Why Vampires are Arrogant

**Originally published in The Vampire Church’s E-Zine in November 2003**

Why Vampires Are Arrogant

First and foremost, I will have to say that this is just a theory and not supported by anything other than what I have personally experienced in my working with the vampiric community.

There seems to be an overwhelming arrogance that permeates the vampire community. That whole “I am better than you are and you should respect me for it whether you want to or not” thing that has gotten more panties in a wad than any lexicon of terms or debate over whether we should use the spelling vamp’I’re or vamp’Y’re. I have seen actual hatreds started over people simply not respecting these would-be Lords and Ladies of the vampire community (personally I am of the view that we are all Lords and Ladies, each and every living being on the face of the planet) from the onset of the word ‘Hello’ in a greeting to a new group. This should not preclude civility of any sort. Do you really want this kind of action? Must everything be about ego in the vampire community?

Unfortunately it seems so. There are some really off the wall people that have latched into the community and have positioned themselves in what they deem are ‘places of power’ to not only lord over other vampires but to teach them that their way of existence, in being a vampire, is the sole existence. This is as wrong as we can ever be. Constantly new adaptations of vampirism are coming to light. Constantly we are seeing vampires coming to the forefront of the community to discuss their awakening. Constantly we are seeing these same newly, and sometimes not-so-newly, awakened vampires slapped into non-existence because they either don’t know the accepted lexicon in a particular group or have experienced something differently than the self-styled Lords and Ladies.

There are a few of us out here, especially within the Vampire Church, that believe that we are just scratching the surface of this condition we call vampirism. Would you like an example? It is one that I have pumped out over several lists that I am part of. It is something that I was proud to be a part of bringing out of the dark, if you will pardon the pun. Negative feeders. For months, those of us that knew about negative feeders and how they differed from what is termed, here in the New Orleans area as, psychic leeches. After all, not all of us are light fluffy bunny types, now are we?

OK, Since we have come to the determination that we are just scratching the surface of our own physical condition, then why is it so hard for us to work together throughout the vampiric community? Why do we always seem to have an endless array of bickering, backbiting and backstabbing?

OH, This is so easy. Somewhere in us, the arrogance that is a natural part of every living person is based in emotion. We, as vampires, are highly emotional creatures. We, as highly emotional creatures, are highly reactionary. This reaction always flows through our arrogance and must inevitably be dealt with. We each do this in our own way. I tend to take a neutral path in things, dealing with things after I have thought about them. Sometimes this is easier said than done and doesn’t require much thought however there are times, admittedly, where this simply has to take time. I am highly empathic and highly emotional by nature, and fight this in order to maintain a semblance of neutrality. Yes. I said semblance. There is not one person on the face of the planet that is truly neutral in anything. Neutrality is based on intellectual endeavor, a set of rules used to govern one’s actions and the effort to make them work together in harmony. I don’t always succeed and blow a gasket more often than I would like to admit but I do try.

Others react more positively through each and every situation they encounter because they have found a route around the arrogance born in each of us and awakened with a vengeance in the vampire.

Still others, no matter how you attempt to do things properly, react to each and every situation through a negative context. Blowing things out of proportion and reacting with unjust anger and hatred, seeking to only destroy that which they have mistakenly identified as a threat. Not realizing that this perceived threat was merely an _expression of concern, or simply a question posed by someone that doesn’t know the ‘lingo’ or may not understand, or some other such thing. This negative reaction blinds them to what is true, and is in full swing part and parcel of their arrogance.

Arrogance is the most blinding of all the vampiric qualities that I have found and there is nothing more determined than an arrogant vampire. Yet, In the end, this arrogance tears apart and harms more of the community than it has ever healed.

Is this just the ramblings of an overly active mentality? Or has this theory actually got some merit? Only time will tell.

Vitae Dominae

Belfazaar Ashantison