If you've done any real volunteering with the org, you'd understand that it is a purely capitalistic endeavor that preys on people who think it's more than what it is. Realizing this has given me lots of opportunity to do great things with great people.
There are as many stories as there are participants. Yours is one kind of story that some people have. There are other people, who have been participating in Burning Man for years, for whom the party and the art are nothing more than useful motivating excuses for going to Black Rock City. Some of them might say that the event is a laboratory for experiments in forms of social organization and activity which contrast with those most commonly seen in the "default world". All of these stories are true at once.