Sitting - Standing - Demanding?

[Capt. Ahab]

Hey all -

I really had to think about raising this old dog on the e playa - yet im doing it anyway - On the night of the burn many people will arrive several hours before the man burns - to get the best view of the parade , fire spinners etc. the Rangers request that they SIT - this forms a protective line and keeps others from entering the burn area earlier than they should. Then people fill in behind them some sit -some stand - then some folks futher back begin the chanting - screaming - swearing - for those in front of them to sit down - I have observed and heard stories of fights - calling people cunts - etc. etc. all this at a time that should be very special. I suggest that it is un fair and fooloish to expect that people should have to sit - and It is virtually impossible for many folks to sit - with bad backs bad knees - ( and even good backs and knees ) for a period of time. You can get packed in pretty tight and will be unable to stretch. I will be posting a series of signs this year to try and make this point and try to make the burn a more peaceful and loving event - no one should have there burn night tainted by the mob mentality of "do what we say cause its better for us. " - your input is appriciated and if you would like to help with the signs lemme know. If its really critical that you see everything - please get there early.

Capt. Ahab

[HughMungus]

If its really critical that you see everything - please get there early.

No shit. Maybe it's me but the burn itself is sort of a non-event. Spectacular, yes, but nothing compared to the incredible one-on-one interactions the rest of the week.

[Nightterror]

That can be a bad sitch. I was near the front last year with people yelling at us to sit. A little old lady in front of me was very worried about the yelling and sat down and in the process mildy twisted her knee. I stood up to help her as some asshat threw something at me hitting the guy next to me. It was ugly. Very contridicting to the rest of the event. This year we plan on watching the burn from the Esplanade.

[EvilDustBooger]

People do get a little rude - jockeying around for a spot right before the burn.
I don`t see why people have to be little playa-proprietors.
There are no box seats for this thing.
Once the man goes up in flames...you can`t miss it.
You can see it, hear it, feel it and smell it .

Just be patient, and you`ll get all the burn you can handle.

[robotland]

It's sorta ironic that semi-enforced Spectatorhood is becoming the Rule Of The Burns, both Man and Temple. Yeah, I know- let people be themselves and the next thing you know they'll be jumping in the fire....I just wonder when they'll start collecting laser pointers.

[ZaphodBurner]

Here's an idea. If you can't sit for that long, don't be where people are sitting.
If you don't like to stand, move someplace else where you can sit down.

We got caught in the middle of the standing crowd for our first burn last year. It wasn't just people with weak knees or backs. There were a handful of fratboy types with their dumbass girlfriends sitting on their shoulders fully and -deliberately- ignorant of the fact that they were pissing people off.
They weren't even wearing costumes. Might as well have been Girls Gone Wild.

Finally we just abandoned the the burn and did our own thing after a bit of guerrilla direct action I won't go into.

-c

[headquarters]

i was right on the battle line for the sit/stand antics at the temple last year. right in front.. it sucked. the person screaming to sit down was by far more annoying then the few people who were still standing..

[blyslv]

I don't know what it should be. I know what it has been for me. It is 30,000 thousand people getting their freak on, scary noisy and a wee bit dangerous. People celebrating the best art they have ever done, or else expunging a project gone horribly wrong. It is people mourning, loving and keening into the night. It is wails, despair and jubilation. It is catharsis and generation all at once.

My favorite sight: watching the group carrying signs imploring us TO SAVE THE MAN THERE'S STILL TIME!. How silly! I could see the sign by the light of the flame. It's a big playa.

[headquarters]

They weren't even wearing costumes. Might as well have been Girls Gone Wild.



-c

so if they were wearing costumes would they have been any less ignorant?

[HughMungus]

Finally we just abandoned the the burn and did our own thing after a bit of guerrilla direct action I won't go into.

-c

Hell yeah, brother. And you probably thought that training would never come in handy again. :D Ah...memories...

[Zona_the_stona]

My favorite sight: watching the group carrying signs imploring us TO SAVE THE MAN THERE'S STILL TIME!. How silly! I could see the sign by the light of the flame. It's a big playa.

[Kinetic IV]

Here's a side question for everyone. Besides sitting or standing for the temple burn, do you feel the crowd should be quiet or noisy?

All around me I heard the debate raging last year...some thought it was disrespectful, others saw no problem with it. I preferred the silence which really made the temple burn extra special for me. You could see the people, you could hear the flames popping and cracking...but otherwise hardly another sound. It was something special I'll never forget.

