited frivolity. The press may have described it as a mud pit but at least mud can be washed away, unlike the governmental and work place constraints most of them likely went there to escape.
As someone who has been to the event a few times, I was reading a bunch of news about it and really thought it was a major disaster. I appreciated this story because it cleared up a lot of disinfo about the event such as rumors of an ebola outbreak and flesh-eating parasites. Maybe it is more interesting if you know people at the event and were worried about their safety. Nice to have someone clear up all the disinfo!
If that’s the only takeaway from this piece, that MSM is a self-serving, self-absorbed creature hungry for the mass ‘likes’, fine by me.
Of course, I was more interested in the tribal police smashing up the ‘peaceful environmental protesters’ along the entrance road, who somehow see themselves as a privileged class.
It provided a drastic contrast to every other article I've read about the Burning Man "fiasco" and did so with somebody who was actually there.
That's real journalism, and this is the only outlet I've seen that did real journalism on the subject. I learned a lot and am grateful for this article.
Funny, I thought it was interesting. I would never attend Burning Man, but I can appreciate that it's good for the soul to step outside of your routine and commune with a different group of people. And I appreciated the contrast from the apocalypse the MSM reported.
I’ve met Nick. Nice guy. But I expected to read more about his fiancée, who I know from ‘Mostly Weekly with Andrew Heaton,’ the courtship and proposal. I couldn’t care less about Burning Man.
C’mon, guys…it’s the ~FREE~ press for a reason: it’s a marketplace for ideas. Nobody wants to buy everything in a market. I don’t disparage a meat market because it sells liver; I just don’t buy it.
Sure it was silly but most of us know little about Burning Man, other than the obsession of the rest of the media with that bacchanal of banality. So it was worhwhile.
Until this year I had never heard of Burning Man. I think I could have lived a good life having never heard of it.
Maybe Bari could have someone do a story on punkin’ chuckin’. Halloween is coming, maybe y’all would like to hear about pumpkin catapult contests in the south. A bunch of hillbillies gather in a big field with their homemade contraptions and a pile of huge pumpkins.....No?
Or perhaps a follow up on Joe Kennedy, the coach from Bremerton High School who has now been forced to resign because of retaliation. This after the SCOTUS ruling reinstated him after he was fired for praying of all things.
Kennedy hints at retaliation but doesn’t elaborate. The slothful press ( AP News , Seattle Times) as expected belittle Kennedy and the court that ruled in his favor. It is hard to believe anyone saw this as more then a symbolic victory. Who moves 3,000 miles for a 5,000$ part-time job? No players , parents, coaches or teachers are quoted. The reports only spout pre approved platitudes and hint at Kennedy being a Christian nationalist( white supremacist). If your hope is to be uninformed the MSM is the place for you.
I remember the days when the P-I was still around and the ST was being accused of being conservative....sort of like Lenin being right of Stalin.. They do toe the downtown/corporate line though remarkably well though.
It takes a lot of time and skill to build a trebuchet. Also think of the cultural value of throwing a pumpkin a couple of hundred yards. It's God like!
I've never been to one but I thought I'd just throw that out there.
I’d love to see a day of trebuchets throwing whatever, followed by a great big old cookout, and then a really fine evening exhibition of said trebuchets flinging flaming balls of whatever into a big lake, or even the ocean.
Yeah - do it on the beach in August, late one night with the Perseid meteor showers in their full glory. Yep - that’d do it for me - anybody up for it?
Great idea. I'd move the date to post labor day when the beach crowds diminish and the weather cools a bit. Maybe they could aim the trebuchets at a few of the massive wind mills they're planning to install off the Jersey coast. They could also do a sort of Viking funeral for the dead whales and dolphins that are washing up on the beach in record numbers from the sonar mapping they're doing.
I just finished an article that off-shore wind development has hit a snag. Seems that inflation has resulted in higher costs and interest (who could have anticipated such a thing?) so they need to be subsidized 50%. Several companies have reportedly surrendered their leases.
To take your comparison a bit further, one might “subscribe” to a “market” because there was an industrious and eloquent chef working there who always served all the best cuts of steak. You went to the market in hopes of getting one of those steaks, or at least a half decent pork chop or something. After all, that was on the menu when the market opened, and it was a hell of a lot better than what other folks were serving. Over time though, the quality of the steak waned and in some cases disappeared. You still go to the market for the steak, even if it’s over-cooked. Today though, there is only liver...or maybe chitlins. Intestines, masquerading as wholesome eating. Lately, The Free Press has been heavy on liver and chitlins, with the occasional choice steak. Incidentally, I enjoy eating liver more than I enjoyed reading this article. I reckon I’ll be back again tomorrow though.
I get having variety, but what was this even supposed to inform me about?
Yes, I’m familiar with weirdos going out to the desert and doing a bunch of drugs. Nothing special happened except a bunch of yuppies flipped out over getting a little wet and muddy.
Ever hear the expression, “a slow newsday”? This was an example.
Perhaps think of it as something that makes us appreciate the good stuff even more. I agree that today’s was, well, weak. But the comments here still make me smile, even if the blog itself didn’t do much for me.
