Burning Man Mud Bath

[The Gays From LA]

Lolcow John is on right now, he's talking about 9/11 and how he experienced it as a pioneer Livestreamer in 2001, which was the start of his "Hug Nation" Livestreams of people hugging themselves:

 

[The Gays From LA]

LMAO, "I wasn't aware to the public's response to this situation", watching videos from Burners who were blissfully unaware partying is so funny to me:

Look at this construction, "the Chapel of Babel", it's so awesome! Did they burn this too?! I hope not, more people should get a chance to see this:

"There's water dripping into the tent everywhere!"

"And then the power goes out!"

Yeah, that was deep, LMAO:

 

[The Gays From LA]

"Leave no trace", LMAO! That is a LOT of fucking trash, also, big trash that they're gonna have to tear down to remove from the Playa:

Burning Man HATE video:

Burning Man HATE: "Counter culture is a made up term"

"Why is Burning Man in particular receiving all this hate":

 

[The Gays From LA]

Here's an old man in a green wig at Burning Man:

Here's some black people at Burning Man:

I also found this exclusive footage from "Camp Gender Bender" featuring "The Black Rock Sauna Society" (who the fuck needs a sauna in the desert... and who's that at 3:42, a colleague of Rekieta maybe?):

John posted this music video about Burning Man:

He also said on his Livestream today that he was supposed to become a psychologist, had already obtained his psychology degree and was heavily involved with campus life. What happened?!he says "it fell apart", but why? Was it because of his drug addictions?

 

[The Gays From LA]

I have been binge-watching John's content on Youtube... and apparently he recreated the Pink Hugz Camp that he runs at Burning Man in his backyard in San Diego during the lockdowns when BM was cancelled:

Wow, this guy is really obsessed but his neighbours seemed to like it because he was handing out free ice cream.

I also found this video about models at Burning Man. These women are widely hated by the community for using the event as a backdrop for their fashion (read: OnlyFans) shoots, but John really likes all the Burning Man THOTs. To make a point, he included some pictures of himself when he was younger and still had a toned body, and was basically making a spectacle out of himself advertising his man-sluttery:

Oh but this sounds sus: John claims that he has a crazy stalker who went to the Burning Man organization and told them that he's sheltering pedophiles in the Pink Heart Camp? WTF?

I'm definitely gonna be watching more videos now! I wanna know that this story is. How the fuck is KF/Lolcowfarms/Soyjak etc not all over this story?!

 

[The Gays From LA]

So I binge-watched some more to see what the stalker/dosing story was about. In this video John talks about a woman he was corresponding with, who accused his BM camp "Pink Heart" of sheltering pedophiles and went to the BM organization with this story.

So he met a woman, who was "strange and awkward", but because she got him a book he wanted, he began a correspondence with her, treating her has his pupil. He doesn't say this, but his story suggests that this was someone younger than him. She went to BM just to meet him, but he didn't pay her much mind, so she LED-wire-wrapped an angry letter to his motor home, where she later snuck in in order to confront him (while he was high) and proceeded to slap him across the face. A ranger was called in to usher her away, and she was banned from Pink Heart camp. He broke off contact with her, but she kept e-mailing him every day. When he ignored her, she began contacting other camps to get through to him. She spread the rumour that someone at Pink Heart gave her GHB (a rape drug) in a water bottle and she got "dosed". He denies that this ever happened and claims she just a crazy person who wants to hurt him through reputation destruction. He was told not to talk about it, he refused for two years but couldn't keep silent any longer.

Here's the next video he made about this woman right after the one above:

Here he claims that it's possible this woman got dosed at Burning Man and that this happens there regularly, but he insists that it didn't happen at his camp or that anyone from his camp was involved if it had happened.

Here he claims that this woman sent him a long letter where she refers to him as her soul mate, which he of course denies, claiming her perception of their relationship was one-way. He saw her as a pupil but she wanted more.

 

[The Gays From LA]

Hey, I didn't know this: the Burning Man organization was reorganized and set up as a non profit so that they're immune from tort lawsuits if they are negligent? WTF?!

These German guys made a video about their first trip to Buring Man: "Virgin Burner Erfahrung". There's a section in this video of some of the artworks to the techno remix of Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner, which I never expected to hear in a zoomer's video:

Some of the "hot material" you can check out on te Playa, LMAOOO:

They all look very happy, good for them I guess.

