I was assaulted at Burning Man

[Savannah]

Spiff, I'm sorry that happened to you. It sounds like you brought a lot of joy to others, and I'm glad your performances were seen by many before this happened.

Please remember that it only takes 1 worthless bastard at the wrong time to ruin your day, and I don't personally think you should have somehow done it differently or elsewhere. I've never seen anyone physically attacked at a Burn, and I admit my first reaction would be to help you physically (since that's my area of minor expertise) and ask someone else--with a bike--to fetch law enforcement, not make two victims by confronting a dangerous person more than a foot taller than me and on god-knows-what drug. People were probably scared.

It sounds like most people tried their best in a confusing situation (not everyone knows how to find a Ranger, even though they're supposed to). That there may have been an optimum way to handle the situation--which did not come to pass--is cause for hurt, but there were a couple of other ways it could've gone south before law enforcement arrived if the attacker had stayed . . . and then realized he was being cornered. Especially if he was drunk or drug-addled.

The fact is, a @#%#ed up thing happened to you, any way you slice it. Your attacker is to blame. Not you, and not the guy who tried to help you (and not the way you wished). Hopefully this thread will give people the impetus to decide what they would do to try to help under the circumstances.

For anyone who might be uncertain, Rangers are located at 3:00 & C and 9:00 & C (across from Medical) and also at Center Camp, and--of course--they also travel.

[theCryptofishist]

Penny, go to your profile and uncheck the "Disable BBCode" button in order to get quote to work.

[Hoolie]

Hey Spiff, your story really got my blood boiling. I was not there this year, and even if I was, odds are very slim that I would have been anywhere near you when this incident occurred. However, if I was there, I can tell you that I would not have just stood by and done nothing. It really makes me angry when I see someone suffer and unprovoked attack, and if the victim was in the process of putting on a performance and making people happy, well, I probably would have been absolutely livid. My instinct may have been to tackle the guy to give him a dose of his own medicine, but hopefully my rational mind would have overcome and I would have just followed him until I could flag down law enforcement. I'm not saying this to be an internet tough guy. I'm just letting you know that there are burners who are willing to step in, and this one in particular is getting very fed up with the assholes who are descending upon BRC in ever increasing numbers.

[ygmir]

Hey Spiff, your story really got my blood boiling. I was not there this year, and even if I was, odds are very slim that I would have been anywhere near you when this incident occurred. However, if I was there, I can tell you that I would not have just stood by and done nothing. It really makes me angry when I see someone suffer and unprovoked attack, and if the victim was in the process of putting on a performance and making people happy, well, I probably would have been absolutely livid. My instinct may have been to tackle the guy to give him a dose of his own medicine, but hopefully my rational mind would have overcome and I would have just followed him until I could flag down law enforcement. I'm not saying this to be an internet tough guy. I'm just letting you know that there are burners who are willing to step in, and this one in particular is getting very fed up with the assholes who are descending upon BRC in ever increasing numbers.

I'm with you!!!
and, I'm just the guy to do it!~!!

[C.f.M.]

I was also assaulted, thankfully the people I was with managed to get her off me and send her packing. It was a rather aggressive year, in my experience. People who didn't like having the rules (no art cars on A) pointed out to them beauing up and threatening to come back. Violent domestic squabbles. Etc.

I'm glad you're OK, robotman.

[kvd]

I heard about this on the radio. I was really surprised that no one helped, especially given that people managed to team up to beat the shit out of a cop this year.

[theCryptofishist]

Hm. I remember reading somewhere (and I don't remember where, so I'm not sure how much credence to give it) that once one person stands up and helps, the others all will, too. I wish I remembered more.

[jkisha]

Huh? Didn't hear about that. Would love additional info, as it doesn't seem this would not have made the news--could even have jeopardized the new BLM permit.

I heard about this on the radio. I was really surprised that no one helped, especially given that people managed to team up to beat the shit out of a cop this year.

[polyresin]

I am SO sorry!!! Ugh what a douchebag!!! It sounds like you worked really hard on your costume and it absolutely breaks my heart that anybody would do something like that.

I wish I could help more with identification, I've never seen anything like that happen outside of the Thunderdome... I hope you will recreate your costume and return next year though, if you set up a paypal donation site for your costume rebuild I would gladly, gladly donate. I'm sure lots of people would

[polyresin]

Hm. I remember reading somewhere (and I don't remember where, so I'm not sure how much credence to give it) that once one person stands up and helps, the others all will, too. I wish I remembered more.