[Nightterror]

I'm thinking a lot of newbies go out early to get close not realizing they will be harrassed into sitting down. And albeit not impossible it is very difficult to get out once you make it that far.

[Nightterror]

Here's a side question for everyone. Besides sitting or standing for the temple burn, do you feel the crowd should be quiet or noisy?

All around me I heard the debate raging last year...some thought it was disrespectful, others saw no problem with it. I preferred the silence which really made the temple burn extra special for me. You could see the people, you could hear the flames popping and cracking...but otherwise hardly another sound. It was something special I'll never forget.

I heard a lot of people complaining at the Man that the art car music was so loud that they couldn't hear the drums.

[Kinetic IV]

Someone was playing live drums vs. the recorded stuff blasting at 10 gazillion watts? I didn't know!

[HughMungus]

Here's a side question for everyone. Besides sitting or standing for the temple burn, do you feel the crowd should be quiet or noisy?

All around me I heard the debate raging last year...some thought it was disrespectful, others saw no problem with it. I preferred the silence which really made the temple burn extra special for me. You could see the people, you could hear the flames popping and cracking...but otherwise hardly another sound. It was something special I'll never forget.

Why don't they just announce a "moment of silence" at the temple burn so that everybody can get at least a few minutes of silence without squelching those whose emotions don't allow them to be silent that long?

[unjonharley]

I need to have some fun out side the burn this year. How about a three mil. candel lite, a megaphone, and a night scope. Be a pee spoter. What you hiding there Or no picking berries at the burn and so on.

[EvilDustBooger]

3 million candles?
heh heh
bet that would freeze em in thier tracks!
I`m right there with ya unjohn!

[ZaphodBurner]

They weren't even wearing costumes. Might as well have been Girls Gone Wild.
-c

so if they were wearing costumes would they have been any less ignorant?

They were spectators. Carrying their spectator girlfriends on their spectator shoulders so they could spectate at the expense of the participants standing behind them; dozens, if not hundreds of whom were calling "down in front," "please sit down," etc.

Answer: If they were wearing costumes they might have at least looked like participants. Rather, it reminded me of Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras where the real revellers have moved up to Royal to get away from the fratboys and the corporate tourists who just want to videotape tits or try to get laid.

-c

[unjonharley]

Don't see many spec's any more. The gate is closed before Sat. nite.

[blyslv]

[
They were spectators. Carrying their spectator girlfriends on their spectator shoulders so they could spectate at the expense of the participants standing behind them; dozens, if not hundreds of whom were calling "down in front," "please sit down," etc.

Answer: If they were wearing costumes they might have at least looked like participants. Rather, it reminded me of Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras where the real revellers have moved up to Royal to get away from the fratboys and the corporate tourists who just want to videotape tits or try to get laid.

-c

You base a lot of conclusions on a very limited data set. I thought BM was suppsed to be about being non-judgmental.


hee hee hee


When you see me out of costume you can participate (drink!) by telling me to fuck off.

[ZaphodBurner]

[quote="blyslv"]
Answer: If they were wearing costumes they might have at least looked like participants. Rather, it reminded me of Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras where the real revellers have moved up to Royal to get away from the fratboys and the corporate tourists who just want to videotape tits or try to get laid.

-c[/quote]

You base a lot of conclusions on a very limited data set.
I thought BM was suppsed to be about being non-judgmental.
When you see me out of costume you can participate (drink!) by telling me to fuck off.[/quote]

Well, for one, I was there. Saw the look on their faces as they ignored the increasing requests to sit down. The girl--I'm being strictly judgemental--was the exact type you see at things like Mardi Gras who respects no one, pissed people off and expects her boyfriend to intimidate away anybody who dare expresses their feelings. Which is exactly what happened. Most of the other girls in the college gaggle got down but the most belligerent of them all simply sat on the (standing) guy's shoulder while people were asking people to sit down. She knew what was going on, she knew she was pissing people off and blocking their views, and she knew she had a gaggle of college boys around her to deflect any confrontation. (Enter aforementioned guerrilla direct action.)

Had they simply been out of costume, that would have been something different perhaps; my judgment is based on several things combined, those being two of them.

I might tell you to fuck off, but I'd rather just chase you down with a water cannon and we'd both end up laughing it off. In fact...I might take one out to the burn next year. For...um...safety. Wouldn't want Miss Ashley Dakota's precious hairspray catching on fire...

