My dear friend Akasha recently posed the question, “What is your opinion of the vampire community, as a whole?” On her website. Here is my answer:
I have been a participant of the community for over 10 years now. I’ve made some great friends; I’ve made people really angry. I’ve learned a lot; I’ve shared what I could.
That being said…
I agree that the community is rather chaotic. I would take that a step further though, and ask – what is the purpose of the community? When, and perhaps more importantly (at least to me) WHY did the community go from this collection of people with a need in common to rules and leaders and laws and egos?
We have just this one minute thing in common; we have more differences than commonalities. I believe we should accept that and move on. Let us continue to get together in chat rooms, forums, groups, etc… let us exchange information; if friendship happens, great. And let’s leave it at that.
I know. This isn’t a popular opinion. We’re only human after all. We want to belong. But I personally do not want to be caged in as this one thing. I am so much more than my need for energy. My friends are so much more than their need for blood. More importantly, why is there a popular opinion that we should hold hands and get along just because we have that need? There are plenty of people with asthma that I do not like, but should I be friends with them just because I am also asthmatic? Hells no.