It just takes a leader... It has to do with initiative in groups. I remember a study where participants were put in a small room with a closed door and told to wait a few minutes. Then the researchers would put some smoke through the door crack. When the participants were alone in the room, they immediately called for somebody's attention, but if they were in pairs, each participant sort of just waited for the other to say something... even when they were dealing with a potentially deadly threat. We are immensely affected by our social environment...

[Cheyenne]

Thats really shitty mate,

I didn't see any of that - what I did observe however, was that the majority of little shits were not Americans, but rather they were comprised of the Aussie/European contingent... on the saturday night we came accross some idiotic french dickheads who were obviously spectators.. hurling pointless abuse at passers by at around 4.30 and D

On burn night, an Aussie was telling a guy in front of him to 'sit down' - when the guy retorted that he couldn't as his knees were not in great condition, this aussie fuckwit gave him a load of abuse... I told the aussie to fuck off and grow up... and don't bother coming back unless he changed his attitude!

[C.f.M.]

Thats really shitty mate,

I didn't see any of that - what I did observe however, was that the majority of little shits were not Americans, but rather they were comprised of the Aussie/European contingent... on the saturday night we came accross some idiotic french dickheads who were obviously spectators.. hurling pointless abuse at passers by at around 4.30 and D

On burn night, an Aussie was telling a guy in front of him to 'sit down' - when the guy retorted that he couldn't as his knees were not in great condition, this aussie fuckwit gave him a load of abuse... I told the aussie to fuck off and grow up... and don't bother coming back unless he changed his attitude!

Funny you say it out loud, as the same sentiment was expressed all week. I had the same experience, the Brits and Aussies I encountered this year seemed to be total assholes (when usually, they're some of the coolest). Canadians, too. I had several comments about trouble with Canadians. Someone mentioned in another thread some Brits sneaking into our art car, parked in our yard, and doing lines of coke. I had a fella who kept telling me to get down, "Nobody's going to be burned," as large chunks of flaming ash rained down on those around him (man-oh-man I was bummed his head wasn't one of the ones hit). All so he could take shitty pictures on his shitty camera that kept falling off the backpack he put it on, because he was clearly too inebrieated to hold it steady.

Lord knows there were just a bunch of assholes this year from all over, but in my limited experience a repeating them of lack of respect and aggression did seem common among those from the UK this year.

[Cheyenne]

It reinforces the whole 'Brits abroad' negativity.... I feel pretty embarrassed to say I'm British sometimes and when an event gets as popular internationally as BM has, it brings out the dickheads en-masse. In Europe the Brits are seen as the pissed up Neanderthals of the continent and are generally looked down upon. I am sorry that our fellow countrymen/women's conduct has permeated the burn.

There are still some of us who prepare, embrace the principles and do things right with respect... there were also a bunch of camps run by Brits and cool ones at that (the guys at Ooligan Alley were v cool), but the small minority have to spoil it for the rest of us!

[C.f.M.]

It reinforces the whole 'Brits abroad' negativity.... I feel pretty embarrassed to say I'm British sometimes and when an event gets as popular internationally as BM has, it brings out the dickheads en-masse. In Europe the Brits are seen as the pissed up Neanderthals of the continent and are generally looked down upon. I am sorry that our fellow countrymen/women's conduct has permeated the burn.

There are still some of us who prepare, embrace the principles and do things right with respect... there were also a bunch of camps run by Brits and cool ones at that (the guys at Ooligan Alley were v cool), but the small minority have to spoil it for the rest of us!

Nah, no more than Americans who do it, too. Just without the sexy accents.

[trilobyte]

So sorry to hear that this happened, and glad to hear that you're okay. And while it may be safe to say that it probably was an outsider (at least I'd like to hope so), that's something you couldn't possibly know at this point. It could have been a long-time veteran who was out of his gourd and behaving badly.

If there's an upside, it sounds like there were witnesses. I have no idea why nobody would have intervened (I can't imagine thinking that was part of a performance). Whereabouts on the playa were you? Someplace within the city? On the Esplanade somewhere? Near one of the big sound camps? Out in Deep Playa? Were there any landmarks in the area? Maybe we can help find a witness, and maybe somebody knows who this guy was.

[wugwug]

It reinforces the whole 'Brits abroad' negativity.... I feel pretty embarrassed to say I'm British sometimes and when an event gets as popular internationally as BM has, it brings out the dickheads en-masse. In Europe the Brits are seen as the pissed up Neanderthals of the continent and are generally looked down upon. I am sorry that our fellow countrymen/women's conduct has permeated the burn.

There are still some of us who prepare, embrace the principles and do things right with respect... there were also a bunch of camps run by Brits and cool ones at that (the guys at Ooligan Alley were v cool), but the small minority have to spoil it for the rest of us!