How on gods green earth could there be "a slow newsday" in 2023? The entire planet is a complete sh*tshow on the hour/every hour.
I think it's more like "I'm Bari's friend and she's giving me a chance to publish a fluff piece".....which is fine, but lets at the very least be honest and call it what it is.... :-)
Burning Man Project’s mission is to produce the annual event known as Burning Man and to guide, nurture and protect the more permanent community created by its culture. Our intention is to generate society that connects each individual to his or her creative powers, to participation in community, to the larger realm of civic life, and to the even greater world of nature that exists beyond society.
We believe that the experience of Burning Man can produce positive spiritual change in the world. To this end, it is equally important that we communicate with one another, with the citizens of Black Rock City and with the community of Burning Man wherever it may arise. Burning Man is radically inclusive, and its meaning is potentially accessible to anyone.
The touchstone of value in our culture will always be immediacy: experience before theory, moral relationships before politics, survival before services, roles before jobs, embodied support before sponsorship. Finally, in order to accomplish these ends, Burning Man must endure as a self-supporting enterprise that is capable of sustaining the lives of those who dedicate themselves to its work. From this devotion spring those duties that we owe to one another.
Beef tongue sounds terrible but is, in fact, the tenderest beef cut there is. Why? Because the tongue is unique in having muscle fibers oriented perpendicularly to one another. Think: x, y, and z-axes—tongues have muscle fibers oriented in all 3 directions. Yes, really. It’s why we can talk intelligibly (even if often not intelligently).
Stop at the Taco Truck at the gate to the dump—yes they're the best. They'll have a meat called 'la lingua', lambs tongue; its the best. The taco truck mainly serves the gardeners dropping off garden waste; surprisingly, those guys are quite discriminating about quality food. They won't stop for anything poorly prepared.
Anyway, I've never given Burning Man more than a few moments thought, and my perception was not entirely positive--I thought participants had too much time and money on their hands. But, I subscribe to TFP precisely because I want to maintain an open mind, so I happily read this piece. It actually made me realize that I'm free to choose how I spend my week off however I want, so to the participants of Burning Man, have at it!
The most salient point of the piece to me was it's description of how the press covered it. I observed in real time that they were narrative building, not just reporting facts. That's an important lesson to take away and remember the next time there's a big news story of any kind.
I so agree! I have relatives who attend on a reg. basis. I was wondering what I'd hear about the "debacle" from them in a couple of weeks when we're together. The MSM has portrayed it as a total disaster, so it's nice to hear that it was a good time for some! Nick- I must say- you look pretty good for an old man of 60, and your fiancé looks very strong!! You're lucky to have snagged her!!
“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” ~ H.L. Mencken
I've followed Burning Man since its inception on a San Francisco beach in 1986. There is a lot more to it than naked revelers doing drugs. It's not for me, but thank God somewhere in America freedom still exists to cut loose a little. Enjoy, Burners, and ignore the Puritans with the too-tight underwear.
This reflects my feelings perfectly. Thank you. I found the story interesting and entertaining, if not particularly edifying. Not sure what's with all the negativity.
Sep 7, 2023·edited Sep 7, 2023Liked by Nick Gillespie
The Free Press publishes an article that tells a story contrary to the main stream media narrative... the literal ethos of this publication...and the comments are full of a bunch of conservative puritanicals are asking Bari to "do better" because the event is, what exactly? Not at a church? lol... Doesn't matter how "open minded" and "anti mainstream" people claim to be, if its not about their priorities, its not worth anyones time apparently. Love to see how inconsistent and intolerant most of you still are <3
And only yesterday they were all here saying how much they loved TFP and were so glad they paid money to subscribe. On all the rest of the days they just show up and complain.
Me too what? I’m not complaining, simply observing. My observation is that the majority of the comments are always people complaining that they don’t like the content on TFP. It’s always “you can do better, Bari” and “why is this article here” or “Bari doesn’t like RFK Jr” or “Bari doesn’t realize vaccines actually do cause autism”. The only topic anyone seems to agree with Bari on is outlawing trans care for teenagers. This happens every single day. It’s baffling behavior. But if you like constantly reading stuff that you disagree with, go for it.
But everybody thinks they are just observing. If you cannot see that your negative comments, including this one, are in fact complaining, I can't explain it to you. I am not even sure what your POV is on the subject topic so I am not agreeing or disagreeing witb that. I just find it humorous that people waste energy complaining about people complaining; my humorous observation, if you will. I do disagree with your "it's always ..." . That implies to me that you focus on what you deem negative and disregard the rest.
I don’t have a POV on today’s article. I find it not humorous, but bizarre and weird that most of the commenters at TFP spend money and time reading stuff they don’t agree with, and then going on about it in the comments. And you’re correct that you can’t explain to me why my observation is actually “complaining”, because it’s not complaining. As for “your negative comments including this one “, well, what are the others?
We'll have to agree to disagree because IMO you are complaining. About people complaining (which you admit by acknowledging you don't have a POV on the article) and I find that humorous. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Enjoy the rest of your day.
My sentiments exactly. I lean conservative but many of those comments are embarrassing. The idea of "unplugging" from normal society for one week in the company of free spirits sounds refreshing to me, and it makes me want to attend Burning Man at least once in my lifetime. Life is short...let's have some fun!
