Post
by Isotopia » Wed Jul 30, 2008 4:16 pm
It's pretty easy to sit back and define the role of a department that most people don't know shit about.
It's just as easy to ascribe the role of volunteers within the particular group as inherently 'evil,' 'power hungry,' blah, blah... I mean, the whole "I think it's time the "haughties" get overhauled....' schtick is just fucking precious seeing as the poster of record is NOT likely to be the one to bell that cat. To do so would require a commitment and a vision of how to affect substantive change. I'd argue that like most other whingers he's imminently incapable of following through on. Hell, it's easier to just thump your chest and throw shit like a typical ass monkey.
What's even easier for the arm chair quarterbacks sitting on their lame asses and yelling directions to volunteers on how volunteers ought best do the job, is to act all pissed off and indignant when those volunteers start following through with policies and procedures that have been in place for some time.
Sure there are problems. Primary among them is the (seeming) lack of consistency with the 'aesthetic issue.' Who isn't tired of the umpteenth four seat golf cart that serves only the camp under which it is registered? Anyone else yawning at the marginally decorated step van blasting the same thump-thump tunes with the same people in tow night after night? Yeah, me too.
Doc Pyro's truck is a well recognized war horse as are many others who'll no doubt fail to pass muster this year. And yeah, it sucks that it failed the test and that he didn't get notified until just very recently. For that I'd be pissed and for damn good reason. Still, I'd argue that like most other changes in the event which have met with intense resistance there's usually a reason behind those changes.
It may be driven in part by the BLM and the whole permitting process. Might be that that each year we've seen escalating numbers of driving infractions involving 'camp cars' where the drivers have been repeat offenders, driving under the influence, driving like ass hats, speeding/dusting, etc. Oddly enough the number of those infractions involving MVs serving the playa community tend to be quite low compared to the overall numbers.
Finally, it just might be that there's been a very public and publicized shift towards a redefining of not only what constitutes a mutant vehicle but what the MV's role in the greater community should be given the still overwhelmingly pedestrian nature of Black Rock City.
Without any more information than I have at this juncture I'll speculate that what we're seeing here is a following through of a policy that has been in the works for a year or so. It'd be interesting to hear what - if anything - the BRC DMV has to say about this change in approval policy.
I know how much blood, sweat and money goes into making these things.