Nah, no more than Americans who do it, too. Just without the sexy accents.

Definitely. Brits and Aussies just get singled out more easily because they have such an obvious characteristic. Plenty of good old fashioned home-grown American assholes too.

[wugwug]

So sorry to hear that this happened, and glad to hear that you're okay. And while it may be safe to say that it probably was an outsider (at least I'd like to hope so), that's something you couldn't possibly know at this point. It could have been a long-time veteran who was out of his gourd and behaving badly.

If there's an upside, it sounds like there were witnesses. I have no idea why nobody would have intervened (I can't imagine thinking that was part of a performance). Whereabouts on the playa were you? Someplace within the city? On the Esplanade somewhere? Near one of the big sound camps? Out in Deep Playa? Were there any landmarks in the area? Maybe we can help find a witness, and maybe somebody knows who this guy was.

I was at the base of the blue balloon sky line thing. It was Friday night just after the trojan horse burn. The playa was very crowded. There were plenty of witnesses including four of the guy's friends who all left with him. I did an announcement on BMIR the next day and filed an incident report, plus I've posted on here. But my main objective is to spread the word about this bullshit, not catch the guy. He's just one guy and he's just a symptom of the real problem. Nailing justice on him would probably feel good but would not address the larger problem. That's why my goal for next year is for every single burner to have been told "there are assholes out here and YOU are responsible for dealing with them if you see them being assholes. You and you and you. You need to get a ranger, you need to tell the perpetrators to stay put, and if they refuse to stay put then you follow them." And so on. I think this should even be a standard speech at the greeters.

The guy who did this may have been a vet but all signs pointed to that he'd been on the playa for about 30 minutes in his entire life. Friday night and he was squeaky clean, including his big fur jacket and fuzzy hat, standard newbie wear (not to say all fur coats wearers are newbies, but a lot of them do). I was screaming in his face and he either sobered up quickly or wasn't on anything in the first place. Maybe he'd just taken mushrooms and they hadn't kicked in yet. Either way, he seemed to have his wits about him enough to realize what he had done and decide that he'd prefer not to take the heat for it.

If anyone is interested and/or knows people I can talk to about getting this information added to the official burning man welcome procedure, please let me know.

Thanks for your support, everyone. It's a powerful reminder that we burners are still out there even if we've been invaded by assholes. Over the last 8 years there have just been more and more coming every year and I want to do something about it. We can't keep them out but we can keep them from fucking up our community.

-Spiff

[trilobyte]

I don't know that I agree that additional disclaimers and warnings need to be put into the welcome materials (it's not Burning Man's responsibility to teach people how to be grown-ups), I'd rather that people be responsible for their actions and that people who commit assault and battery be held accountable. I know it can't undo the experience you had, but if fuckwits who would even consider that kind of shit realize that you can't get away with that shit it may prevent it from happening to others.

[wugwug]

I don't know that I agree that additional disclaimers and warnings need to be put into the welcome materials (it's not Burning Man's responsibility to teach people how to be grown-ups), I'd rather that people be responsible for their actions and that people who commit assault and battery be held accountable. I know it can't undo the experience you had, but if fuckwits who would even consider that kind of shit realize that you can't get away with that shit it may prevent it from happening to others.

What you're saying is exactly what I'm talking about. We can't make everyone act like grown ups but we can make sure that people know what to do when they see bad things happen.

I'm not all that surprised I was assaulted, given the types of people attending Burning Man these days. My surprise was at the lack of response from the rather substantial crowd, many of them clearly burners. People did not know how to react. They need to be taught.

I'm not talking about adding anything to the BM literature that says "don't be an asshole." You're right, that's up to the individual. What I'm talking about is something that says "there are assholes out here, please keep this in mind and be ready to react when you witness those assholes doing something which violates our community code."

It's not like people will need to be eyeing each other with suspicion and going out looking for violators. The typical Burning Man experience would be completely unaffected. The only difference is that if, IF you witness an actual violation of our community (messing with art, disobeying signs, harassing or attacking other people, deliberately mooping, etc) then you need to step in and you need to get those around you to step in as well. As a community we can make it clear to these people that their behavior is not welcome and they WILL be held accountable. Once this becomes the prevailing understanding on the playa, things will change. People won't just have the rangers and undercovers to worry about, they will know that the entire community is prepared to hold them accountable.

This is my goal. This is doable. Burning Man can learn to handle the invaders and preserve our community. We just have to try.

[Isotopia]

I'm not all that surprised I was assaulted, given the types of people attending Burning Man these days.

