"Books, Records, Films -- these things matter. Call me shallow but it's the damn truth." - High Fidelity

March 28, 2012

Why StubHub should stop selling Burning Man Tickets or Why England should leave India


According to my detailed study of history (that is to say I’ve seen the 1982 film Gandhi with Ben Kingsley). In the film, Gandhi makes it quite clear to the British that they should leave India. He asks them to leave. Then he demonstrates that the Indian people do not want or need them. Then he asks them to leave again. Then they leave.

StubHub. You do not need the hassle that comes with scalping Burning Man tickets for the small amount of profit you will make as middleman.

StubHub. You have a chance to set a positive example and lead the ethical ticket reselling industry and leave this non-profit festival alone.

StubHub. You must leave Burning Man alone, we don’t need you reselling our tickets and poisioning our community with your “marketplace”.



One of the other things that Gandhi did (in the movie) was teach his people how to make Salt by simply plucking it out of the ocean and leaving it in a sunny window for three days (instructions courtesy of eHow). The Indian people were not allowed to make salt, because the British wanted all the salt profits for themselves. Just as StubHub is now profiting and allowing others to profit from a non-profit event.

How to make Salt:

1. Sign the Petition

2. Ask your friends to sign the petition, repost the petition on your blog, twitter or facebook page. Spread the petition around.

3. Make graphics and videos that show your displeasure with StubHub and their decision to profit on this non-profit event. Spread them around on Facebook. Link them to the petition and link them again! Talk about StubHub in the comment section of your favorite blog. Spread the links, videos and graphics around. StubHub doesn’t like it when you talk about StubHub.

4. Keep doing it until they stop. One of the key lessons from the movie Gandhi (and believe me, I’m doing you a favor by explaining it to you, it’s a very long movie) is that the British are just visiting. They don’t really live in India, just as StubHub doesn’t really live in Black Rock City. They’re just the first in a long series of ticket reselling middlemen who will stop selling Burning Man tickets. There are plenty of for profit sporting and concert events whose tickets StubHub can resell. They simply need to leave this one non-profit festival alone.


StubHub. Please stop scalping Burning Man tickets on your website. Please limit the sales on your website to face value to preserve the non-profit nature of the Burning Man event. Thank you.

Please sign the petition and Join Burners against Scalpers today!

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