The Law has spoken: Burning Man has been co-opted by The Man. In an essay published by the San Francisco Standard this past weekend, one of the event’s original co-founders, John Law, lamented that the anarchic utopia he and his co-conspirators ushered into existence in 1990 now leaves him “a little sad.” These days, he argues, the festival has become little more than a “fabulous Disneyland for the well-heeled,” the whole enterprise eroded gradually by swelling hoards of wealthy tech bros and influencers.
Personally, I’ve spent some of the happiest weeks of my life roaming around Black Rock City, the temporary desert metropolis where Burning Man takes place, but I’m not about to argue with Law. His criticisms of the luxury camps, with their celebrity chefs and private jets, ring absolutely true. As ever in life, though, it’s all relative. So I would add one small caveat: You know what else has been degraded over the last few decades by bowing to the whims of a wealthy elite? Everything on Earth!