Oh. Fucking. Puh-leez.

You had my sympathy until you pulled out your wide paint brush and started slapping it around.

That very sentiment on its own makes me stand back and wonder just what your participation in the assault might have been.

[tamarakay]

We were waiting for Megavolt to perform when a very hyper guy punched his girlfriend, the girl's friends just stood there and watched. Another bystander got inbetween them, my husband then got even more between them and I grabbed the girl and tried to walk her farther away. She was very drunk and didn't want to miss the Megavolt performance. I looked for a ranger, found a big guy dressed as an indian "guarding" a private entrance to a camp, explained what had happened and got "oh man, that's not spiritual, his karma is going to suck" quickly realized he was as drunk/fucked up as the puncher/punchee. Never did find any official help. Boyfriend came back and he and she got into the make up sex part of the abuse cycle. I grabbed two of her friends and explained that if this is what he does in public, then in private she is getting the shit beat out of her. Explained what to look for and how to get her help once off the playa. One of them said that they were kinda stuck with him since they drove out there in his car

I saw this situation played out many many many times over the week. I never ever ever found a ranger or a police officer when I needed one. Happened upon lots of them during the day, but at night they were definately outnumbered.

I also saw some really beautiful exchanges of love and care. Gifts of time, talent, love, and gratitude given freely and without regard for compensation or reward. Amazing beautiful creativity and compassion.

In the default world, my son was the mascot for our local high school for two years. A six foot four inch very skinny young man dressed up in a goat suit (we are the battling billies) is evidently a target. I can't tell you how many times idiots tried to knock him down. Some that succeeded always felt bad when he took the goat head off and they saw "hey there's a human being in there" I have no idea what they thought they were doing. GROWNUPS my age punching him etc. then were appalled with themselves when they realized they'd punch a 16 year old. Where were their brains? Most stone cold sober. It got to where we did not let him go anywhere without two escorts. All that to say that stupidity is not limited to the playa or to drunk/drugged people.

[wugwug]

I'm not all that surprised I was assaulted, given the types of people attending Burning Man these days.

Oh. Fucking. Puh-leez.

You had my sympathy until you pulled out your wide paint brush and started slapping it around.

That very sentiment on its own makes me stand back and wonder just what your participation in the assault might have been.

You misinterpreted my meaning. I didn't mean that everyone at Burning Man sucks now. I mean that in addition to our community, the real burner community, there is another significant population out there made up of people who do not respect our community and can not be trusted to obey the rules. The number of people like that has been going up for a long time. This year half the moop I picked up was cigarette butts. The road signs were all pulled down by Tuesday. There are assholes at Burning Man. I know that there are assholes at Burning Man therefore I should have been more careful. I could have predicted that among the people at Burning Man on Friday night there are going to be a significant number of assholes on the playa. That's all I meant.

I'm not an elitist. I don't think new people shouldn't feel welcome at Burning Man. I don't think I'm better than people that haven't been going as long as I have or haven't built a project like mine. I think we all form a wonderful community on the playa and it's one of the most special things in my life. I'm trying to protect it from the assholes threaten it.

[wugwug]

We were waiting for Megavolt to perform when a very hyper guy punched his girlfriend, the girl's friends just stood there and watched. Another bystander got inbetween them, my husband then got even more between them and I grabbed the girl and tried to walk her farther away. She was very drunk and didn't want to miss the Megavolt performance. I looked for a ranger, found a big guy dressed as an indian "guarding" a private entrance to a camp, explained what had happened and got "oh man, that's not spiritual, his karma is going to suck" quickly realized he was as drunk/fucked up as the puncher/punchee. Never did find any official help. Boyfriend came back and he and she got into the make up sex part of the abuse cycle. I grabbed two of her friends and explained that if this is what he does in public, then in private she is getting the shit beat out of her. Explained what to look for and how to get her help once off the playa. One of them said that they were kinda stuck with him since they drove out there in his car

I saw this situation played out many many many times over the week. I never ever ever found a ranger or a police officer when I needed one. Happened upon lots of them during the day, but at night they were definately outnumbered.

It's interesting how the more people I talk to, the more people I'm meeting who have similar stories of some serious un-Burning Man behavior going on out there. Most of them involve having nowhere to turn for help. I think that we all need to be available to help. Together. During your situation, imagine if 10, 15, 20 people around had all gotten involved. Nobody needs to fight the guy or cause more violence but we can fucking hold them accountable. We can keep incidents like that from just fading away.

