如何拯救商品化的火人节？

“火人节”的规模一年比一年大，一年比一年贵，也一年比一年更高大上。在2011年火人节的入场券首次被抢光以前，任何想去的人都可以去狂欢一把。但现在你得抢票才能参加这场嬉皮士的盛宴。今年的3万张票刚发售不到半个小时就被抢光了，每张入场券的价格高达425美元。当然如果你不差钱，你也可以在发售前后买990美元的预售票和1200美元的售后票。

这几年很多人都说火人节“已死”。现在你要想乘坐飞驰的皮卡，拿步枪射击盛满汽油的小铁猪已经不可能了。随着政府对这项活动的管理日益增强，火人节从极端走向平和是必然的事。现在你在参加火人节之前，可以先买一件专属“战袍”，每天将你最爱的寿司和生鱼片空运到黑石城也不是难事。只要你愿意的话，你还可以拉拉仇恨，每天更新一下朋友圈，秀秀“很黄很暴力”的火人节现场照片。

不过从2017年开始，“火人节组织”开始注重保持火人节的灵魂了。比如“烧木人”是历年火人节的保留节目，前几年用来烧掉的“大木人”都是用机器竖起来的，今年的“大木人”则将由参与者们用双手将它拉起来，这也算是一种令人振奋的转变。当然，火人节作为一种推动社会变革的力量，它也依然存在着一些问题，要想保持火人节的变革与超脱的本色，主办方应该切实想想法子。如果在今年的火人节之后，“火人节组织”里有人能看到这篇文章，我对你们有以下几个建议：

一个人每两年才能来一次

随着火人节名声在外，今年报名参加的人数也达到了7万人。主办方或许应该出台一项规定，使报名者每两年才可以参与一次。这样一来，更多的人能够享受到这种难忘的体验，也免得黑石沙漠里来来去去都是那几张熟面孔。

取消高价预售票

“全国统一价”的火人节门票才更符合火人节的“十大原则”，尤其是其中的“极度包容”、“市民责任”、“免费赠予”和“去商品化”原则。在主售前后销售高价票，又让金钱成了参与活动的敲门砖。如果火人节真的反对“以消费替代体验”的话，那就最好尽早实行统一票价制，免得被人骂又当啥啥又立牌坊。

掐断黑石城的Wi-Fi信号

火人节的意义就在于让人与外部世界暂时隔绝，远离俗事纷扰，去亲近那些未知和意想不到的事物。前几年这片干枯的河床上还根本收不到手机信号，现在这里已经有了一座带无线网的咖啡厅，还有了火人节专属手机APP和网络开发者。火人节最具挑战性和最能改变人生的地方，是那些对科技上瘾的参与者根本无法体验到的。何况对于真正想体验火人节的纯种嬉皮士，他们最看不惯的就是你们这种光知道拍拍拍的装逼犯。

火人节不能搞来去自由

任何一个来到火人节的人，都应该坚持到一周的活动结束。主办方应该严控人员的出入。我听说过很多人到火人节“溜达了一圈”就出来了。拜托，你们是干嘛来了？火人节给人的感觉应该像跑完了一场马拉松，否则就别恬着脸说你得到了什么人生感悟。

别发“导游指南”了

火人节会给每个参与者准备一个小册子，上面列出了火人节期间的所有活动。然而这样一本小册子压根不应该被印出来了。火人节的意义就是徘徊、彷徨和迷失。如果你把攻略都提前做好了，按小时赶景点，白天拍照晚上睡觉，和旅游团有啥区别？

限制房车和发电机

黑石城越来越像一座有墙的城市了。一台台房车和发电机定义了道路的边界，使帐篷成了一座座孤岛。随着空间愈加私有化，火人节的公共属性也在逐步消减。房车应该停放在黑石城的指定区域，城中的房车总数也不能是无节制的。城市的结构越松散，环境越感性，黑石城才越美好。而今年的黑石城就像一个大工地，空气中也弥温了太多的汽油味儿。

“雏儿”们进城要先背诵火人节十原则

每一个第一次参加火人节的人都被称为“雏儿”，雏儿们进城前要先接受组织的考验，也就是先敲钟，然后在地上滚一圈儿，滚得跟老鸟们一样灰头土脸，以示与大家“同流合污”的决心。我建议雏儿们在进城之前，还得先背诵一遍火人节十原则。在今年的大木人被烧掉之前，我身边有个家伙问我，这特么的是在搞毛线呢？他肯定不知道火人节的任何一条原则，说不定他根本不知道火人节是什么东西。（财富中文网）

