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August 21 1997Honor and integrity are easy words to say, and difficult concepts to live by. This is true for all of us. Everyone struggles at times. Sit back for a moment and think - even just back over your day today - and ask yourself; was there not a place where you "cheated" a little? Perhaps "cut a corner or two" or "looked out for #1" a bit more than was reasonable? Why not? Who does it harm?
Who indeed?
A subject has again come to my attention that simply amazes me. That this is even an issue points out how far from "Gor" most who proclaim themselves Gorean truly are in the online community. Here it is: It seems that someone has transcribed the first three books of the Gorean saga by John Norman into a .txt file and zipped them up - and they freely distribute these books - containing the entire text of the published novels, freely to anyone who asks. Indeed, one man (who proclaimed in these very pages that, in effect, 'anything anyone does is Gorean' a few weeks back) seems to be using this as a lure to bring people into his "Gorean Matchmaker" (?) channel (Oh, don't ask, I have long since given up trying to figure these folks out).
So. What harm does this do? What is Bear on about now?
Simply amazing. It boggles my mind that this is happening, and that I even have to address it. First, it deprives John Norman Lange of the rightful earnings to his own hard work. Those three novels are IN PRINT, you knuckleheads, and while perhaps they are not available easily all over, they ARE available. There is a legal term for what these people are doing, but the common term is easy enough to understand: They STEAL money from the author.
They are, without a doubt, thieves of the lowest order (outside of the silly IRC roleplay here, where post-adolescent boys play at being "thieves" and "assassins" online, one can be assured that being a real thief is in the realm of "not a good thing"). Out of one side of their mouths they bleat that they are Gorean, that they can live with honor, that they understand integrity. They cry this and cast glances aside to see if their "women" believe them. But out of the other they entice you with an open raincoat lined with stolen words.
And what about you?
Have you accepted such a file? Have you spread it? Did you think about the larger issues of what you were doing? I reject totally the self-serving arguments of the shallow: "Oh, we are simply spreading Gor to more people", and "Everyone does it with computer programs and music Cds".
No.
Not everyone does it. Not everyone who values honor and integrity. Not everyone who thinks that we owe a bit to the man who works so hard to produce the series of books that sparked our imagination and helped some of us see what was inside of us.
Not everyone. Not Goreans.