that's a complicated question.

i think the nature of burning man changed a great deal.

i started going in 1997. back then, it was serious counter culture. i was dazzled by what i found there.

i stopped going in 2008. it had gotten "popular." it was "cool." instagram models went to take pictures. art grants were used to build projects to gain fame. sergey brin paid a staff of hundreds to build him a camp. it started to feel more like a dusty cochella than what i remembered.

the old core of my friends that used to go have been more of a real resistance.

the newer burners align more closely with the prevalent san francisco archetype. the organization itself has been cowardly and submissive to BLM and authority, but it's a hard spot for them as they are utterly beholden to permits etc and the whole thing has become more corporation than movement for some time.