Imagine partying through the night, then falling asleep inside some random tent, only to wake up to... a yoga class, LMAO:

So this is what happens to all those abandoned bikes at Burning Man: this organization washes them, repairs them and re-sells the second hand bikes to the Burners the next year

 

[The Gays From LA]

A masterpiece of American narrative humour:

"Come experience the playa during a burning man like no other, welcome to the WAP (Wet *ss Playa)"

 

[The Gays From LA]

Certified lolcow Sarah aka "Wonderhussy" is recovering from Burning Man with her solar-powered Starlink connection:

Her Burning Man video now has 355k views, with fans of the video saying it should be shown on mainstream TV:

I have discovered so many new lolcows over the course of looking up Burning Man videos, Burning Man is like a lolcow factory. They are very happy enthusiastic lolcows too, kinda like free-range lolcows, ranging freely on the Playa.

A Burning Man RANT from one of the 1% blacks who was actually there: "The vast majority of people I met there this year were first time Burners."

I can't stop laughing at Steel and Feels explaining the concept of a "Burning Man wook" on CNN:

He's still hatin' on wooks in his shorts:

He does have a message about Burning Man getting too politicized:

 

[The Gays From LA]

I love watching videos of people trying to salvage their cars, campers, RVs etc after Burning Man. Their vehicles look absolutely destroyed by the highly alkaline Playa dust:

An RV rental guy shows what these rentals look like when they're returned after Burning Man, all dusty and dirty on the inside and the outside, with dust on the engines as well:

This guy talks about renting out RVs to Burning Man: "I can make money from Burning Man. Instead of spending thousands, I can make thousands! It's a new experience for me."

"We've had great renters for Burning Man"

These two videos are now going to get at least 70k views: "How to clean up after Burning Man"

 

[The Gays From LA]

These post-Burning Man funk Livestreams with John are intense man, what the hell? These were recorded before John got sober or while he was getting sober so they're extra raw. I went back into his Youtube archive for this year and he cries almost every other Livestream, but this one has the most crying that I've seen so far:

LMAO, actually Lidl Drip should watch this Livestream, he was the one saying men should express their emotions more.

Apparently there are still Burners with their vans and their art in Gerlach, the small town closest to Burning Man:

The Playa is empty except for some portapotties that are going to be picked up later, and some of the abandoned cars that were stuck in the mud:

"The Playa provides", LMAO!

These guys went to the Playa after everyone had left to treasure hunt with a metal detector, and they say it's worse than they've ever seen it, the soil is "destroyed". They also found quite some trash (sun glasses, jewelry, tools), which is against the stated rules/principles of the event. They went over the ash that was left at the spot where the wooden Temple and the statue of The Man were blown up, and the detector constantly went off because of the particles in the ashes, which the organization apparently didn't clean up:

Not only did they find an abandoned trailer, a stranded sunken car, several air-conditioned containers, a piano(!), they even found an abandoned plane! There are people in the comments justifying this, saying "clean up takes a month".

 

[The Gays From LA]

John talks about being old and weird:

I did wonder what people are eating there in the middle of the desert. Burners are supposed to give away food for free as part of their "gifting" philosophy. Apparently they even have balut on the Playa?! Some of the dishes described in this thread are as creative as the art you see in the videos:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/16ljo1r

A lot of their restaurants(? eateries? What do you call it when it's free?) have hilarious names like "Vomiting Sparrows", " PhoCureBurn", "Beverly Grillz", "Vampire Empire", "Dusty Buns".

Some dude stopped by and held up a wrinkled brown fruit and asked us if we knew what it was. It was a passionfruit of course, but apparently 90% of people don’t know what they look like until you cut them open? Anyway, it was delicious and held off scurvy for another day.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/16ljo1r/_/k154mgo

I also found this video from one of the fire-dancers at Burning Man who went around picking up free food for a day to show what that was like:

Aaand... here come the SJWs to ruin Burning Man: some SJW there was extremely triggered by a "Blue Lives Matter" sticker on a car, and concluded that the principle of Radical Inclusion was a bit too radical for them:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/16jrljr

 

[The Gays From LA]

Instagram has discovered John, and he got some interesting comments on his viral video: "Imagine seeing this thing in public and trying not to laugh out loud", "You're what's wrong with the world today. People are sick of this shit."