译者：贾政景

本文作者Samantha Krukowski是《帕拉亚的沙：火人节故事集选》的编辑。她目前在辛辛那提大学教设计。此前她在爱荷华州立大学建筑系工作时，曾执教过关于火人节的研讨班。

Burning Man gets bigger, more expensive, and more exclusive every year. Prior to its first-time sellout in 2011, Burning Man could be experienced by anyone who wanted to go. Now, it’s a race to the gate. This year, 30,000 tickets were gone in about a half hour—each cost $425. You had a better chance at landing some if you had deep pockets—pre- and post-main sale tickets went for $990 and $1200, respectively.

There has been a lot of talk in the last few years about Burning Man being “over,” and with good reason. The days of shooting a rifle from a speeding car at gas-filled metal pigs are gone. Burning Man’s radicalism is being challenged by its appropriation. You can buy a pre-selected Burning Man wardrobe before you go, fly your personal sushi chef and their fresh fish in and out daily on Playa Air, and keep your social media networks updated (and sufficiently jealous) as you post all your Burning Man travel porn.

The Burning Man Organization is working to maintain the soul of Burning Man, and getting the Man back on the ground and raised communally by hand was a heartening shift for 2017. But there are real problems that are threatening Burning Man’s existence as a force for social change. A few big moves could assert the hugely transformative and otherworldly core of the event for a lot more people. In case anyone at the Burning Man Organization is listening after this year’s Burn, I have some suggestions.

Create a once-every-other-year attendance policy

Burning Man is oversubscribed—the population estimate for 2017 is over 70,000. Maybe it’s time to change things up so that attendance is a biennial, not an annual, possibility. More would have access to the experience, and fewer people would feel entitled to it.

Kill the high-priced pre-sale tickets

A one-price-for-all ticket would be more in line with Burning Man’s 10 Principles, especially radical inclusion, civic responsibility, gifting, and decommodification. Selling more expensive tickets before and after the main sale makes money the most valued qualification for entrance. If Burning Man really resists the “substitution of consumption for participatory experience,” some alignment of money and mouth could be achieved through a single ticket price.

Block Wi-Fi in Black Rock City

Burning Man should be about leaving the outside world, disconnecting from the quotidian, and connecting to the unknown and the unimaginable. Not very long ago it was impossible to get a cell signal on the playa, now there’s a café with wireless Internet access and an interface for mobile app and web developers. Some of the most challenging and life-changing aspects of Burning Man can’t be experienced by device-addicted attendees. Besides, those attendees can really piss off people who are trying to actually be at Burning Man.

Don’t let people come and go

Anyone who goes to Burning Man should commit to the whole week-long event. In-and-out access should be curtailed. I heard a lot of people talking about “stopping in” to Burning Man. Come on, what’s the point? It’s supposed to feel like a marathon.

Get rid of the playa event guide

Burning Man publishes What Where When, a listing of all the events and activities happening on the playa. Burning Man should not have a manual. Wandering, lingering, and getting lost are the keys to the city. Pre-planning your trip, keeping track of the hour, being where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there—all these are anathema to playa time.

Limit RVs and generators

Black Rock City is increasingly a walled city. RVs and generators define the edges of roads and support the social isolation of camps. The communal quality of Burning Man is being diminished by the increasing privatization of space. RVs could be assigned to designated parts of the city; the number of RVs per camp could be limited; or only a certain number of RV passes could be distributed. The city is better when it’s more porous and more environmentally sensible. This year it sounded too much like a construction site and smelled too much like gasoline.

Make virgins recite the 10 Principles at the bell

If you’re a first timer, you have to ring the big bell and roll in the dust before you can pass through the entrance gates. Virgins should also be required to recite Burning Man’s 10 Principles during this initiatory moment. Before the Man burned this year, a guy next to me asked what the fuss was about. He definitely didn’t know there were any principles; hell, he probably didn’t even know he was at Burning Man.

Samantha Krukowski is the editor of Playa Dust: Collected Stories from Burning Man. She teaches design at the University of Cincinnati and taught the Burning Man Studio for two years when she was on the architecture faculty at Iowa State University.