In the default world, my son was the mascot for our local high school for two years. A six foot four inch very skinny young man dressed up in a goat suit (we are the battling billies) is evidently a target. I can't tell you how many times idiots tried to knock him down. Some that succeeded always felt bad when he took the goat head off and they saw "hey there's a human being in there" I have no idea what they thought they were doing. GROWNUPS my age punching him etc. then were appalled with themselves when they realized they'd punch a 16 year old. Where were their brains? Most stone cold sober. It got to where we did not let him go anywhere without two escorts. All that to say that stupidity is not limited to the playa or to drunk/drugged people.

I've gotten this story a lot too. It's an interesting look into the psychology of human beings. There is some kind of violent tendency toward things that look vaguely human but still definitely non-human. The guy who tackled me would never have tackled a random person walking along the playa at night. But the fact that I fit this almost-human description clicked something in his head that told him "it would be funny if I tackled this thing full on and took it down." It didn't even make sense to him once my costume head was pulled off. His expression said it all. "oh god.....what the hell did I just do?"

[junglesmacks]

FWIW.. I hear, understand and agree with you.

You misinterpreted my meaning. I didn't mean that everyone at Burning Man sucks now. I mean that in addition to our community, the real burner community, there is another significant population out there made up of people who do not respect our community and can not be trusted to obey the rules. The number of people like that has been going up for a long time. This year half the moop I picked up was cigarette butts. The road signs were all pulled down by Tuesday. There are assholes at Burning Man. I know that there are assholes at Burning Man therefore I should have been more careful. I could have predicted that among the people at Burning Man on Friday night there are going to be a significant number of assholes on the playa. That's all I meant.

I'm not an elitist. I don't think new people shouldn't feel welcome at Burning Man. I don't think I'm better than people that haven't been going as long as I have or haven't built a project like mine. I think we all form a wonderful community on the playa and it's one of the most special things in my life. I'm trying to protect it from the assholes threaten it.

[AQUARIUSatBRC420]

It reinforces the whole 'Brits abroad' negativity.... I feel pretty embarrassed to say I'm British sometimes and when an event gets as popular internationally as BM has, it brings out the dickheads en-masse. In Europe the Brits are seen as the pissed up Neanderthals of the continent and are generally looked down upon. I am sorry that our fellow countrymen/women's conduct has permeated the burn.

There are still some of us who prepare, embrace the principles and do things right with respect... there were also a bunch of camps run by Brits and cool ones at that (the guys at Ooligan Alley were v cool), but the small minority have to spoil it for the rest of us!

The guys at )'(ooligan Alley were awesome! Not only did they fly over the Atlantic to bring BRC one of the best sound camps on playa, but they also welcomed me with open arms at 6am and poured me a beer while Gaudi threw down some seriously weird beats. So big up to Ben and Fastly. I hope to see you mates again next year!

[Cheyenne]

I got to play on their rather awesome sound system on the wednesday afternoon... it was top. Hopefully we will see them at the London Decom next mth

[wugwug]

Awesome You guys are illustrating the important point that the majority of people at Burning Man are awesome, wonderful, interesting, and friendly people. Unfortunately, just like in the real world, it only takes a statistically insignificant number of assholes to ruin things for everyone. If one out of every thousand people at BM this year were assholes, that would still be 50 people and they could do a lot of damage to the community.

So let's be on the lookout for them! Let's be ready for them! We can smile and be polite and offer them the same courtesy as we would any other person, because that's what Burning Man is supposed to be like. But if/when they do something that violates our code, we need to be ready to call them on it and hold them accountable. I don't think it would take too long for the word to get around that they're not welcome at Burning Man. On the Playa you are free to express yourself in any way you like....but if you infringe on that freedom for others then you're done. Out. Kaput. Get lost and good riddance.

Who's with me?

[Cheyenne]

me x 100

[iclimb]

I feel for the robot man but realistically who's going to risk getting beaten up by a 6,5 guy and his 4 friends when they confront him? Apparently all the brave souls on Eplaya but no one in person. Actually, no one would. Certainly not black rock rangers. Most burners are lovers not fighters despite their angry anonymous posts.

[wugwug]

I feel for the robot man but realistically who's going to risk getting beaten up by a 6,5 guy and his 4 friends when they confront him?

Well apparently not you. I'll cross you off the list.

I should introduce you to my father, you guys would probably get along great. His response was also "Probably won't work, why bother trying?"

You can stand back and watch skeptically as other people try to save our community. It's the perfect position. That way you can be ready with a big fat "I told you so" if it doesn't work, and if it does then you will still reap the benefits without lifting a finger.

And you know what? You're right. It might not work. But I think I'm going to try anyway. Then I can say "well, at least I gave it a shot."