On the contrary, there are a lot of topics covered I don't necessarily agree with or care about, but I still see the value of reading different peoples perspectives. I don't think her point was to create a publication with a new "universal opinion". Its about learning and thinking outside of your own rigid frameworks. It never intended to be a group think enabler.
I am not opining one way or the other about your POV. I am just pointing out that you too are a complainer. You are just complaining about negative commentary. Which negative commentary is after all that commenter's opinion. So keep putting lipstick on that pig but you too are intolerant od diverse opinion.
My kids have all gone over the years, they loved it Kevin and I have to tell you, you would always want and need them to vote they are America’s finest even if it’s coming from their mother!
Hi Skinny. Thanks for asking. Buried with work and not happy that these bonus summer days are not being spent in the ocean. But, if that's the greatest of my complaints, I'm pretty blessed.
Yip good to Bruce, hubby good, kids great and grandchildren even better, I to am truly blessed, thank you for asking. Hope you manage before the summer is out to get some time off from work to spend at the ocean - enjoy if you do!
“ Often miscategorized as socialist because commerce is banned and gifting encouraged, the event is, in fact, the ultimate expression of a capitalist economy that throws off so much surplus wealth, it’s where tens of thousands of people can gather to create self-destructing artifacts. Burning Man takes place way up and beyond Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs,” and its function is to remind us all to be intentional and inspired rather than reactive and routine in our grind-it-out lives.”
Oh lighten up. An puff piece about a puff subject is practically an invitation to be dunked on. People are just having fun in the comments. Tone police are so self-righteous.
Now if Bari would do a piece on Fyre Fest 2.0, THAT one would be fun.
My kids have gone to burning man, and I’ve done enough weird things in my life to feel like I get it. I am totally onboard with humans pushing themselves in strange and generally harmless ways.
The press coverage was ridiculous. Most Burners are mentally prepared to deal with whatever happens on the playa. There was no real danger, but a lot of schadenfreude from the sidelines.
I confess that the charms of "Burning Man" completely elude me. Would much rather stay home with a good book. Nonetheless, this piece is another useful reminder about the complete untrustworthiness of the legacy press.
Or.....there's Ben Shapiro's take on the entire fiasco.
"
So now, I get to joke about how a bunch of morons decided they were going to jet-set into the desert, in the middle of nowhere — where it's 115 degrees — to screw each other. Then there's a giant, Biblical-style rainstorm and flood and no one bothered to bring enough wood to build an ark.
Some Burning Man revelers said Sunday their spirits remain unbroken.
Unfortunately, their toilets do remain broken. And so they are just sitting there in their own poop, screwing each other. It sounds like the height of human experience.
The elites there treated it as though they escaped the beaches at Normandy. You wonder why people don't trust the elite. You wonder why there's a giant cultural gap between the Left Coast and the East Coast on one side and everybody in the middle of the country on the other."
Yep, "a bunch of morons screwing in their own poop." Nicely sums it up. And they wonder why they're held in ridicule and contempt.....
It’s funny, I’m a Daily Wire subscriber... I listen to every one of his shows... I’m generally “conservative”... but he couldn’t be more wrong on his take of Burning Man. I literally LOL’d his ridiculously stupid commentary about it.
Love The Free Press but.....
****yawn****
I agree. This seemed a pompous letter to self.
It was vaguely interesting after skimming past the self-stroking prose of just how superior a drug-fueled (trust-funded?) life of art is and the name-dropping of the fiancée...I said vaguely! And then I got to the word “mulitverse.”
It said to me, "I'm a drugged out 60 year old who sent time at a drug fest. Aren't I cool?".
Call me narrow minded but I don't tolerate drunks or people who use drugs. They disgust me. That may seem harsh but if you watch a movie where the actors are smoking marijuana, they think they are so cool just because they take mind altering drugs and demean those of us who don't.
Somebody has to work and support the economy and the freeloading drugies.
If anyone needs drugs or alcohol to feel "cool", that says it all doesn't it?
It's not to feel cool; it's to have fun.
I'm sure everyone has their own reason to consume alcohol but my opinion is they're just excuses, one can do all of that even better without it.
All of those junkies defecation on the streets and passed out in San Francisco don't look like they are having fun.
Nick Gillespie is an editor at large at Reason, the libertarian magazine of "free minds and free markets," and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie.
A two-time finalist for digital National Magazine Awards for his work on "UPS vs. FEDEX: Ultimate Whiteboard Mix" and the documentary series Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey: How to Fix the Mistake on the Lake and Other Once-Great American Cities, Gillespie is co-author, with Matt Welch, of The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America (2011/2012).
…”For the past 20 years, Gillespie has been a writer, editor and intellectual godfather for Reason, the movement’s leading journal since its founding in 1968." The Daily Beast named him one of "The Right's Top 25 Journalists," calling him "clear-headed, brainy...[and] among the foremost libertarians in America."
