Hacker News Reader

Those words have meanings. Look them up it you don't understand them. They're well used in this context to get the author's point across.

I dunno if I agree with the author. I've never been to Burning Man, but their word usage certainly helps me - a casual onlooker - better understand their frustration.

View on HN

I wouldn’t be critiquing their choice of words if I didn’t know what they mean. In general flippant is a word that describes attitudes or actions, not a toxic death cloud.

Miasma used here as imagery for rhetorical effect. It really is like a toxic cloud of cultural assumptions and impositions that has choked out a lot of the folks who built the foundation of what makes Burning Man what it is, and not just some festival to wear sparkly clothes and take pictures for Instagram. Not to mention all the money that descends on the event to install shortcuts and cash grabs in an otherwise moneyless, DIY, BYOEverything space.

I understand the usage of miasma, but flippant is just not a normal modifier for that noun.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com