[Seattle-editorial] FEATURE: Community and fear

[Lance Larkin]

Green bar: CLIMATES OF FEAR AND COMMUNITY
Title: Burning Man: Mad ravers and drugged hippies or
social test?

In a growing climate of <a
href="http://adbusters.org/magazine/21/fear.html">fear</a>,
everyone is quick to blame the decline of Western
civilization on various social ills. This finger
pointing further marginalizes certain segments of
society while causing others to retreat into <a
href="http://www.nindy.com/chw/gated/FA_review_Nation_December_26_1997.html">"communities"</a>
marketed for their safety. This downward spiral of
fear results in the fracturing of collectivism, which
has prompted some to take action by <a
href="http://adbusters.org/campaigns/corporate/actlocally/initiatives.html">banning
the divisiveness</a> (and hence the corporation) from
their public spaces.

But what is the nature of <a
href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19659&group=webcast">community</a>?
Is it really that important and does its lack cause
fragmentation of society? Some would say yes and have
traveled far to prove it. Even to the Nevada desert
where an experimental community sprouts in the desert
for one week and then disappears.

The mainstream media paints the Burning Man festival
as a wild, drug-fueled party - once again perpetuating
concepts of fear driven sensationalism to middle
America. Descriptions to the <a
href="http://www.burningcam.com/about/what-is.html">contrary</a>
claim the event is very participatory. However, even
these accounts don't address the root of this
inclusiveness and how the ban of commercialism and
creation of a <a
href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19657&group=webcast">gift
economy</a> hold Black Rock City together.

Ultimately, this gift economy, a harsh environment and
the need for total self-sufficiency draw 30,000 people
together into a populace of general rapport. Though
the context for this social experiment is hard to
reproduce in the world of the 9-to-5 job, the Seattle
Burning Man community is offering a taste of the art,
music, film, slides and performances of Black Rock
City this coming <a
href="http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-seattle-community/2002-November/000381.html">Saturday</a>.


photo of the Man to be attached


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