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Padriag -> RE: Gorean's??? (2/24/2008 12:19:41 PM)
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Well.... yes and no...
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ORIGINAL: Alumbrado
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....I saw it in one individual who incorporated bushido code and the behavior of the samurai (right down to how his home was decorated and even how he dressed, ate, and behaved at home) into his "BDSM lifestyle."
A very good comparison. Leaving the BDSM out completely, that sort of thing, like coming to work and insisting on being addressed by one's SCA rank, or sending memos around the office in Klingon, is exactly the sort of 'missing the point' behavior that seems to some to exemplify certain Goreans.
True... there are those, and not just among Goreans but among BDSM, the SCA, and just about any other group... including even the Boy Scouts... who seem to believe that by adopting the outward appearance of something, they become that something. The ones who are worst for doing so are generally those who desparately want to be somebody... and so they adopt some persona they feel empowers them and makes them feel good about themself.
But...
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They were samurai because that is who they were innately...and to quote Charlie Wood...you can't teach that stuff.
Actually, they were samurai because of their social station... and they very much were taught how to behave and so forth. What really prevents anyone from genuinely being a samurai today is that there is no social institution to legitmately create them... feudal Japan no long exists, and with it went the samurai.
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No matter how many topknots one puts in their hair, or how many kenjutsu lessons they take, or how many trips to the mall they make in a kimono, or how many meals they eat sitting on the floor, they are never going to be samurai, and they are not going to actually be living bushido.
I agree, they won't be samurai. However... they could be living according to bushido. Bushido was nothing more than a code of behavior. This code, first formalized in the Bushido Shoshinshu (literally, Bushido for Beginners) by Taira Shigesuke sometime in the mid 1600s (actually nearing the end of the reign of the samurai ironically enough), covered everything from how a samurai should eat, live, manage his household, treat his wife, his children, his responsibilities and duties, how to behave on the battlefield... and even how to die.
Using the Bushido Shoshinshu as an analogy to Gor is useful in another way. Just as the Bushido code covers far more than just fighting and martial pursuits... Gor (at least as embodied by what Bull refers to as "living Goreans") involves more than just sex, slaves, fetishes and kinks; this being one of the main points of contention Goreans have about being lumped in with BDSM. The individual I referenced didn't believe he was a samurai, outside his home he dressed "normally", at work he was just one of the guys. But, even at work or elsewhere he tried to behave according to what the Bushido Shoshinshu taught, not because of any delusion, but because he genuinely admired and respected it. He felt it made him a better person. I see some Goreans attempting to do the same with Gor. So we have some who are definitely trying to use Gor as a means of escaping into a fantasy world, but there are also others who are trying to bring something respectable out of that fantasy world.
Personally, I think most of these living Goreans would be better off with a copy of Bushido Shoshinshu, or Nietzsche's collected works, or a good history textbook on Scandinavian culture, etc. I say that chiefly because its far easier for most people to take seriously someone trying to adopt a code of behavior and ethics drawn from history, than one drawn from badly written fiction. That was point behind my little joke previously regarding "Nietzscheans". If a group formed and claimed to live by the teachings of Nietzsche, others might think them odd, but could at least give them some credibility because Nietzsche was both a real philosopher and one who was very influential in his time. On the other hand, a group claiming to follow the teachings of "Nietzscheans" taken from a B grade TV series... not so credible.
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On the other hand, one can read Jack Rinella, Gloria Brame, Jay Wiseman, John Warren, et al. and go 'Hey...there are others out there that feel the same as I do'...because innately, like the samurai, one is either kinky or they are not.
Except that being kinky isn't innate anymore than being a samurai is. Being a samurai or minor french nobility were both social stations granted by particular cultural institutions. Being kinky is something we choose. I wasn't kinky as a child, that didn't develop until sometime in my adult life. Likewise my kinks have changed, I've lost interest in some and learned new ones. So to some extent, if one can read Jay Wisemen and say "Hey, that's cool, I wanna do that," is really no different than someone reading Bushido Shoshinshu and saying "Hey, that's cool, I wanna try living like that." How well they do it, or learn any of it, is another question... but anyone could read either and decide to try... both can be learned, both can be taught.
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