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lassiegirl, As I rarely make it beyond a few questions on most interviews I throughly enjoyed this one (interview with Atheas). The honesty and integrity shown in both the questions and answers gave me nothing less than a "This is believable" feeling. Good work girl, Arkan *Note the following are reprints of responses sent over the year whose thoughts are still very viable "Gor is alive and well! I have noticed the number of contributions all saying that Gor is dying or going to the sleenpits. In looking at the number of channels that call themselves Gorean I am pleased to see the plethora of them, this indicates a great degree of interest. My question to all....Is this a bad thing? No, It is not...in fact it's healthy and most of all very definitely HUMAN. Now those of you who have read the books of Gor should refer yourselves back to how many different cities exist on Gor....the channels on IRCGor are in my opinion the same as the different cities as written, each different in their own ways and traditions, but the commonality of all is they are the Realm of Freepersons and slaves. They all practice their way of Gor as they see fit...which is how it SHOULD be. My idea of Gor may not be your idea and that is not a BAD thing, in fact it's damn healthy, if everyone followed my idea of Gor without question I'd think a good dump of their head in the water barrel would be in order. My Gor is just that....MINE, you may share my ideas, you don't have to share all of them, and I respect your view of Gor as you should respect mine. But I have heard the drums of those who would unify Gor, establish tribunals of justice, DICTATE rules of behavior for Freepersons and how they treat their slaves. This I cannot condone as they have no business telling or DICTATING to me how or when I can use, punish or treat my slaves. I stand on the premise that if it's your channel, run it as you see fit, it's yours, you own it, I wish you well and hope you enjoy it. The reason for unifying Gor is said to protect the slaves....it's funny but what I see is ways of restricting slaves and Masters for certain Freepersons to enjoy under the premise of being the 'all powerful' of Gor. As I have said in a previous missive I do not condone the damage of another human under the guise of abusive power. We have seen others who have acted in this fashion and the one unifying aspect of IRCGor is all channels have dealt with the offenders as appropriate....we need no guideline or 'Council' to administer our justice. I did a 'walkabout' of Gor not long ago to visit the Gorean channels, acting as a Gorean Warrior would in a paga tavern...I got my butt booted from more than one channel and received a gline from a net for abuse....:) I chuckle about the abuse title but the intent was to see how Gor was lived in other channels and I found out....each channel has it's own rules, you abide by them or you leave (sometimes with a little help from the op), Bravo I say...and I wish those channels well. What I saw in my eyes was a thriving community, diverse in styles and format....Again I say, this is not a bad thing! Whether I agree with your 'interpretation' of Gor or not is not the issue, you do as you see fit....my point is do not let others TELL you how you are to be or WHO you are to be. Your journey is YOURS, to find the thing you seek, Be true to your quest and I hope you find that which you seek. For myself I have my Gor and share it with those who wish to share it, but I respect the things that make US different. This is something I wish others would subscribe to. The only law my slaves answer to is MY will. They have submitted to me as their Master both online and RL, they are my property and chattel to do with as I see fit. They live by MY instructions, MY restrictions and to serve MY pleasure. No one can cross that line, I will not permit it. My advice to others if you want to take it.....Live your Gor in your heart and soul, do not let others tell you how YOU should live it, what they tell you is how THEY want you to live it. Discuss with others to learn and grow, then make your decision for yourself. Do not let the sweet phrases of others blind you to the tyranny they would inflict on your world. They can live their Gor, you can live yours, I can live mine.....Which is a GOOD thing.
Response to "Gor is alive and Well!" Tal! I too enjoyed Atheas' essay. I noticed it was copied to the newspaper and hope it gets published. I agree with most of what you have to say Atheas. But like Marcus, who gets credit for saying it first (and probably best - but we'll see), I cannot stomach what some people have chosen for their versions of Gor. In some ways, I am liberal. I am tolerant of other lifestyles. I have no quarrel with anyone over how they choose to live or to what personal dogma they choose to ascribe. My primary motivation for this liberal attitude is that I expect them to feel the same way about my own choices and beliefs. I don't want you to tell me how to live my life, so I won't tell you how to live yours. The same applies, to a certain extent to IRCGor. I don't really care what the other channels do as long as they don't try to come and tell me how to run the Silk & Steel. However (you knew a however was coming), in many instances when I see what they have started doing under the banner of "Gorean," I am truly disgusted. It isn't what they are doing that disgusts me, as I am tolerant as stated above. It is that they call what they are doing "Gorean." As an example, let me go back to one of my favorite rants - the little 'w' in the slave nick. First of all, it is clearly and simply a lie to call a girl white silk if she isn't a virgin. If her Master has used her, even if he is the only one who ever has, then she is no virgin and he has no business calling her white silk. Secondly, and more importantly, I fervently believe that the desire to keep a slave to one's self is not entirely characteristic of a Gorean. There are arguments on both sides, but I can provide a wealth of examples from the books wherein slaves were rather uncaringly shared among men. There are also examples of slaves who were rather jealously - I hesitate to use the next word - protected. Let us take one of the best examples. Kamchak, Ubar of the Tuchuks, later Ubar-San of the Wagon Peoples, fierce Warrior, mighty General, conqueror of Turia, was totally and completely obsessed with owning pretty Aphris. He succeeded in winning her, and mastered her totally. They were, for each other, the Perfect Master and perfect slave. She is, however, captured by the enterprising Albrecht of the Kassars. Kamchak buys her back for ten thousand bars of gold. Only too obviously, Kamchak is in love with the girl. He frees her, she returns, he takes her as his Ubara. But suppose that during her brief ownership by Albrecht, he having become her owner by capture right, Albrecht had used her. Do you suppose for an instant that this would have bothered Kamchak? I submit that he would have seen nothing whatsoever wrong with it. Albrecht owned her; she was slave. Why should he not use her? As another example of the Gorean mindset toward sharing slaves, consider a hypothetical situation. I am a person of wealth. In my villa, I have any number of slaves. A guest in my home would probably be told that he could have his pick of the girls. In fact, most of the girls would normally be available for those in my retinue. If I had a particular girl or girls who I did not desire to make available for common use, I'd be sure to keep them secured. Why? Because I would never expect a Gorean male, seeing a desirable slave, to resist his natural urges. Therefore, I would ensure that he would not see her, and thus have no desire for her. Now consider instead that I am not a wealthy man. I have only a small house and a single slave. As a gesture of hospitality to a guest, I might offer the use of my slave. Indeed, if I did not make such an offer, I might be insulting my guest. At the same time, my guest might well realize the depth of my feelings for the girl, and politely decline the offer. Indeed, it might be expected that he do so. It is like inviting an old friend thousands of miles away to a wedding. He and I both know he cannot attend, yet he would have been insulted if I hadn't have invited him. There isn't a fine line between what is and what is not Gorean. Even so, there are some attitudes that are most assuredly not what one would expect to find in the books. So what's the big deal? Who cares what other people do? What's the harm in it? The big deal is not what they do, but that they do it and call it "Gorean." I don't really care about the anonymous multitudes and what they do. The harm is not what they do to themselves, but rather how badly they besmirch the attribute of being Gorean. Read Bear's eloquent article about the license to be Gorean to see about the harm that is done. We cannot protect people from their own stupidity. But we can teach them our way of life and we can teach them what the term Gorean stands for. If, however, they start out in one of the places sometimes referred to as DisneyGor, they will forever think that Goreans are people who behave like the ones they met in that place. They will have been deprived.
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It is Believable!