Man Arrested for burning Burning man

Yeah, thats the headline.

For those who don't know, "Burning Man" is an annual counter culture festival held in the Black rock desert of Nevada. Thousands of revelers gather on the playa, turning it into the temporary town. A giant wooden statue is normally torched at the end of the week. Marking the end of the celebration.

This year, however..Things were out of order.

This man

took it upon himself to torch the big man, 4 days earlier than expected.

Paul Addis, 35, of San Francisco, was booked into the Pershing County, Nev., jail on suspicion of arson, illegal possession of fireworks, destruction of property and resisting a public officer, according to the sheriff's department. He posted a $25,632 bond, a sheriff's dispatcher said.

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Arrest for Arson. Irony on the playa!

BTW..guy looks like avatar material, don't you think?

I just heard about this via my husband...and promptly walked to my calandar and quipped " a bit early this year, that's odd."

Now that I see the "offender" - I'm not a bit surprised.

No facial piercings, no dreadlocks or wild hairstyle , and the mandatory "college tribal" tattoo - just your average joe with face paint and a wild idea.

I doubt this guy is a diehard Burner outside of arsonist stunts.

What a shame. The actions of one attention seeker spoiling it for the rest of the participants.

*tsk tsk*

Shame on him.

[edit on 28-8-2007 by GENERAL EYES]

I'm assuming they took another booking photo, sans makeup.

And that grin on his face makes me wonder. There must have been a lot of joking going on at the sheriffs office.

I would still like to know "why'd you burn the man dood?"

The Man has risen once again...here, on ATS, in all his splendor.

I went to Burning Man three times in the 1990's and the idiot factor rose exponentially with the number of participants and the cost of entry.

Second year I went, some moron put a couple of bullets in the fire and someone got shot in the leg.

First year I went, there were only 1500 people. They had some great stuff going on in those days, like the Drive By Shooting Range. Beers, cars and guns -- whole lotta fun. These days, someone would get killed.

Another big sport that nearly killed someone during my second year there was something called Back Seat Driving. Black Rock Playa is huge, and the camp used to be small, and people would put a brick on their accelerator, or something else to hold it down, then crawl into the back seat with their friends and drink or whatever while the car careened across the lake bed without a pilot.

The only surprise this news holds for me is that somebody didn't do it sooner.

Can you say hypocrisy, ladies and gentlemen? Burning man is about anarchy, right? Heaven forbid no-one break the "rules", however. I see the exact same double standards playing out every day on so-called "unmoderated" internet forums.

"You can have anarchy, as long as it's anarchy on our terms"

Burning Man was never about "anarchy" as far as I've ever heard.

"Alternative" or "Experiemental Community" were what I was familiar with, and to back up MajorMalfunctions statements attesting to the decline in the quality of the participants over the last couple of years - well, I have to agree.

And Anarchisim, despite the pop culture definition and rebellious usage of the term, isn't about destroying things to suit ones own whims.

There may not be governmental law, but there is still a CODE.

Every serious urban primitive knows this.

*edit to compensate for "anarchist keyboard" causing unsightly spelling errors.

[edit on 28-8-2007 by GENERAL EYES]

Ohh, I love that fest. But it's a shame, and kinda ironic too.

I don't understand this whole burning man tradition. what's the point or the symbolism behind burning a wooden art statue? it's wrong to burn anything considered to be art work anyway. but I think this guy was trying to prove a point, that it's pointless to do this at any time at any rate and for any reason. I've seen pictures of this event and i'm sorry but it looks very satanic. I mean look at the guy, obviously he's a member of some cult. In some ways, I think this guy did the right thing, but he could have been under the influence. saying that, I am never going to participate in burning anything. reminds me of those old movies where they are going to burn the town. However, if the man signifies someone I dislike then i'm ok with it.


So how did the guy get to the man? was it not secure?