-c

[ZaphodBurner]

Answer: If they were wearing costumes they might have at least looked like participants. Rather, it reminded me of Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras where the real revellers have moved up to Royal to get away from the fratboys and the corporate tourists who just want to videotape tits or try to get laid.

-c

You base a lot of conclusions on a very limited data set.
I thought BM was suppsed to be about being non-judgmental.
When you see me out of costume you can participate (drink!) by telling me to fuck off.[/quote]

Well, for one, I was there. Saw the look on their faces as they ignored the increasing requests to sit down. The girl--I'm being strictly judgemental--was the exact type you see at things like Mardi Gras who respects no one, pissed people off and expects her boyfriend to intimidate away anybody who dare expresses their feelings. Which is exactly what happened. Most of the other girls in the college gaggle got down but the most belligerent of them all simply sat on the (standing) guy's shoulder while people were asking people to sit down. She knew what was going on, she knew she was pissing people off and blocking their views, and she knew she had a gaggle of college boys around her to deflect any confrontation. (Enter aforementioned guerrilla direct action.)

Had they simply been out of costume, that would have been something different perhaps; my judgment is based on several things combined, those being two of them.

I might tell you to fuck off, but I'd rather just chase you down with a water cannon and we'd both end up laughing it off. In fact...I might take one out to the burn next year. For...um...safety. Wouldn't want Miss Ashley Dakota's precious hairspray catching on fire...

-c

[Capt. Ahab]

#1. Sitting on top of someones shoulders ( the typical concert boy- girl thing) is WRONG - all your doing is giving yourself an advantage over those around you - i WILL BE MAKING A FEW SIGNS TO MAKE THIS POINT AS WELL - SOMETHING LIKE " ONLY SIT ON SOMEONES SHOULDERS AT THE BURN IF THEY ARE GIVING YOU ORAL".

#2. SCREAMING AT PEOPLE IN FRONT OF YOU TO SIT IS EQUALLY WRONG.


EVERYONE SHOULD SIT OR STAND AS THEY FEEL AT THE TIME

[skygod]

Jean-Paul Sartre said "Hell is other people."
I'm truly amazed that this event is possible at all!. It is all so unlikely. Such an oxymoron. I saw a man stabbed to death at Altamont. I was at my first burning man last year, and just thinking about the enormity of it is giving me goose-bumps right now! It's like all of us are burning.

[ZaphodBurner]

ONLY SIT ON SOMEONES SHOULDERS AT THE BURN IF THEY ARE GIVING YOU ORAL".

GENIUS! What a killer compromise!

[missmann]

the whole business about the burning of the man was a lil' bit dissappointing for me last year.
i lost track of my friends on the way to go see- I didn't mind that coz it wasn't really about sharing the moment for me.
So I sat down to watch in one spot, only to discover that the couple sitting next to me was in the process of breaking up/fighting- it was a mess, she was crying, he was swearing at her and giving her nasty looks. Not the happiest environment, and what do you do? I felt like grabbing her by the hand and saying "hey, let's get away from that asshole!" but it didn't seem like the best course of action.
So I got up and moved. I didn't realize I moved to an area where able bodied youth would be standing up and doing the shoulder ride thing right in front of me.
So I moved again, and this time it was to an area where there were older less mobile folk who couldn't easily sit down.
Three strikes, so I gave up and went to have some hot chocolate on my own.

Would've been nice to be able to sit quietly and comfortably and watch, but maybe a little unreasonable to expect that I could've done so?

[Kinetic IV]

This year I think I'll stay out by the art car circle, ignore the obstructed view of the fickle fanatical fire performers and enjoy strawberry margaritas until the man burns. Then I'll go dance next to or maybe walk into part of the fire like I've done every year. I'm tired of the crush of people and I don't need to sit around for an hour of preliminaries anyway.

[EvilDustBooger]

This year I think I'll stay out by the art car circle, ignore the obstructed view of the fickle fanatical fire performers and enjoy strawberry margaritas until the man burns. Then I'll go dance next to or maybe walk into part of the fire like I've done every year. I'm tired of the crush of people and I don't need to sit around for an hour of preliminaries anyway.

Splendid Idea .
Being up so close isn`t really such a honor, the fumes from the fickle fart fire twirlers torches are very obnoxious.
Save me a `rita .

[robotland]

I don't regret having gotten up in front (and sitting down!) when I saw my first Man burn- It was quite an experience, and there's a few REALLY funny pictures of me staring up at the fire with a total deer-in-headlights rapt fascination that was totally non-chemically induced....Having done that, watching from the Observation Deck of the Snowman in Hushville was fine last year.