[marssaxman]

All ideals are contradictory and unachievable, but the tension they create motivates action, which can lead to interesting forms of change.

There are as many stories as there are participants. Yours is one kind of story that some people have. There are other people, who have been participating in Burning Man for years, for whom the party and the art are nothing more than useful motivating excuses for going to Black Rock City. Some of them might say that the event is a laboratory for experiments in forms of social organization and activity which contrast with those most commonly seen in the "default world". All of these stories are true at once.

[bluntfang]

If there was no party and no art, there would be no Black Rock City. If there wasn't a faceless capitalist organization running the party, there would be no Black Rock City. I don't disagree that your story happens, it happens to me, but let's get real: It's for rich white people, just like all psychedelic movements of modern civilization. Acceptance of my privilege has enabled me to grow in ways that you couldn't imagine, although I do feel complex emotions for people who think it's more than what it is, but at the end of the day I don't think they have much to offer to the world or the burning man experience, and their zealous attitude that they are [insert your greater power]'s gift to earth is juvenile.