2010 was a truly amazing year at the big camping trip for my camp. Our bar got lovely Esplanade placement, our camp-mates pulled together beautifully to make our public space a place that people felt comfortable and wanted to spend time in. We threw Bootie one night, did a live radio simulcast from the bar, had Culann's Hounds play a great afternoon set, and met tons of wonderful denizens of Black Rock City. All in all it was a very successful year and well worth all the hard work .
Esplanade placement rules, but...
I could very well say this was the best burn we have had in at least 10 years, except for one blight on our otherwise wonderful experience: acid assaults by complete strangers. On Friday night, the bar was going in full effect and I was djing. One of our bartenders, who is a good friend, came to find me on the dj platform to let me know he had been "dosed" by "hippie dude" who had offered him a sip of some "some single barrel bourbon". My friend was quite familiar with the sensation of coming on to acid, so came to tell me before it hit him too hard so I could warn the rest of our bartenders. From that night on we had to institute a policy that nobody could accept food or drink from strangers unless they were willing to take a chance on being dosed.
We were not alone in being targeted
The next evening I was having dinner with some friends from a neighboring camp, and was informed that one of their number (who was at the time working as a Medic for Burning Man) had been dosed with acid via a spray bottle while he was on shift. It seemed a bit fantastic, but not impossible. I told the story of what happened to our bartender, and we decided it must be some camp's fucked up "art" project for the Burn this year.
Vicious hippie strikes again
We had a fabulously fun burn night, tending bar and watching what we could see of the burn from our camp. I helped the folks at Airship Victoria launch with their tesla coil. We carried on the fun most of the night. The next afternoon, I was finishing up lunch in my camp, when another of my camp-mates, who I had assumed had been sleeping, came and sat down. After a few minutes she told me that she had been dosed that morning while tending bar by a hippie dude wielding a spray bottle. She had spent the last 5 hours having a creepy time at the Center Camp Cafe, and was still feeling it, and not in a good way. At that point I went to the radio station in our village and made an announcement that some hippie or group of hippies were roaming Burning Man assaulting people with LSD.
My message to those responsible
To the hippie or hippies that think they are opening minds and freeing souls with their acid mission, I say this: you are personally responsible for sowing feelings of distrust and hostility amongst the residents of Black Rock City. Never again will members of my village feel comfortable accepting food or drink from strangers, and now anyone showing up in our camp with a spray bottle is going to be decked, and held down until a ranger can be found. We are banning spray bottles. We may even ban hippies outright, if that is what it takes to keep such stupid behavior at bay. Its not 1967, you are not doing anything even slightly original. You are simply fucking up other people's Burning Man, and destroying the sense of community that we "burners" try to preserve. You are no different than the frat boy who sexually assaults a drunk/high woman, or the tweaker who starts a fight with a total stranger. Stay the fuck out of my camp, hippie. Save your LSD attacks for the Rainbow Festival.
17 comments:
This might be the first reported case of terrorism in Black Rock City. I can't think of anything else to call it - dispersal of chemical weapons. If the hippie was a muslim and the city was New York, that's how it would be reported. And your village is now "terrified."
I heard a rumor about Homeland Security surrounding Bass Camp - and another about cops handcuffing a hippie "randomly" at the same spot. Well... could be something different, but if not, that seems to make sense.
As a longtime Burner and Rainbow attendee, I can assure you that such behavior is not welcome at either event. Whether an actual assumption of what a Rainbow Gathering is about or just another hippy-hating joke, the comment does nothing but dilute an otherwise reasonable and important commentary.
WTF? Wow, that's radical assault expression. :/ I'm so sad to hear that it struck at your camp DaBomb! I was always hearing about a heavy LEO presence throughout the city this year, but I hadn't heard on the playa about risks such as these running about. Although I did notice that wish lists mentioned 'sealed' bottles of spirits...
@neophile - For years I've voiced concern about "hippie" hating on the playa. Like the n-word, it can at times make a seemingly good joke and in both cases (the n-word and the h-word) I am guilty of abusing it in the spirit of humor. But it saddens me that even people who are proud to call themselves burners need a scapegoat. It's dehumanizing! Remember the first principle of Burning Man: we welcome and respect the stranger!