He says once again that he doesn't ID as queer, that he doesn't ID as anything and that he has only been in relationships with women... however, from what I could tell, his two last girlfriends are both bisexual women. I guess this means John likes to watch?

Now that he has been discovered as a lolcow on Instagram, he's shocked at in his turn discovering the existence of lolcow communities, people who deliberately seek out lolcows:

I can't believe I agree with The Serfs on something:

The Hill also brought up the Nestle lawyer being at Burning Man:

Here is the Jacobin article that's referred to in the item from The Hill:

Why the Rich Love Burning Man - Jacobin

It became a festival that rich libertarians love because it never had a radical critique at its core; and, without any semblance of democracy, it could easily be controlled by those with influence, power, and wealth.

Why the Rich Love Burning Man

Burning Man became a festival that rich libertarians love because it never had a radical critique at its core.

jacobin.com

 

[The Gays From LA]

What is it about Burning Man that inspires artists to create one masterpiece after another? This one here even samples Atreyu fruitlessly trying to pull Artax out of the Swamps of Sadness:

 

[The Gays From LA]

John claims that if Hunter S. Thompson was alive today he would've been a vlogger or an influencer:

"I honestly couldn't be around a better group of extremely organized, well-prepared people in terms of getting stranded somewhere":

 

[The Gays From LA]

Some Burners really don't like John, LMAO, look at some of the comments in this thread:

In my opinion Halcyon is a hack.

Shall we play a game? Let’s count the Burning Man photos and references that commodify the burn on these commodified websites. In your opinion, is this personal and commodified brand building using Burning Man photos? In your opinion, was consent given/granted by everyone in these photos? https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnstyn https://hugnation.wixsite.com/zoom/halcyon https://www.lovemorefearless.com/ https://www.patreon.com/Halcyon https://twitter.com/halcyon (listing his private paid coaching gig opportunity) Next, let’s count the number of times in your opinion this has been reported to the Org but no action was taken. In your opinion, may this be rules for thee but not for me. It is in my opinion. Please feel free to contact doingitwrong@burningman.org to add your voice if you think this is the burner way and consistent with the 10 Principles.

C’mon—look at him at the end of the video asking to like and subscribe just like any other YouTube yahoo influencer. It’s embarrassing for the Org to allow this to happen and to promote his commodification.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/xm8w24

He responds to them at length, doing his troll aikido to disarm his trolls:

I messaged you privately and asked if you really wanted to know and understand me.
Shall I assume by the public response that the answer is, "No?"
I totally admit that at times, I have ridden a blurry line. A line that has never been concrete, but has evolved as Burning Man shifted from being an isolated week into a year-long culture. A line shifting as more and more people have tried to find ways for our beloved Makers to not be forced to live as "starving artists." I might even do things now that I would not have done 15 years ago. For example, using a photo of myself at my own camp at an unidentifiable desert festival on a personal site that - while not the purpose of the site - it does mention that one of the things I do is coaching FOR MONEY. (The LinkedIn photo showing identifiable art in the background was totally wrong. I have no memory of posting that. I have probably visited LinkedIn 3 times in 15 years. I appreciate you saying something. I took it down.)
***
I would love you to point out where I "complained" about the location change from Esplanade to 8 & E. I may have made a click-bait-y headline. But I don't think that anyone who listened to what i said would have concluded that I was complaining.
It was a wonderful experience gifting water from the suburbs. I prefer Esplanade. Our location this year didn't let my camp of 90 dedicated people contribute to the city at the scale and with the intensity that we are capable of. Plus a number of our offerings are intended to be open-Playa-facing (like the bright pink heart beacon to steer people home.). There were some initial feelings of hurt and frustration, but they passed. (I shared those feelings - and moving through them - because that is my art: sharing my truth.)
All that being said... if you are interested in dialogue, and not just debate, can I ask you a serious question?
***
Imagine if I went to Burning Man and was inspired to create sculpture. And I started spending my time creating sculpture. And it lit me up. I started bringing big pieces to the Playa. After a few years, I started teaching others to sculpt, too, in free classes. Eventually, people started offering me money to create things. Sometimes people would ask me to teach them to sculpt 1-on-1.
For YEARS I was a self promotor with no way of paying me. (Self love dressed as self promotion is one of the themes of my art.) I lived modestly, but felt rich because I was doing what I loved.
Now, as I promote my passion for sculpting and my work year-round, I occasionally mention that I offer 1-on-1 lessons in addition to the many free courses I teach. When I do gallery shows, they mention my Burning Man work and my coaching work. But I NEVER mention that commercial aspect of my life at Burning Man or in relation to Burning Man.
The 1-on-1 teaching is not how I pay my rent, but I found that if you want to work with people who will really be dedicated and value the time together as much as I do, they usually have to have some skin in the game.
I'll admit, I kinda treaded the line one year when I offered a paid "Post-Burn Sculpting Intensive" (NEVER MENTIONED ON PLAYA) to work with people powerfully inspired by their Burn experiences.
*NOTE: Since that year, I have decided to offer the same Intensive for free. Even though, when I talked to the Org about it, and they were fine with my Intensive as long as I didn't use the word, "Decompression." It just felt a little too close to the line.
I sleep well at night knowing that I am well-read in the Principles and feel in alignment with the Burning Man Projects' vision.
So....
According to you, at what point in me living my life, following my bliss, do I cross the line?
Are there deeper things you are judging me for? Or angry at me for other reasons?