Gillespie served as the editor in chief Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 through 2017 and was Reason magazine's editor in chief from 2000 to 2008. Under his direction, Reason won the 2005 Western Publications Association "Maggie" Award for Best Political Magazine. Gillespie originally joined Reason's staff in 1993 as an assistant editor and ascended to the top slot in 2000. In 2004, Gillespie edited the book Choice: The Best of Reason, an anthology of the magazine's best articles.
Sorry Ann, I just don't have any tolerance of someone who promotes drug use. We have a huge drug problem in this country and having a prominent person extol the use of drugs is too much for me.
I expanded my mind once many years ago with LSD. It really did have a positive affect on me. It did open up my mind and I saw the world as a metaphor for the first time. But I did it once and that was enough. I find a great book or a great poem or a great movie to have the same effect on opening up awareness and I never needed a drug to enjoy nature. The last time I saw Timothy Leary he had to be carried. He seemed to possess the mind of gourd. That can happen to anyone for many reasons but I certainly saw it as many years "responsible" psychedelic use. There was no one inside his body. Not everybody can afford to "drop out". That often takes a trust fund or friends with cash to spare. Food costs more that drugs do these days and you have to find a way to function and get food. Someone has to feed us. Pot is now legal as I think it should be. Alcohol and alcoholism doesn't make for a sharper mind but they have always been legal. So there are lots of ways to damage our brains. But the libertarian ideal that we can do whatever we want has always come off as arrogant and narcissistic to me. Life isn't easy. Love ends up causing us grief. Losses are hard to take. Aging is hard to accept. But I choose things like baseball as an escape from the weight of responsibility. I drink coffee every morning and it wakes me. "Woke" is not a part of my vocabulary nor is it a threat to me. It's a political ploy. I write and I'm an actress but as you get older you realize life is about your friends and family as we face the inevitable. We have to be there for each other. And I think you have to have a mind grounded in that reality to do that.
“ Somebody has to work and support the economy and the freeloading drugies.”
Just pointing out the discrepancy between what you wrote and the reality of the situation. The author works and supports a lot of other people working (his staff). You made it sound like he didn’t. Considering the cost of attendance at BM, the overwhelming majority of attendees also work.
OTOH, you’re correct that we have a drug problem, but it cuts across all classes. Locally I have found out that the police where I live have stopped arresting for certain drug offenses because most of the rich people in our gated community are a lot of the offenders. If the cops only went after the poor blacks and ignored the rich whites, it would look bad. Also, the inhabitants of the gated community are very influential on top of being rich and they will make trouble if approached, so they have to be ignored for political reasons. So now the police don’t go after anyone. Fentanyl, I believe.
I don't disagree. I generally agree with the Libertarian idea that people should be allowed to do whatever they want with their bodies. However, most of these drugs are still illegal. If it's legal and purchased at a legal US business, cool. However people that use illegal drugs are funding the the most disgusting things. If you buy illegal drugs, you are supporting cartels, murder, human trafficking and the worst atrocities committed by mankind.
Lonesome. If you admit to having no tolerance for
prominent people extolling the use of drugs, best you not watch Bill Mahrer on the Joe Rogan show or you will go bonkers. . Bill is 67 and evidently doesn't realize that instead of making him look cool, he looks and acts like an immature teenager.and an unfunny one at that. Indeed,at times he seems desperate to ward off aging.
On his Man Cave show, Mahrer drinks and smokes during the entire hour long show until he appears disheveled and glassy eyed- not a good look. Plus he is not funny - indeed a think his nemesis Donald Trump is far funnier.
At least it appears that this was a one time thing for Gillespie not a way of life. - .
He's still an arrogant man-boy that dyes his hair to match his all black outfits.
I'm sure there are many women out there asking, "How did I let Nick Gillespie slip through my fingers."
There are many people who smoke pot regularly or have a drink after work and are very productive members of society. I know a few!
I'm sure his fiancé is impressed :-)
Did you see the masculine energy...her picking up him...her proposing...her running 31 miles...what happened to men getting down on a knee and proposing...
I think first there has to be a man.
Be nice.
After being more in my masculine, I welcome him to take my role back. It's a hard dynamic to reengage when you have been driving the bus so to speak. I prefer to be the passenger!
No less than the paeans to "Woodstock" we've had to endure over the years. How many claim to have been at that disaster of debauchery?
Joe Biden was there. Played lead guitar for The Beatles. Right after giving Jimmy Hendrix a lesson. Flew home from Viet Nam just to attend. Had to pilot a beat up Huey copter. He's now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The vote was tied, but at the end of the show they turned off the lights and had a recount...it was unanimous.
His horse naturally won at Saratoga too. After all, he’s where he should be all the time.
Go Carly, go Carly!
Oh come on, it was nice to read about communal showers without the author droning on about the degree of equity afforded male, female, trans, cis, bi, questioning…. participants. It seems the only concern among them was making sure to wash off that awful sweat/sunscreen smell after a week of 100-degree weather. I don’t share the author’s fondness for “mind-expanding” chemicals and my extreme experiences don’t include camping in an area so desolate and inhospitable that even bugs avoid it, but hey, to each his own. Dehydration and sunburn aside, it was probably a better “extreme experience” choice for him than say, rock climbing a sheer cliff with the risk of falling into a canyon while his mind was expanding.