@jevim: I want to clarify that this posting is from one of my camp members going by the handle "StopTheWarOFun". I personally did not experience these assaults but felt it was worth allowing them to share it on BURNcast to warn others within our community. Just tryin' to keep it real because as you know you won't hear this sort of stuff on other websites including the official Burning Man site. I love the event however it has indeed become a metropolis and a tourist destination and because of that, I'm afraid, is not all rainbows and unicorns. As Obi-wan would say: we must be cautious!
OK - time to bring the law in. What this person did broke the law. If we can find him/ her and put them in jail, I doubt any other hippies will try it again.
This is OUR community, we will fight back.
FYI - some douchebag squirted me w/ water along your street from inside his van while I rode my bike back to camp. I doubled back and screamed bloody murder at him which got me called a 'fucking bitch'. I don't think it was your hippie thankfully as I was still sober, but I'd like to rip him apart.
While not a hippie myself, I just wanted to add that people who would push drugs on people without their knowledge or consent are NOT hippies. They're jerks at best, and criminals at worst (especially if the person they've dosed needs to go to the hospital or gets hurt in some other way as a result), but certainly not hippies. There's no reason to hate on anyone who has dreads and wears tie dye over something like this.
A friend of mine was worried about this exact problem a few years ago, and started taking a sharpie and drawing a smiley face on the forehead of anyone she took food or drink from. It was a badge of silliness for the nice folks, but also... an identifying mark on anyone who might try to cause harm. Thankfully she's never had to call that one in, but it's an interesting thought.
Anyone got other ideas on how to stop this kind of thing without closing our doors to each other? I'd really hate to see our community turn into a big paranoid rave because of this.
Dosing is a form of assault. It has been around since the at least the 60s and each generation from hippies, through punks and now burners have been forced to come to terms with it as a form of assault.
I still haven't been able to get any coherent *reason* for why someone would do it. The most I've ever heard in terms of rationalization has been the muddled "inner voice" thoughts of some seriously messed up heads that should be under serious counseling and restraint.
But I can assure you that people who do this come in all appearances, "hippy" being only one, so let's just drop that right now.
Various members of BM volunteer staff have been dosed every year since it became big enough to allow people to do things unnoticed. This is not new. What strikes me as new is that dosers are now going after camp bartenders and so on. Before this all I ever heard of were BM volunteers in perceived positions of "authority".
I agree with the judgment of the effect on people. I never accept food, water or misting from people i don't know. Personally I am a rather non-violent person but i have a feeling that i would not be so nice should i ever come to know someone as being a doser. I certainly would leave the person intact enough to drag to a LEO and not so damaged that i couldn't testify against them in court. But i fear i would hurt the person enough to give them insight as to the effect they had on others. This is not self-righeousness. i know i would be wrong, but i also know that i would have that temptation strongly.
That is so scarry. As a ranger, and somebody who has never willingly done a drug, I can honestly say, that would ruin my burn! I was dosed at spikes my first year. It took me almost 3 hours to stumble home. My stomach hurt and everything moved in slow motion. No fun at all!!! I stay away from spray bottles and rarely accept drinks from anybody. I drank at our ranger outpost (Tokyo) this year but didn't think to check who gave us the bottles. I will probably think twice next year when drinking from the gifted bottles at camp!
Yes, please do not blame Dabomb for this post. She asked me to share our experience here because it was so shocking. It has caused a bit of soul-searching in our camp as well, and we are long-time burners one and all. Bottom line is that we share more in common with Burners than with anyone else on Earth, and this attack frightened and angered us.
It is a sad shame that the perpetrators of this 'prank' do not recognize the seriousness of this crime against the victims.
An unsuspecting receiver of acid can not only have a bad trip, but can suffer permanent psychological damage as their perceived reality breaks down around them with no source or cause for it evident. Consider also the negligible physical symptoms of LSD, this can lead to medical personnel responding improperly to the problem as well, presenting a serious health risk physically to the person.
I cautiously use the term Rape of Psyche when this occurs (and it has been occuring for a long time kids, before the Burn, before Rainbow, before your time...) this is a damaging prank that rarely leads to anyone's expansion of mind, only stealing their Freedom of Choice (don't 'hippies' hold that Freedom, as an ideal?)
