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Comment by mymythisisthis | Hacker News Reader

Marie Antoinette and her friends would dress up as young shepherdess or milkmaids and wander around the hamlet pretending to be peasants, while still surrounded by the comforts of a royal lifestyle. A team of real farmers appointed by the Queen looked after the farm and the animals, and produced fruits and vegetables consumed at the royal table. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/11/hameau-de-la-reine-mar...

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I think this is not a lot different than Bezos types visiting Burning Man on a VIP package.

Aren't most of the people at burning man pretty fashionable/wealthy? Peasants compared to Bezos sure, but not the population at large.

More like the king among the minor nobility.

It's pricey but 8 days of burning man is cheaper than 8 concerts. Apparently they have low cost tickets too that are only like $200. I know some festivals like bonnaro let you volunteer for a free ticket.

Yes, but “pretty fashionable/wealthy” would also describe most users on this forum.

Wealthy? Sure. Fashionable? LOL.

Fashion here in a broadest sense - fashionable beliefs, hobbies, interests etc.

I don't think it's fashionable to actually dress well anymore.

At least in NYC it is still fashionable to dress well (as in curating one's own style or to the upper-end styling haute couture well). If in NYC it is still fashionable, I am pretty sure it is still fashionable in a lot of places :)

Only in the Bay Area.

Who decides what "dress well" actually means?

My finger may not be on the pulse here, but I think we all deep down believe that a classic suit and tie is still dressing well... even if we choose not do it.

I despise suits in general, the pinnacle of boringness

Successful people, because other people imitate them.

Yup, the time-honored tradition of the rich LARPing as the commoner is as alive as ever.

And I am reminded of Common People by Shatner

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cMXhWf0vE7c

As a British person, I am delighted and amused that Shatner's cover is better known to many people than Pulp's original.

Even though Shatner's "singing" is pretty mockable, I think in this case he brings a tone of working class anger that elevates the cover above the original.

Shatner's "Has Been" album is a masterpiece.

Shatner was covering the song, which was originally by the English band Pulp.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_People

I was at university when that song was released and it used to amuse me greatly at the number of rich students singing along as if the song was some show of unity with “common people” - not taking a second to actually think about the lyrics.

"Born in the USA" continues to be a staple of Republican rallies.

Michael Douglas' "Greed is Good" movie speech had a bigger cultural impact than the actual plot of the film (Wall Street, 1987), where the exploitative nature of private equity takeovers is shown, and where both Douglas and Sheen eventually land in prison for insider trading.

As if Burning Man itself isn't a LARP.

I was going to say this. Burning man is for those types.

As someone who actually grew up in a village of 1000 people I find this nostalgia a typical product of the imagination of people who never actually tried living outside of the city, and are therefore free to imagine it as beautiful or horrible as they want without nuance getting in the way. As for myself I like to visit my family for even a week or two, but I sure don't miss living in a village.

Also, every year there are a few people who actually try to move to the village I am from. Most of them sell their house again within a few years because they don't understand that living in the countryside sucks if you're not trying to be part of the local community, and if you move in acting like you're better than the locals that's not going to happen.

And 19th century New Yorkers would play cowboy on Wyoming dude ranches.

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