Gor - Why I don't like it

One of the things I get asked a lot is why I don’t like Gor and what I know about. Let us start with what I know about Gor. Once, about 10 years ago before I went to college or even had a GED. I picked up the first Gor book and started reading it. The first thing I noticed is the book was terribly written. Even without being as educated as I am today, I was fairly confident I had more writing skills than the author.

The second thing I noticed is it lacked depth; it had a mystical world that was detailed in a completely sloppy manner. The fact that the detail lacked relevance and purpose gave this fictional world no context. About half way through the book, the terrible grammar and lack of content caused me to put the book down. I have not picked up a Gor book since. I have zero regrets about that.

The reason why I do not like Gor is it is a fictional book which people take as fact and something to live their lives by. It would be like me trying to live my life by the ideas presented in Star Trek. It’s not very realistic and the people who do try to live their life like it is Star Trek get made fun of, a lot. I cannot have a serious conversation with someone about the philosophy of Star Trek or how to live your life like they do on Star Trek.

By the way, the societies on Star Trek were based on different societies on Earth at different points in history. History was a catalyst that gave them a story line that allowed them to dream up their fictional worlds. They were not creating philosophy on Star Trek; they were creating entertainment.

This same is true for Gor. The philosophy which some claim so whole heartily to be in the Gor books is not. It is a work of fiction created for the purpose of entertainment, not for the purpose of creating a manual by which to live our lives. We are not talking about Aristotle. We are talking about a made up book by an author who can’t write that well. It is entirely possible the author took some of his ideas from historical events, just like they did in Star Trek.

If every time someone used a point in history and created a world around it in a story they were creating philosophy that would mean just about everyone is a philosopher. I remember in sixth grade our class had to write a story from the point a view of a young girl or boy living at the time of WWII in Europe. The characters which we created were fictional and the events were a loose representation of whatever it was we retained from history class. Our stories were fiction, but if everyone who uses history as a base for whether or not something is philosophy my entire sixth grade class is philosophers.

The other reason why I don’t like Gor is because to defend the notion of living their life by Gor books is that people live their lives by the Bible. The difference between the two is quite obvious to me, the Bible about God, is considered to be true and to have ACTUALLY TAKEN PLACE. The Bible and other religious books are about things that have happened, not a made up world like in Gor. When people compare a fictional book to something that is taken as truth; they are grasping at straws and cannot formulate a real argument.

All that said, I do watch Star Trek a lot and I am super excited about a new Star Trek movie coming out next year. But I am not going to live my life by Star Trek and I will happily talk with my other nerdy friends about what the story line might be. The thing is neither my friends nor myself are seeking to live like we are on Star Trek; we just like the entertainment.

I think if people read Gor books because they like the entertainment rather than trying to convince everyone of the philosophy or reality of Gor it would be much better received. I do not care if you enjoy the Gor books or if you read them as bedtime stories. If you like that sort of entertainment; I think that is great for you. Just remember, we are talking about fiction and entertainment, not reality.

-emma