I’m on board with the whole premise though. It strikes me as a sort of Woodstock without the great music. In a country of increasing regulation, mandates and tribalism, I’m not surprised that 70,000 people showed up to let their hair down and take their clothes off for a week of uninhibited frivolity. The press may have described it as a mud pit but at least mud can be washed away, unlike the governmental and work place constraints most of them likely went there to escape.
at least he didnt do BM by "zoom"
Great response!
As someone who has been to the event a few times, I was reading a bunch of news about it and really thought it was a major disaster. I appreciated this story because it cleared up a lot of disinfo about the event such as rumors of an ebola outbreak and flesh-eating parasites. Maybe it is more interesting if you know people at the event and were worried about their safety. Nice to have someone clear up all the disinfo!
If that’s the only takeaway from this piece, that MSM is a self-serving, self-absorbed creature hungry for the mass ‘likes’, fine by me.
Of course, I was more interested in the tribal police smashing up the ‘peaceful environmental protesters’ along the entrance road, who somehow see themselves as a privileged class.
Different laws on the Res.
In the desert, restricting someone's travel is life threatening.
Yup. Facts before feelings…
A "major disaster" is what happened in Hawaii. Voluntarily participating in an event is not a disaster.
Well said. A little perspective is always nice.
However, we are now living in the post-truth world, either reality is possible, perhaps both realities are possible.
It provided a drastic contrast to every other article I've read about the Burning Man "fiasco" and did so with somebody who was actually there.
That's real journalism, and this is the only outlet I've seen that did real journalism on the subject. I learned a lot and am grateful for this article.
Lee Fang wrote on it
Much better article too.
I liked both articles.
but... "if its not about a topic I care personally about, than its not worth publishing" is that what you were trying to say?
an FP intern somewhere: “Burning man Bad, check”
Lol, with these kind of articles I always wonder if I missed the point or is it just stretching the mundane to a breaking point.
Funny, I thought it was interesting. I would never attend Burning Man, but I can appreciate that it's good for the soul to step outside of your routine and commune with a different group of people. And I appreciated the contrast from the apocalypse the MSM reported.
I feel like it was a decent further expose of our shit media, which is why you are here.
I’ve met Nick. Nice guy. But I expected to read more about his fiancée, who I know from ‘Mostly Weekly with Andrew Heaton,’ the courtship and proposal. I couldn’t care less about Burning Man.
This past week has been a yawner. Stories fit for Vanity Fair ... except for the Brown's essay.
Happy for you Nick. And here is a list of things I’d rather do than go to Burning Man:
-drop a baby grand piano on my foot
-eat all the contents remaining in the sewage pipe after Andy Dufresne was done crawling through it at the end of the Shawshank Redemption
-Listen to every Katy Perry song ever recorded
-be beaten to death by 100 7 year olds with staplers
-take 40 more Covid boosters
The wonderful thing, Gordon, is that you don't have to attend! Yrs--
For the Katy Perry comment, alone, you're in the running for comment of the day.
Or the food from a blast and fallout shelter from the '50s...
Don't forget eating the left over Vietnam C-rations.
But you have to admit, The Orgy Dome does sound interesting..
Lol!
C’mon, guys…it’s the ~FREE~ press for a reason: it’s a marketplace for ideas. Nobody wants to buy everything in a market. I don’t disparage a meat market because it sells liver; I just don’t buy it.
Sure it was silly but most of us know little about Burning Man, other than the obsession of the rest of the media with that bacchanal of banality. So it was worhwhile.
Until this year I had never heard of Burning Man. I think I could have lived a good life having never heard of it.
Maybe Bari could have someone do a story on punkin’ chuckin’. Halloween is coming, maybe y’all would like to hear about pumpkin catapult contests in the south. A bunch of hillbillies gather in a big field with their homemade contraptions and a pile of huge pumpkins.....No?
Or perhaps a follow up on Joe Kennedy, the coach from Bremerton High School who has now been forced to resign because of retaliation. This after the SCOTUS ruling reinstated him after he was fired for praying of all things.
Kennedy hints at retaliation but doesn’t elaborate. The slothful press ( AP News , Seattle Times) as expected belittle Kennedy and the court that ruled in his favor. It is hard to believe anyone saw this as more then a symbolic victory. Who moves 3,000 miles for a 5,000$ part-time job? No players , parents, coaches or teachers are quoted. The reports only spout pre approved platitudes and hint at Kennedy being a Christian nationalist( white supremacist). If your hope is to be uninformed the MSM is the place for you.
I remember the days when the P-I was still around and the ST was being accused of being conservative....sort of like Lenin being right of Stalin.. They do toe the downtown/corporate line though remarkably well though.
I haven't seen this report. What source?
Hey, don't disparage pumpkin chunkin'.
It takes a lot of time and skill to build a trebuchet. Also think of the cultural value of throwing a pumpkin a couple of hundred yards. It's God like!
I've never been to one but I thought I'd just throw that out there.
I’d love to see a day of trebuchets throwing whatever, followed by a great big old cookout, and then a really fine evening exhibition of said trebuchets flinging flaming balls of whatever into a big lake, or even the ocean.
