 Previous |
 Main |
Next  |
December 4 1997I was asked a question this week, in my conversations on aust.net on #silk&Steel (a discussion channel sans much of the roleplaying that gets in the way of discussion in most other channels) that set me to thinking about the "big picture". I was asked: "What can we do to bring Gor back to what it was?"
My reply was: "What was it?"
Something needs to be said here. Some of you will appreciate it. A few others will understand, for you are on your journey and have an inkling about the truth of what I am going to say already. For most, however, it will make little sense, for it will conflict with their notion of "gor" as a vehicle for them to masturbate, either alone or in groups. For them, I truly feel there is little hope in any case that they will ever see the beauty of the reality of what we do, so all I can offer them is my pity.
There is no such thing as "Gor".
There is no such planet on the other side of the sun. "Gor" is a fantasy, a series of novels dreamed up by one John Norman Lange, a professor at a college in New York State. There are no such things as "tarns" to ride to battle on. There are no Kurii, no talking spiders, no Priest-Kings, no assassins (outside of a few at the CIA). To stomp about from online channel to channel, pretending to be an assassin, or a little dark elf /Outlaw, etc., and to spout things such as "I have come for you!" or "Whip me, beat me, Frodo!" is to conform to the worst of the selfish masturbatory fantasies that plague the online community.
"Gor" as an entity, does not exist.
What exists is the philosophy, set down in the books we mentioned earlier, and the men and women who are brave enough to live their lives *offline* by its codes and traditions as closely as is possible. Even when that is difficult or causes pain, most *especially* at those times. Again, not just online, not just when they connect to some IRC chat channel, but every day in their face-to-face dealings. It is by that right that they can be called "Gorean" and lay true claim to that title.
What exists is Honor, integrity and brotherhood. It is something all can reach for, but it is obvious that very few have grasped it in the online community.
It amuses me that those who online wish to be known as "gorean" would take these concepts and twist and deny them to meet their own failings. These people are the majority of those you see online today. These are the posers and players. The ones who cannot control either themselves or their property. The ones who would argue that since no one rides a tarn to work, or walks around with a sword at the mall, then there can be no "real life" Goreans in this society. That is, of course, a pathetic and weak self-justification, a self-delusion to allow them to do as they wish in their dealings with one another, but still have some excuse to call it 'gorean'. As I said earlier, these people have my pity, for they flail about in the dark, interacting and bumping into only those who are weak like themselves. They form neutered "protected" places where there is no "conflict" or "abuse". They seek to place the philosophy, one of freedom and free will, into the context of a politically correct modern-age society. Instead of changing themselves to fit into the tenets of the philosophy, they change the philosophy to fit their own shortcomings. Simply put, they lack the courage to live as this lifestyle demands: as a Gorean male. That they have not the courage is not something to be ashamed of; few do. To call themselves "gorean" however, is to denigrate those who have made the hard choices in their lives, who live each day by the traditions and codes, and who have paid the price for it.
Gor does not exist. But the philosophy certainly does, and it lives and thrives in the breasts of a few strong and courageous men and women, who while living their lives in the modern society, have found themselves fulfilled by something more. They have, and continue to, find one another every day, while separating the wheat from the chaff in the online community.
So play your games, children. Pretend to be little elf/assassins with magic soul-sucking swords named after fictional literature. Pretend to establish a responsible money system online, so that you can go to the cyberbank, visit the cyberteller, to take out your 'gorean' cybermoney, so you can go to the cyberchannel of your choice and pay to drink cyberpaga and boink that cyberslave. Pretend to "train" girls online in a factory setting, while using such concepts as a thinly-veiled justification to 'own' them and cybersex them without taking responsibility for their lives, their growth and their well-being outside of IRC. And continue to pretend that the person on the other end of the screen is just a character made up out of a book, just like you, so that when you hurt him/her, or place him/her in danger, you can justify it because "it is only a game, right?".
Gor exists only on paper. But there are Goreans, and there are a few of us who choose to spend time online. And while our word for stranger and enemy are the same, those are brave enough to make the sacrifices and live the life the philosophy demands will eventually find one us in front of him, with a smile and a slap on the back saying: "Welcome home."
I wish you well.
Bear-
Remember, you can write Bear- at [email protected]. All letters will be read and few answered, but he might comment from time to time.