This Is Why People Hate San Francisco: Volume 6
Once again it's time for an installment of this mildly confusing feature, in which we ask those ensconced too cozily in your SF bubbles to take a step back, summon your inner C.W. Nevius, and try to understand why some in this great country of ours (certainly not us!) might look askance at the way we do things here — if for nothing else than to enjoy an ironic chuckle at our own expense. If all of this seems too difficult, please refer to our other recurring feature, 7 Reasons to Love San Francisco, and be on your merry way.
This week's edition: Burning Man, candy ravers, and how this town is still stuck in the 90s
We've mentioned before how various Haight-Ashbury urchins like to pretend it's still 1969 and people should be giving them food and drugs, but now we turn our attention to a different decade, the 90s, when a new generation discovered psychedelics (namely ecstasy/MDMA) and began throwing big warehouse parties where everyone could sweat together, dance till dawn, and really *feel* the beat of music that they might otherwise have found extremely boring and monotonous.
The 90s of course ended, just like the 60s, and the raves became less "cool" and underground, and more like Gen Y shitshows where kids go to do the wrong drugs and potentially harm themselves. But parties like LoveParade/LovEvolution still persist (even though the City doesn't want them busting open glow sticks all over Civic Center anymore), and the spirit of 90s rave culture lives on mightily in the hearts and minds of Burners at Comfort & Joy parties, Sunset parties, etc.
Whenever Burning Man season comes back around, all the spoilsports around town groan once again about how annoying it all is, and the Burning Man faithful bemoan the pink-fur-booted and goofy-hatted frat boys and sorority girls who've joined their ilk and ruined everything by turning it into a big commercial rave. A great many people in town wait all year for this traditional trek to the Nevada salt flats, believing that it cleanses them somehow of greed, technology, and the toxins of modern life. But wasn't it always just a big party in the desert that was an extension of rave culture, albeit anti-corporate? Are there still wonderful life lessons to be learned, lo these 10+ years later, on the playa? Or can we all just admit it's a party, a nostalgic one at this point, and that basically nothing can go on for over a decade without starting to feel dated and redundant?
Sure, there are plenty of kids out there who never experienced the 90s (or the 60s), and they deserve to have their fun too. But isn't it time yet for something new? Sure, the 90s were exciting and everyone had money and the internet was new and everyone wanted to dance! But doesn't it reflect badly on San Francisco's reputation an an underground party town when all there is to choose from is recycled material from 10+ years ago?
PREVIOUSLY: This Is Why People Hate San Francisco: Volume 1
This Is Why People Hate San Francisco: Volume 2
This Is Why People Hate San Francisco: Volume 3
This Is Why People Hate San Francisco: Volume 4
This Is Why People Hate San Francisco: Volume 5