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/xra7rd/_/iqid3ui

 

[The Gays From LA]

...what the fuck did I just watch?!

A 2021 SJW musical about Burning Man, where the Burners protest the tech bros at Burning Man? LMAOOO!

More highlights from this unintentionally hilarious SJW musical:

WTF is this though?!

So Google was involved with this musical... but it's actually making fun of companies like Google and their extremely competitive employees that want to gentrify everything, even Burning Man.

 

[The Gays From LA]

They're a "leave-no-trace event", LMAO:

"We are a leave-no-trace event", yeah sure:

Molten aluminum, molten glass, leftover firework canisters, the circuit boxes that contained the canisters. Like, who the hell do they think they're fooling insisting there's "no moop"?

This guy made a video about attending Burning Man on a budget, going there by bus, eating and sleeping at a camp instead of bringing along his own food and drinks... which still cost him about $2k, as much as cruise vacation:

This video I think perfectly illustrates why the DJs are so widely hated at Burning Man: they arrive by plane, they bring whores twerking on their turntables and decks, they bring hard drinks, but they run their mouths like they're somehow a part of it all, when they're just looking down on everything as their personal playground:

The post these cinematically shot videos of themselves getting their bare asses spanked and then of course they get to escape the camp while leaving everything behind without bothering to clean anything up, because they had hired a package with an RV ready for them and their friends:

I wonder why none of the Burners who will happily shit on others will not leave a single comment under these videos. Is this because the DJ and his crew are Brazilians, so they get to be assholes at Burning Man under the guise of being clueless (but rich spender) POC? There are other POC at Burning Man who do observe the rules.

 

[The Gays From LA]

So I went over to /r/BurningMan to decompress from watching terrorists and war casualties all day... but what do I find there:

Midburn leader kidnapped by Hamas.
A personal note here... Midburn's DPW was 4km away from the massacre, mass rape, and torture scene of the trance party.

They were there setting up because Midburn was supposed to be in a few weeks.

This could have been any of us and many burners were killed or are still being held hostage.

You know us, Israel is a huge part of burning man culture. Hamas attacked people who wanted peace, the music community and kibbutzim! We want our friends to come home.

--Help us find Hagit Hagit, mother of 3 Mahod Hasharon, Doctor of Science and Technology Education at the Technion, department leader at Midburn is the only one who did not return home from the production meeting of the Midburn team on 07/10 at Tal Or Farm. We need your help to find her. At 07:15 Hagit left the farm, but at 07:53 she abandoned her vehicle and fled on foot. Later, at 08:20, she sent a distress message "terrorists are shooting at me", when according to the mobile icon she is near Kibbutz Bari. During the next 45 minutes, Hagit traveled 2 km, apparently in a vehicle that was not hers. Her last known location was Pardes near Kfar Maimon. The circle on the map, around point D, is where her cellphone's antennas last connected at 10:35 am. This is our main search area at the moment. We urgently need any information, especially from those who were in the area at the time of the events, to complete the full picture of what happened that day. Hagit is a strong person, a survivor from birth, a graduate of patrol classes and has a lot of experience in the field - nothing will overwhelm her. We believe she is alive and possibly injured. Her children, friends and family are eagerly waiting for her at home. Please, if you know any little detail that can help, don't hesitate to call. Please share this post and help us bring Hagit home safely.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/178dxer