Plainly said, you have violated one of the core principles of Black Rock City.
Should I personally catch someone at it at any event or venue. It will be a very very sad encounter for them.
In Peace Love and Flow,
Sean
It was either BM 2006 or 2007. One of Timothy Leary's churches should up on the Playa with super soakers with acid. We were warned in Arctica to watch out for them. In 2007 one of my ride shares was a hippie who was dosing people on the Playa. As a result (besides him being a total ass hat) he was left on the Playa. On the other hand in 2008 a well known Burner friend of mine got in trouble for dosing. The person is very much not a hippie. I know other people who got dosed at BM just by someone from the general population. Yes Hippies may to to the extreme in dosing people... but dosing is out there on the Playa. Not just by hippies but my many different scum bags. We all really need to watch it. Dosing IS really becoming a problem on the Playa.
@StopTheWarOFun - The first time I ever went to Burning Man I befriended a ranger that camped close to me. He came to check on me every day. One of the first pieces of advice he ever gave me is drink plenty of water and to piss clear (seriously!). He also said never to accept food or drinks (or candy!) from strangers. It really saddens me that even within our community (drink!) these admonishments still remain.
Stop the hating of any genre...but we need to stop the danger and risk from all directions. Radical self reliance - think.
Our camp had a bout of dosing - from a nice clean cut RV with everything and nice shoes "neighbor" who offered up godiva chocolates...candy that he had secretly laced. A few playa virgins really got a surprise that they weren't expecting. He actually never really would let us know what it was when pushed for an answer the next day.
On the other hand, a dirty dreadlocked hippie - undercover type - showed up trying to pedal mushrooms. He uncovered himself when we tried to "detain" him for the rangers. He walked right into our tents! We thought he was theiving. How funny, huh?
Watch out for each other - don't try to find lables to generalize or you'll miss out on the reality.
We're banning everyone from our camp now :) How's that?
Guys, do you have ANY idea how difficult it would be to spray enough LSD on someones skin that they would pass a threshold dose? Maybe, MAYBE if you used DMSO, but that doesn't dissolve in water. I'm not saying dosing isn't a problem (it clearly is), but don't hate on misters. I always ask people if I can mist them first, and it is very cooling on the hot Playa. Tell you what, if you think someone is dosing you with a mister (as fucking improbable as that is), rather than assault and detain them, just ask them to take a nice big drink from the misting bottle.
This story is incredible! And when I say "incredible", I mean I don't believe it. LSD is difficult to obtain these days...nobody who has any, is going to waste it, on un-grateful strangers!
And all the animosity, towards "hippies"? Why the fuck do you people even come to Burning Man, anyway?
Next year, maybe you should stay at home, next year, where it's "safe"...
@burner abu I think its incredible too. Incredible in a "wow, I cannot believe anyone could be so vicious". I would not believe it happened if it had not happened to *two* different people I know well who are familiar with the experience. As for hard to obtain, visit Oregon some time. The place is lousy with it. All you need is a decent chemist and some privacy.
No animosity against hippies, just the hippie dude who dosed my camp mates. And you people? This was my 14th Burning Man, dude. Hippies are a relatively new addition to Burning Man, as it happens.
BRC is as safe as Disneyland these days, what with the no driving, no guns, art car registration, no burning art without a permit, and the inviolate perimeter fence. The occasional acid assault is just an unfortunate inconvenience.
Can someone give me the definition of a 'Hippie' and while they are at it, also tell me who a socialist or communist is (Obama?), a liberal is (Obama?)......a Muslim is (Obama?).......I think we all know who is racist or exhibits racist behavior, so no labeling there...but seems like perpetuating labels stoops to the level of say a really bad show on Fox News......
I didn't realize how strong labels are in this country, even at BRC....whether good or bad..I had tie-dye curtains for my shade structure this year and was promplty referred to as a 'Dead-head' or worse (now that I find out the references) as a 'Hippie'.......Can we just call this dosing person a criminal or bad or evil person.......I don't think I by any means am a 'Hippie' (still not sure, but I am a professional, earn a 6-figure income, very hedonistic, 10-time Burner, and so on, which I think are the anti-thesis of a hippie?)........given what I am reading here....but I think I will have to take strong exception if called that again?
Post a Comment