Datapanik
Earthling
Posts: 24
(3/29/06 20:29)
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Gor: A Personal History and Words on My Current Intentions
In 1996, in January or thereabouts, I first downloaded a chat program called Powwow (now defunct) and, in short order, became aware of online Gor. (At that point, I’d not read any of the books by John Norman, and didn’t even know they existed.) Much of the Gorean interaction on Powwow—at that time, there must’ve been a good dozen rooms devoted to Gor—was concerned with various kinds of role-play: kajirae serving drinks in virtual paga dens, warriors making grand entrances and brandishing their formidable weaponry (not to mention flawless musculature and irresistible sex-appeal), alluring panther girls stalking prey, and a whole panoply of sword-and-sandals fantasizing—occasionally, nay often, with extra-Gorean features such as laser-beam-shooting eyes and companion dragons.
Initially, I considered all of this quite harmless, just a bunch of people playing at bondage and discipline—not much different from the BDSM-specific activity elsewhere in Powwow, and I’ve never had a problem with anyone’s sexuality or turn-ons. Then, over time, I noticed people quoting from the books and proposing that there was a coherent philosophy in them. And it became incumbent upon me to find these books and read them. The first, Tarnsman and Outlaw, both in French, simply struck me as space operas rather similar to Burroughs’s Barsoom series. (And no, I don’t think John Norman’s use of certain terms and plot structures common to both the Gor and Barsoom novels is actionable.) Most of the first six books struck me in this way. Then, commencing with Captive, the tone seemed to become much harder and more obsessed with the concept of female slavery and a "natural order".
By this time, the Silk & Steel website was online, and Marcus of Ar had posted several of his critiques and analyses of the "Gorean Philosophy". In particular, he argued in favor of a "natural order" based upon Norman’s writings. I found his treatises rather disturbing, echoing sentiments expressed by Mein Kampf and Ayn Rand and even Camille Paglia—all occupying a philosophical niche far away from my own. Then, early in 1997, I discovered #silk&steel on Dalnet, was variously informed that Zeb & Co. were the true arbiters of Gorean thought or that they were dangerous ideologues, and found there was a small core of people in emphatic support of the "natural order" concept. (Gor on Powwow was just fun and games, but these #silk&steel folks were damned serious, and, it was quickly discovered, never the twain shall meet.) I spent some time lurking in-channel and eavesdropping on the conversations and frequently lively debates. All the while, I searched used bookstores for the Gor series and, over the years, compiled everything up to and including Guardsman.
I read obsessively (my degree is in comparative literature), to the exclusion of television—a farrago of puerilities—and dogmatic talk radio, and my library is truly impressive. At any given time, I’ve purchased many more books than I can immediately read and it often takes awhile for me to get around to the next thing. Thus it was with the Gor novels. Three or four years passed before I could read all of them, having in the meantime taken "breaks" with such things as Cullers’s Literary Theory and Julian Jaynes’s compelling arguments regarding the bicameral mind. But, as I read on, the tenor of Norman’s thought resolved into unmistakable clarity and Marcus e-published many, many additional critiques. "The Gorean Philosophy" became sharply focused if still vehemently debated by its various practitioners.
I took great interest in this phenomenon. I asked, "How can functional human beings, in this day and age, look to pulp fiction for a worldview? Why aren’t these people reading Aristotle and calling themselves Aristotelian or boning up on Camus and calling themselves Existentialist?" Why, with the breadth and span of human thought readily available at any library or bookstore—some bequeathed to us by Iberian Arab caliphs and a few forward-thinking Christian monks, some fairly recent and applicable to modern concerns—accessible at any decent university or in philosophical discussion salons around the world, why, oh why were intelligent people cleaving unto the Gor novels? Was it essentially anti-intellectual backlash? Or did classic philosophy, from Derrida back to Socrates, leave folks high-and-dry? How sad, I thought, that Americans (in particular) needed to derive their truths from science-fantasy, that perhaps the giants of human thought were going entirely unheeded.
For years, very much off and on, I visited Gorean-themed discussion channels, almost exclusively on IRC after the demise of Powwow (where there wasn’t really much talk of the philosophy, anyway, just a lot of role-playing). And I continued to read Marcus’s pronouncements, having come to regard him as the most literate and eloquent of Gorean apologists, if also terribly misguided. For much of the time, I went by the username Kaius. I also disguised my real-time identity by using my nom-de-plume, Julian Fox (Julian in honor of Julian "the Apostate," my favorite Roman emperor and Fox out of respect for the crafty little animal). I probably made some mistakes. For a time, mostly on the Silk & Steel discussion board and sometimes in the #silk&steel channel, I presented myself as a practicing Gorean, merely to bring up topics for discussion and circumvent the ban which would’ve probably resulted from denying any Gorean connection. In looking back, I think I shouldn’t have done that. I’ve learned my lesson: Deception is no substitute for intellectual enquiry, bans be damned. I no longer visit #silk&steel, now on irc.bondage.com, and only participate in one Gorean-themed forum—apart from my recent postings to this board which, if activity counts, pulls in almost no viewers on any given day. To a certain extent, I feel I’m screaming in the wilderness here, with no one listening (although BodhiTah has apparently paid a recent visit, at least).
At this point, I still have no problem with Gorean role-players; it’s a cute little BDSM fantasy, dressed up in virtual tunics and virtual collars, rather like the online vampires of the Camarilla. I’d have little problem with a Gorean-esque philosophy if it were drawn from genuine philosophical musings or, heck, the Libertarian Party platform—though I’d still oppose it on principle. My problem is with those who rely on the pages of Norman’s fantasy world for their mindsets, even though the author seems to contradict theories of a "natural order" within the leaves of another of his books, the non-fiction Imaginative Sex. (Read it some time, Goreans; it’s very illuminating.) In no way do I see the books as containing a coherent philosophy—and such nuggets as it does bear are derivative and much better expressed elsewhere. It seems to me, and this is largely an assumption on my part (but based on much personal interaction throughout the years), that the primary appeal of the "Gorean Philosophy" is its concentration on subjugation of women, the one thing that seems to set it apart from most other schools of thought. To my eye, the Gorean phenomenon is all about collaring sex mates, virtual or otherwise, and regaining the "losses" men have "suffered" in the wake of the suffrage movement and women’s liberation. How déclassé! The "truths" that Goreans seek to impose upon the world are neither a "natural order" or historically "true"; there’s never been a high civilization, in the annals of the planet, which has ascribed to the "natural order" espoused by Goreans—not in Mesopotamia, not in Mycenae or Greece, not in slave-holding Rome or Byzantium, not in mediaeval Europe or classical China… nowhere, nowhere at all.
My, but this has become a long screed. And, in all likelihood, few will read it. But this is now my chosen forum for discussing such things. I’m no longer interested in Gorean-baiting, at least not vis a vis the Gorean-themed boards. If any Goreans out there care to respond to me on this forum, I welcome it; I will no longer post my long ramblings to Gorean forums. I will gladly engage in discussion of these issues on this board, though it seems I’m the only person to post here since 2004 or 2005. I also no longer feel a need to shelter my identity. My e-mail address, containing my legal name, is available in the user profile for Datapanik. Feel free to write me, if you happen to stumble across the Gorean Soapbox.
I was walking down the street, Ana caught my eye...and dragged it fifteen feet. |
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