I should mention that the festival itself is rather nice. There are all sorts of neat little bobo enjoyments--I rode a segway courtesy of Intel (whee!), and Chevron has sponsored free pedicabs to take people places--I intend to ride one before the weekend is out. I've heard some incredibly interesting people speak. And of course, the scenery is spectacular.
It's incredibly pretty. Too pretty. A place that has excised all of its flaws loses much of its beauty, like a face where the plastic surgeon's knife has dipped one time too many.
In the comments of a Salon.com article (about Stuff White People Like, actually), someone known as melthought wrote something I think is germane:
"One of the truly ridiculous things about white, upper-middle-class liberals is their idea that they should be embarrassed about making good choices instead of being like everyone else. The picture of vanity! Why not focus on the people who are actually going out of their way to make the world suck instead of on people who are going out of their way to keep it nice for everyone? There are good reasons for riding a bike, buying organic veggies, and having a steel water bottle. Most poor people I know would make those choices if they could."
I think we should always be careful (and I'm including myself in this, and am not trying to single you out) to remember that the socio-cultural tics around certain phenomena, however annoying or funny, shouldn't overwhelm our basic conception of whether the phenomenon is moral or beneficial.
heh, in terms of teh pretteh... head down the road over independence pass, or head over to glenwood springs and poke around... it's worth the time.