Social media seems to be laughing its ass off about this tragedy, is it because the folks at burning man are perceived as frivolous hippies or something? Everyone I’ve ever met who was a regular burning man attendee has been a solid human being with strong morals, personally and financially responsible, a career. Upstanding members of society for sure. I guess all some people know is the sensationalized drugs and sex. A person died. This is a tragedy for an event that brings positivity into the world. Kind of annoyed.
I love poor hippies. I hate when rich people pretend to be something they’re not and expect us to play along.
I think it’s like the difference between Van Lifers depicted in Close Zhao’s Nomadland who work real jobs to get by, who got into it by necessity, and continue for the love of the freedom and community vs Instagram van lifers in 100K Vans, with nebulous but seemingly unlimited sources of money, whose only job seems to be influencer marketing, and selling a blatantly Disney version of Van Life to the masses.
And this dichotomy exists in so many atypical lifestyle categories. On sailing YouTube you have people go about in new and luxurious sail boats they bought outright which they learned to sail at sailing camp, vs some person in a smaller boat from the 60s, that they just figured it out how to sail, who does their own repairs the best they can and doesnt spend 2 grand a night for a marina spot and doesn’t ship their boat across the atlantic and instead struggles across the passage on their own.
Maggie Mae Fish did a whole video on the same phenomenon amongst off grid influencers. One group flies in supplies by helicopter and the other built their own cabin and upgraded it with money they scrounged up from what’s left over from their actual jobs.