Yeah - do it on the beach in August, late one night with the Perseid meteor showers in their full glory. Yep - that’d do it for me - anybody up for it?
Great idea. I'd move the date to post labor day when the beach crowds diminish and the weather cools a bit. Maybe they could aim the trebuchets at a few of the massive wind mills they're planning to install off the Jersey coast. They could also do a sort of Viking funeral for the dead whales and dolphins that are washing up on the beach in record numbers from the sonar mapping they're doing.
I just finished an article that off-shore wind development has hit a snag. Seems that inflation has resulted in higher costs and interest (who could have anticipated such a thing?) so they need to be subsidized 50%. Several companies have reportedly surrendered their leases.
Sounds great!
Oh, not disparaging at all. The engineering feats these folks come up with are amazing!
There was a TV show on punkin chukin on some channel like Discovery years ago.
NC, I was being facetious.
Ever see anvil launching?
YouTube.com/watch?v=CHuQy0mqW5I
Yes. This.
In fact, I would. Now that sounds like real fun.
I would...with video...and I am not kidding...I would!
Just because we don’t know a lot about it, doesn’t make the knowledge worthwhile. I found this article pretty vapid.
Yeah, it wasn't great but but Bari's batting ways over .750, which makes her a superstar in any league.
I agree. We all needed a day off the comment wars anyway lol.
To take your comparison a bit further, one might “subscribe” to a “market” because there was an industrious and eloquent chef working there who always served all the best cuts of steak. You went to the market in hopes of getting one of those steaks, or at least a half decent pork chop or something. After all, that was on the menu when the market opened, and it was a hell of a lot better than what other folks were serving. Over time though, the quality of the steak waned and in some cases disappeared. You still go to the market for the steak, even if it’s over-cooked. Today though, there is only liver...or maybe chitlins. Intestines, masquerading as wholesome eating. Lately, The Free Press has been heavy on liver and chitlins, with the occasional choice steak. Incidentally, I enjoy eating liver more than I enjoyed reading this article. I reckon I’ll be back again tomorrow though.
The quality has fallen greatly. I'm beginning to debate my subscription.
I get having variety, but what was this even supposed to inform me about?
Yes, I’m familiar with weirdos going out to the desert and doing a bunch of drugs. Nothing special happened except a bunch of yuppies flipped out over getting a little wet and muddy.
Ever hear the expression, “a slow newsday”? This was an example.
Perhaps think of it as something that makes us appreciate the good stuff even more. I agree that today’s was, well, weak. But the comments here still make me smile, even if the blog itself didn’t do much for me.
How on gods green earth could there be "a slow newsday" in 2023? The entire planet is a complete sh*tshow on the hour/every hour.
I think it's more like "I'm Bari's friend and she's giving me a chance to publish a fluff piece".....which is fine, but lets at the very least be honest and call it what it is.... :-)
The essay does come off as the nerdy kid who has to tell everyone—after his first experience—'he's had sex, with an actual girl.'
Burning Man Mission Statement:
Burning Man Project’s mission is to produce the annual event known as Burning Man and to guide, nurture and protect the more permanent community created by its culture. Our intention is to generate society that connects each individual to his or her creative powers, to participation in community, to the larger realm of civic life, and to the even greater world of nature that exists beyond society.
We believe that the experience of Burning Man can produce positive spiritual change in the world. To this end, it is equally important that we communicate with one another, with the citizens of Black Rock City and with the community of Burning Man wherever it may arise. Burning Man is radically inclusive, and its meaning is potentially accessible to anyone.
The touchstone of value in our culture will always be immediacy: experience before theory, moral relationships before politics, survival before services, roles before jobs, embodied support before sponsorship. Finally, in order to accomplish these ends, Burning Man must endure as a self-supporting enterprise that is capable of sustaining the lives of those who dedicate themselves to its work. From this devotion spring those duties that we owe to one another.
We will always burn the Man.
A word salad of culturally approved expressions.
Yup
Sounds like a bunch of hippie nonsense
Translation: "do drugs, get naked"
"Radically inclusive". Yeah, sure. Unless you say something factual like a man is not a woman.
Does positive spiritual change begin with picking up your trash?
Huh?
https://burningman.org/about/our-mission/
The content has gotten rather lazy lately.
Cut them a break. Summer is back with a vengeance and who wants a heavy lift on days like this.
They take guest submissions you know, you can try your best to write something you deem worthwhile!
Well, it's not free, so there's always that. And I take "press" to mean something more substantial than People Magazine
Would you have preferred that they not publish a blog today?
“Free” means unconstrained, not gratis.
The subject matter is absolutely fine, but it didn't do justice to the annual event nor did it educate or enlighten.
Or tripe, or "chicken paws", or beef tongue, all of which sell out in my Georgia town!
Beef tongue sounds terrible but is, in fact, the tenderest beef cut there is. Why? Because the tongue is unique in having muscle fibers oriented perpendicularly to one another. Think: x, y, and z-axes—tongues have muscle fibers oriented in all 3 directions. Yes, really. It’s why we can talk intelligibly (even if often not intelligently).
I’ll have to try it - I just thought it was tough ham. Still better than Billy Crystal’s mutton, lettuce, and tomato from “The Princess Bride”!
