(Preface 2011: Interaction on the internet is a challenge, at times. The thought that one is anonymous (which is truly not the case) allows some to behave irresponsibly. This essay, written back around 2000, addresses the issue and is just as relative today as it was then.)
Hello again,
I wrote this essay back in July, at a time when a few people who should have known better (look who is talking!) were spending time trying to debate and discuss with some who had created forums for the specific purpose of luring them in and flinging shit on them. These people, all banned from the few popular Gorean boards for their activities, deperately and transparently wanted to agitate some of us so that we would go there and the ensuing ruckus would give them them the attention denied them after they failed and/or they were rejected by the community at large.
It was easy to see the one thing that brought these twisted and sad individuals pleasure was our attention, therefore I denied them mine - although they flung shit far and wide to attract it. ;0)
Others who were standing hip-deep in the monkey cage had perhaps not thought through what was happening, and this is my essay to them, to let them know why feeding the monkeys is a fruitless endeavor.
Enjoy! ;0)
=========================================
If you feed them, they become excited and agitated. If you give them attention, they will accept it and demand more and more of it from you. If you speak with them, they will simply screech louder, throw more excrement, and try to piss further in order to splash some of their bile onto you. They seek to keep you there, talking, since being a monkey is really not a very interesting thing in and of itself. It does not mean anything, it does not stand for anything. It does not seek to accomplish anything. It is a defensive mindset simply fueled by frustration, guilt and fear.
When you trek to their cages and respond to them, you simply give them what they want - attention. You lend, through your name and time, a measure of attention and perhaps even credence, if you are not careful, to what they are trying to do. In any case, you never can accomplish the purpose you seek to achieve. You often run the risk, through frustration, of becoming a monkey yourself.
In short; You lose.
Honest, open debate and disagreement is a good thing. I have spent many years online, in a Gorean context doing so in various venues. So have many of you. A lot of it has been constructive, if rancorous and even bitter at times. Together, we have learned much, about ourselves and about living Gorean in this society. The number of adults seriously and honestly seeking to live this way has grown, due in large part to the words we share in public.
But at some point, in some places, you look down at your wet shoes and realize that some of them are just monkeys, and that their delight is not in the verbiage, the argument, the search for understanding or compromise, but rather their delight is in their ability to piss all over you and what you are, doing so openly and/or discreetly, and still keep you coming back for more.
We are unlike any other Gorean forum on the net. We do not have monkeys here. We stopped feeding them and sent them on their way. You watched it happen, from day one.
Think about that.
Those people then have created cages of their own making, where they screech and scream and whine and cry, waving their arms frantically at you and calling you by name to try to get you to come close enough so that they can simply wet your shoes and smile.
"Gor is a fantasy!", they whine.
"You are all Nazis!", they scream.
"Collar me and prove me wrong!", they beg.
"You are all misogynists!", they bleat.
The ironic thing is, we have seen this same thing all before. Many, many monkeys have come before them, doing the exact same things, for the exact same reasons. Those monkeys are all gone now. They disappeared once the food source dried up. They disappeared, once people stopped feeding them.
It is no fun for them, it seems, to be playing in shit when no one else is interested in, or cares about, being their target. ;0)
At some point, folks, if your shoes are soaked, it ceases to be their fault.
At some point, the credibility you lend them by paying attention to them starts to detract from the very thing you argue for, because they are not there to find answers, only fling shit and get as much of it on you as possible.
At some point, my friends, you have to wise up and stop making yourselves such easy, willing and accessible targets, for no worthwhile gain. ;0)
And at some point, you have to decide to stop playing thier endless, hate-filled, psychotic games. What do you do? You just go out and live Gorean and let your life amongst your peers provide the best example that there can be. ;0)
I wish you all well this sunny, wonderful Saturday afternoon.
Bear-
