Reflections From a Murky Pond

Ayn Rand, one of the few staunch literary defenders of individual liberty and robust American capitalism and excellence, had much to say about the goals of the Leftists, these Liberals and Progressives:

The goal of the “liberals”—as it emerges from the record of the past decades—was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means of single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles, never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be named. Thus, statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot—by a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait accompli.

– Ayn Rand
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

I happen to disagree with her. Insofar as I can see, statism is the chosen methodology of the Liberals and Progressives, not the goal. A giant, all-encompassing, intrusive government is merely, to them, a necessary means to an end.

There goal is to have a “state” without national identity, pride, or identifiable culture where all of the people’s sundry needs and most desires are either fulfilled or guaranteed by the government. They wish to bring about an egalitarian Utopia where merit and circumstance have no bearing upon one’s material success.

Statism, despite Rand’s assertion, is just the only means by which the Leftists believe they can bring about this unnatural state of being. They simple need a despotic central force to enact and maintain their fantasy of a neo-Socialist, fully managed society.

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People in civilized, nominally secure nations, most especially Americans, fear, loath and despise the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and it’s officers and agents who provide the visible semblance of airport security.

They really don’t like, and oft times rant about, what they perceive as odious and  needlessly invasive screenings at the hands and machines of the Transportation Security Officials (TSOs).

Ah, but that’s here on Earth. On Gor things would be quite different. The TSOs of Gor would brook no defiance from a mere passenger.

I watched as the woman cringed and attempted to draw back from Thargyur, the TSA official. “What gives you the right to inspect me?” she demanded.

“You will be inspected,” said the TSA officer.

“But I do not want to be inspected! I just want to board my plane and leave!” protested the woman.

“You will be inspected,” said the TSA officer.

“Please do not inspect me! I beg you, don’t strip me and place me in that scanning machine and fondle my breasts!”

“You will be inspected,” said the TSA officer.

Verily, the TSA officer moved forward and proceeded to inspect the woman.

“Stop inspecting me!” cried the woman. “I do not want to be inspected!” The TSA officer continued to inspect the woman. “Help! Police! Bystander! Congress! Somebody… stop this man!” she moaned. The TSA officer continued to inspect the woman. She was passenger. She would be inspected whenever the TSA officer desired to inspect her. In other permissive societies such as Earth’s, perhaps the TSA officer and passenger might be prevented from filling their true places in nature; but in Gor, the passenger had no rights. She was passenger. She would be inspected at will.

The woman cried muchly as the TSA officer finished inspecting her. Too, she had been inspected; but this did not matter. She was passenger.

“You have been inspected,” said the TSA officer.

“Yes,” sobbed the woman. “I have been inspected.”

“I have inspected you very well,” said the TSA officer.

“Yes.” sobbed the woman. “I have been inspected very well; I am a passenger and deserve to be well-inspected by the TSA.” And yet, despite her sobbing, the passenger felt more passenger-like than she ever had on Earth. Only here, on Gor, could she truly feel like a passenger, at the capable hands of a Gorean TSA officer who would inspect her whenever he wished.

The next passenger, having seen this, did not protest when the TSA official inspected her. She was passenger. Such was the way of things.

When the TSA official had finished muchly inspecting her, she said to the first passenger, “I have been well inspected.”

“I, too, have been well inspected,” said the first passenger.

“I will be inspected whenever the TSA pleases,” said the second passenger.

“I, too, will be inspected whenever the TSA pleases,” said the first passenger.

“I may now board my plane,” said the second passenger.

“I, too, may now board my plane,” said the first passenger.

“Tal,” said the second passenger.

“Tal, too,” said the first passenger.

I smiled as I watched the passengers depart. I did not figure the first passenger would object to being inspected again; for this was Gor, and over her life, the passenger would likely be touched and inspected by many TSA agents. Such is the place of passengers.

Yes, on the fantasy world detailed in 29 volumes (soon to be 30) by John Norman aka Dr. John Lange, things would be quite different for the passengers indeed. They would be inspected, swiftly learn to accept it, soon learn to like it, and eventually come to yearn for their inspections and to love their TSOs.

It is well known that the Gorean TSO, though often strict, is seldom cruel. The passenger knows, if she pleases him, her trip will be an easy one. She will almost never encounter sadism or wanton cruelty, for the psychological environment that tends to breed these diseases is largely absent from Gor. This does not mean that she will not expect to be beaten if she disobeys, or fails to please her TSO.

I wish you well!

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I remember when a number of Christian groups went a little crazy when J.K. Rowlings announced, perhaps foolishly and definitely unnecessarily, that her character Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Wizardry, was queer.

Perhaps a scene such as this was part of what these Christians feared:

The Dumbledore Effect – Scary, Very Scary

Yeah, I can see where that might have scared them. The plots of the later books and movies were odd enough without adding that sort of love triangle sub-plot to the mix.

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