Ah yes, the famous "MLT sandwich, when the mutton is nice and lean....But that's not what he said! He said 'to blave,' which means 'to bluff....' "
Anyway, have fun storming the castle!
Stop at the Taco Truck at the gate to the dump—yes they're the best. They'll have a meat called 'la lingua', lambs tongue; its the best. The taco truck mainly serves the gardeners dropping off garden waste; surprisingly, those guys are quite discriminating about quality food. They won't stop for anything poorly prepared.
This. I really had no interest in Burning Man news, so I didn't read it. Simple.
Sometimes after three lines I go straight to the comments. Love the comments.
I didn't even bother with 3 lines.
😬😂
Yip me to, these comments not so good
I wrote something similar awhile back :)
Ah, more "do better, Bari" comments.
Anyway, I've never given Burning Man more than a few moments thought, and my perception was not entirely positive--I thought participants had too much time and money on their hands. But, I subscribe to TFP precisely because I want to maintain an open mind, so I happily read this piece. It actually made me realize that I'm free to choose how I spend my week off however I want, so to the participants of Burning Man, have at it!
The most salient point of the piece to me was it's description of how the press covered it. I observed in real time that they were narrative building, not just reporting facts. That's an important lesson to take away and remember the next time there's a big news story of any kind.
Thanks, Brian. That was also my opinion. I am not a burner and will never be, but I think this was an important juxtaposition to the WSJ’s reporting.
There's a difference between an "open mind" and an empty one.
A festival of anonymous sex and free drugs, exchanged by people wearing costumes consisting mostly of paint.
How long do you think it will be before Gubment regulators conspire to kill it?
Ah, here comes the tone police.
Tone police, man, haven't heard that in a minute.
I so agree! I have relatives who attend on a reg. basis. I was wondering what I'd hear about the "debacle" from them in a couple of weeks when we're together. The MSM has portrayed it as a total disaster, so it's nice to hear that it was a good time for some! Nick- I must say- you look pretty good for an old man of 60, and your fiancé looks very strong!! You're lucky to have snagged her!!
“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” ~ H.L. Mencken
I've followed Burning Man since its inception on a San Francisco beach in 1986. There is a lot more to it than naked revelers doing drugs. It's not for me, but thank God somewhere in America freedom still exists to cut loose a little. Enjoy, Burners, and ignore the Puritans with the too-tight underwear.
This reflects my feelings perfectly. Thank you. I found the story interesting and entertaining, if not particularly edifying. Not sure what's with all the negativity.
You don't have to be a Puritan to recognize narcissistic tripe for what it is.
Its one thing to go out and enjoy your little festival .. its another thing to boast about it.
The Free Press publishes an article that tells a story contrary to the main stream media narrative... the literal ethos of this publication...and the comments are full of a bunch of conservative puritanicals are asking Bari to "do better" because the event is, what exactly? Not at a church? lol... Doesn't matter how "open minded" and "anti mainstream" people claim to be, if its not about their priorities, its not worth anyones time apparently. Love to see how inconsistent and intolerant most of you still are <3
As someone who leans more “puritanical,” I found the article deeply depressing, AND I also TOTALLY agree with you!! Thanks for the call out!
And only yesterday they were all here saying how much they loved TFP and were so glad they paid money to subscribe. On all the rest of the days they just show up and complain.
You too.
Me too what? I’m not complaining, simply observing. My observation is that the majority of the comments are always people complaining that they don’t like the content on TFP. It’s always “you can do better, Bari” and “why is this article here” or “Bari doesn’t like RFK Jr” or “Bari doesn’t realize vaccines actually do cause autism”. The only topic anyone seems to agree with Bari on is outlawing trans care for teenagers. This happens every single day. It’s baffling behavior. But if you like constantly reading stuff that you disagree with, go for it.
But everybody thinks they are just observing. If you cannot see that your negative comments, including this one, are in fact complaining, I can't explain it to you. I am not even sure what your POV is on the subject topic so I am not agreeing or disagreeing witb that. I just find it humorous that people waste energy complaining about people complaining; my humorous observation, if you will. I do disagree with your "it's always ..." . That implies to me that you focus on what you deem negative and disregard the rest.
I don’t have a POV on today’s article. I find it not humorous, but bizarre and weird that most of the commenters at TFP spend money and time reading stuff they don’t agree with, and then going on about it in the comments. And you’re correct that you can’t explain to me why my observation is actually “complaining”, because it’s not complaining. As for “your negative comments including this one “, well, what are the others?
We'll have to agree to disagree because IMO you are complaining. About people complaining (which you admit by acknowledging you don't have a POV on the article) and I find that humorous. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Moral of the thread- lawyers are impossible. 240 characters would be a help
Ha ha. Touche.
My sentiments exactly. I lean conservative but many of those comments are embarrassing. The idea of "unplugging" from normal society for one week in the company of free spirits sounds refreshing to me, and it makes me want to attend Burning Man at least once in my lifetime. Life is short...let's have some fun!
You too.
On the contrary, there are a lot of topics covered I don't necessarily agree with or care about, but I still see the value of reading different peoples perspectives. I don't think her point was to create a publication with a new "universal opinion". Its about learning and thinking outside of your own rigid frameworks. It never intended to be a group think enabler.
Alyssa, don’t worry about Lynne. She thinks she’s being “humorous”.
I am not opining one way or the other about your POV. I am just pointing out that you too are a complainer. You are just complaining about negative commentary. Which negative commentary is after all that commenter's opinion. So keep putting lipstick on that pig but you too are intolerant od diverse opinion.
Nick Gillespie doesn’t agree with you. He agrees with Alyssa, as do I. “Lipstick on a pig”, really? You lose.
Why are you being so illogical?
I'm not.
I’m officially adding ‘Burning Man attendees’ to my list of people who should not be allowed to vote.
My kids have all gone over the years, they loved it Kevin and I have to tell you, you would always want and need them to vote they are America’s finest even if it’s coming from their mother!
I regret to inform you that your kids are not allowed to vote. No one is above the law!!
😂😂
You're back!
Yip how you doing Bruce?
Hi Skinny. Thanks for asking. Buried with work and not happy that these bonus summer days are not being spent in the ocean. But, if that's the greatest of my complaints, I'm pretty blessed.
You?
Yip good to Bruce, hubby good, kids great and grandchildren even better, I to am truly blessed, thank you for asking. Hope you manage before the summer is out to get some time off from work to spend at the ocean - enjoy if you do!
If it is true that the SV crowd patronized the event, they don't need to vote as they control the information legitimate voters rely on.
Lol
Congrats on getting engaged, but c’mon Bari; what the hell is this bullshit?
“ Often miscategorized as socialist because commerce is banned and gifting encouraged, the event is, in fact, the ultimate expression of a capitalist economy that throws off so much surplus wealth, it’s where tens of thousands of people can gather to create self-destructing artifacts. Burning Man takes place way up and beyond Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs,” and its function is to remind us all to be intentional and inspired rather than reactive and routine in our grind-it-out lives.”
Good stuff.
Wow. Comments are brutal, self righteous, just plain mean. Not every post has to be earth shattering.
Well said, Deb. There are indeed a lot of self-absorbed commenters this morning...
Ya, what a bunch of prudes
Oh lighten up. An puff piece about a puff subject is practically an invitation to be dunked on. People are just having fun in the comments. Tone police are so self-righteous.
Now if Bari would do a piece on Fyre Fest 2.0, THAT one would be fun.
Well said.
Why would that be fun? Was there a mainstream media narrative that didn't reflect what was actually happening?
My kids have gone to burning man, and I’ve done enough weird things in my life to feel like I get it. I am totally onboard with humans pushing themselves in strange and generally harmless ways.
The press coverage was ridiculous. Most Burners are mentally prepared to deal with whatever happens on the playa. There was no real danger, but a lot of schadenfreude from the sidelines.
Best wishes to the happy couple!
Interesting case study in the Horseshoe theory of politics, I’ve heard the hippie side of the Burn, good to hear the Libertarian perspective.
Nick congrats on getting engaged to a strange and wonderful woman.
Also, can we see some pics of the giant flaming octopus of death?
You really see the ends of the horse shoe meet in the retired hippy communes of Northern California Coast.
Indeed. Rural Oregon too
I confess that the charms of "Burning Man" completely elude me. Would much rather stay home with a good book. Nonetheless, this piece is another useful reminder about the complete untrustworthiness of the legacy press.
Nick Gillespie is the reason I quit reading Reason. Please don’t have him fill in for Nellie again.
A lot of hate in these comments. Seems that people just can’t stand other people having fun.
I’ve been to BM twice, 2018 and 2022... and I’ll be going back.
It’s an adventure... you don’t want to do it... don’t. We don’t give a shit.
Seriously, "hate"? The word "hate" is so watered down now it has essentially no meaning. Like "Nazi" and "fascism".
For fuck’s sake... hate as in “don’t be hatin”... not Nazi or racist hate. Good good. 🙄
Which just corroborated his statement - that you said hate but did not mean hate as commonly understood.
Not agreeing is not hating.
Or.....there's Ben Shapiro's take on the entire fiasco.
"
So now, I get to joke about how a bunch of morons decided they were going to jet-set into the desert, in the middle of nowhere — where it's 115 degrees — to screw each other. Then there's a giant, Biblical-style rainstorm and flood and no one bothered to bring enough wood to build an ark.
Some Burning Man revelers said Sunday their spirits remain unbroken.
Unfortunately, their toilets do remain broken. And so they are just sitting there in their own poop, screwing each other. It sounds like the height of human experience.
The elites there treated it as though they escaped the beaches at Normandy. You wonder why people don't trust the elite. You wonder why there's a giant cultural gap between the Left Coast and the East Coast on one side and everybody in the middle of the country on the other."
Yep, "a bunch of morons screwing in their own poop." Nicely sums it up. And they wonder why they're held in ridicule and contempt.....
It’s funny, I’m a Daily Wire subscriber... I listen to every one of his shows... I’m generally “conservative”... but he couldn’t be more wrong on his take of Burning Man. I literally LOL’d his ridiculously stupid commentary about it.