I find it ironic that many people who think of themselves as environmentally aware and friends of the Earth also worship at the altar of vampirism, which teaches consuming for consumption's sake, make more consumers in the process, and ignore the finite nature of Nature, as well as its resource, i.e., blood. The more clever vampire stories talk about herding humans like cattle, but the more popular vampires (This decade's Twilight crew, last decade's Lestat servants, the "hero-worship" in eastern Europe of Vlad Tepys, and on back to that old Mick Bram Stoker's original child of the night, Dracula) wouldn't give a damn for humans; were they all dead or undead, the emphasis would switch to other primates, then mammals in general, and so on. The supply of blood users may peter out in several million years, but vampires will still be around, sucking away on the last husks of life. Probably fighting with other vampires, too, over resource rights.

Sound familiar? Take away the lace shirts, gothic trappings, and nocturnal work habits, and they're just plain folks; the very same plain folks PETA, FOE and other eco-protestors are targeting. Talk about hypocrisy....

Those are the rabid; and like rabies, short of radical innoculation of sanity nothing can save such a ravaged mind. Then there are the "wannabes," those who dress the dress, talk the talk, and celebrate Hallowe'en their entire lives. Some call themselves "vampires," though the closest they get to consuming blood is an under-cooked Whopper with strawberry shake (unless you want to count sucking their parents fiscally dry). Others find colors either intruding on their self-absorbed depression or just too confusing, so they wear the same non-colors as their fellow mental cripples. As a clinical depressive I find these people contemptable, and as to their garb I would like to point out another group who wears similar drab clothing, body mutilations (as opposed to true piercing and tatoo art), and complete lack of anger management. I of course refer to the skinheads, the un-Aryan Aryans, the neo-Nazis that not just live in enclaves in Idaho but small sports communes in Tukwila, Salem, Petaluma, and Riverside, to mention some West Coast hang-outs. The Nazis express their desire for violence better, but then, they aren't as tied to the family wallet as the neo-Goths and Edward Scissorhands clones. In that they are more honest about their anti-humanism, though regretably more crippled in their choice of role models, choosing a syphillitic Austrian war veteran and vehement anti-Semitic (yes, that includes you Arabs, too, sons of Abraham).

Still more to come....