‏Israeli woman , a leader of burning-man local event- the Midburn, found dead after brutally killed by Hamas terrorists two weeks ago.
Hagit Mishkin Refaeli , 48 years old leader of the Middle East burning-man event- the Midburn , who was missing since the Hamas attack on the southern of Israel two weeks ago, announced being found dead , after she brutally killed by Hamas militants . Her family looked for her more than 10 days, waiting for any sign of her , after believing she was kidnapped into Gaza Strip. but yesterday after almost two weeks she was missing , the sad news shocked her family , her husband and her 3 children.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/17es6e7

This thread includes a screenshot of Burners arguing about the war in Israel:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/17gorb1

Here's another one:

It's time to have an open and honest discussion about the org's responsibility to BRC citizens in 2024, given the realities of the Nova attack
Really, really hoping that this does not dissolve into a discussion about peoples varying perceptions as to the root causes/reasons/justifications of the attack or what came after. I have mine, you have yours, let just look forward to BRC 2024.

After the Boston Marathon bombing more attention has been given to security at sporting events. But organizations that wish to use sporting events where innocent civilians could be easily targeted is not new. Munich Olympics, Atlanta Olympics, Paris soccer match in 2015, the IRA in 1997, and others. As a result, we see much more security at sporting events. Metal detectors, no bag policies, clear backpacks, wand searches with pat downs, have all become customary. In short, organizations have had to adjust.

The Nova festival was targeted, as an easy target with no resistance. That's a fact, and a strategic choice by the attackers. With sporting events being less "soft" but acknowledging that there are groups who wish to use attacking civilians (not primed to fight back) are festivals the new target? The people who come to BRC and follow the rules, including no guns, would be woefully ill-equipped to fight back (to be clear, I'm not advocating for guns at BRC). LEO's would be in a reactive mode, with 70-80k civilians present, and mired in a temporary city which would allow people wishing to do harm to blend in, in exceedingly easy fashion. Entry into BRC, only requires buying a ticket. And while vehicles are searched, and I'm not meaning to disparage Gate here- I don't think anyone would claim that they are 100% confident that no guns/weapons could possibly enter BRC if someone were so inclined.

So here's the big question: What does the org owe the citizens of BRC in terms of security? What enhancements should be considered in the wake of Nova? Do we all just "hope" that everything works out? And, yes I'm going. We can do better than the argument "if you don't feel safe, don't go".

Hoping for some real dialog.

<edit> I think having this discussion falls under Civic Responsibility.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/17k5tqj

That's right. Burning Man of all places is now worrying that they might be the targets of a terrorist attacks.

But they are ACAB so they don't want extra security:

The nova festival is not a tipping point in global event security. It was a confined event in an area where hostilities are extremely high.

You have no idea what policies and procedures BMORG has in place with local and federal authorities in an event of this nature, which I guarantee you exist.

anyone looking to commit an act of terrorism is, like any predator, looking to do so in a location that is naturally weak on all fronts. Geographically weak locations with the potential for a high body count due to a condensed population. Areas of political bias. Burning man fits none of those descriptions (if you question this due to the 80k number I invite you to look at the population density of major cities. That have high rises.), not even in areas of large dance parties, because there are so many events happening simultaneously.

all you are doing by requesting elevated security is inviting the American police state into one of the few events left in the country where cops do not run the show, and cops/FBI/CIA would have an absolute field day with elevated power at an event like this.

We have a really great thing (with other issues well worth criticism) going here. Don’t ruin it.

ETA: I have worked in live events for 12 years. I’ve been in places with way too lax security and places with the secret service. There is no reality where there is no risk, but we are doing just fine.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/17k5tqj/_/k75ymjh

Then there's the way of solving things:

They should let us all bring our own guns again.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/17k5tqj/_/k75j599

So I checked the Burning Man list of banned items, and indeed, firearms are not allowed at Burning Man:

 

[The Gays From LA]

John bought himself a pair of spy glasses: