jkisha wrote:You know, this thread gets me more angry every time I just read the title. Fuck you OP! My theme camp IS IMPORTANT! It's important to me and to all of the members of our camp that bust their asses to pull it off every year. And I'm pretty sure there are a lot of other people that enjoyed being able to have an ice cold root beer float during the heat of the day too! And just the fact that it is important to me and my enjoyment of Burning Man, that's all that counts in my world. So there. I feel a whole lot better now.
Get ready to get angrier. I’ll say it again:
YOUR THEME CAMP ISN'T THAT IMPORTANT. MY THEME CAMP ISN'T THAT IMPORTANT either.
Note the ‘
THAT’ .. a subtle way of pointing out the entitlement that some camps feel they deserve. The ‘BM-BRC is nothing without us’ believers. The ‘We deserve a ticket more than others’ philosophers. If you continue reading the entire post, you would note the “It is nice to have, but not a must have. Yes, you put a lot effort into it.. so did the 200 other theme camps, as well as the other 40,000 burners who dragged their arse to the Playa.” bit. I’m aware how much energy, money and time goes into coordinating a camp, from personal experience. When I go through all the hassle of organizing my theme camp, and get it set up on the playa, I’m hoping to have a good time, but equally important to me is the hope that others will get value and a memorable experience. I want people to come in, hang out, craft something special to them out of the materials provided, and take their dusty creation home and reminisce about their playa experience 365 days a year (that’s my hope at least). All seven days I’m out there I’m thinking to myself “I hope I’m justifying the faith the placement team has in our idea by reserving this spot for our camp.”
The “… the fact that it is important to me and my enjoyment of Burning Man, that's all that counts in my world” philosophy is why so many theme camps absolutely suck. Those campers aren’t there for the ‘experiment in temporary community’.. they are there for the party. I see too many camps that just give out some liquid and treat it as a ‘tax’ for having a conveniently guaranteed campsite.
Before this week’s news was announced, I was looking forward to seeing some of the theme camp mash-ups that would be happening from so many radically self reliant souls. In your case, if your root beer camp didn’t have enough people, you could track down the previously mentioned ice cream sandwich brigade, and merge with them for a year. Be ‘Float Sandwich’ camp or something. Make new friends, mix it up a bit. Some camps could take a year off and bring it back even harder next year. Instead, a bunch whiners basically said “Even though there are 40,000 – 50,000 burners going this year, not one of them will be useful enough to help me on my project, so I need some tickets earmarked especially for people of my choosing to work on my project.” Now, scores of people who followed the rules and patiently waited for the open sale get left out. Before, it could be explained that random dumb luck was responsible for some people going, and some people not going. Now, in an attempt to ‘rectify’ the situation, BM has over corrected by directly intervening. Now there is going to be cloud over the art and camps. You know people will be thinking “Why did that ____________ get eligible for tickets?” or “That’s a nice _____ but I wouldn’t have given up a ticket for it.” Or “My friends and their ______ couldn’t go, but that POS could?”
to reiterate: Your theme camp isn't
that important. Neither is my theme camp. Neither is Root Society. Neither is 'Ive got a bullhorn' camp. and on and on.
9 burns and counting. Each one gets better.
