vampiros Article: You Are NOT A Vampire-- Just A fã

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posted by Cinders

Lesson One: Bats Drink Blood. You Do Not.

There are several fórum posts and opinions voiced por people who have claimed to be real vampires. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you are not a real vampire. Or, at least, you are not a vampire in the sense of mythology (which includes Twilight).

Biologically, you are a human. You cannot ever change that, sorry. This is because there is no other humanoid species in existence today other than Homo sapiens. The closest a human being can come to a "vampire" is forcing themselves to drink blood, which is a very bad idea (I'll get to why later).

Some species do feed off blood, because that's how they evolved to survive. Species like the vampire bat, the female mosquito, the leech, the bedbug, and the lamprey eel. So, just as a review: bats, bugs and peixe drink blood as a primary comida source. Humans do not. Hematophagy has been known to be practice in humans, but only culturally, sparingly, and/or in rituals of ancient cultures. Humans do not use blood as a primary comida source.

So if you aren't mythically a vampire, why claim that you are? There are two possible reasons for such claims.

The first reason is a psychological one, and if this is the case, then the person should seek professional medical assistance.

The segundo reason is age-related.

Let's start with the first reason. If you call yourself a vampire because you "crave" blood (your own or especially other people's), then odds are you have a disorder. If you truly believe yourself to be a vampire, and seriously need to drink blood, you are suffering from a psychological disorder similar to Windigo Psychosis (which can lead to cannibalism). This is why you should see a doctor.

"But I WANT to be a vampire," you might protest. Let me tell you why allowing yourself to drink blood is a bad idea. If you andorinha too much blood, your stomach will reject it and vomit. "But I've swallowed blood before, and nothing happened!" you might say. That's because odds are, you got a paper cut and sucked your finger. Small amounts of blood, your stomach can manage. And even if it tasted "good," consider this-- ketchup tastes good in small quantities, but you'd never drink a whole bottle of it. I once drank barbecue sauce on a dare and it almost made me sick. The consumption of blood, especially if it is not your own, can spread viruses and cause disorders in your body (besides the vomiting). So please, for your own sake, do not attempt to drink blood. If you feel you have an intense craving for it, see a trained professional who can help you with your problem.

If your vampiric "symptoms" go beyond just blood cravings (IE, you think sunlight "burns" you, you think garlic harms you, and you think crosses and churches are your enemy), then odds are these are just further manifestations of your psychological problem. There is a strong correlation between belief and behavior. It's for this reason that placebos tend to be highly effective in double-blind studies. So, if you can't afford a psychiatrist, simply stop believing it and it will go away.

Now, on to the segundo reason. Despite what you may have assumed, the age-relation doesn't have much to do with Twilight. It actually has to do with stages of development. Although, Twilight is a factor.

Impartial observers may have noticed a correlation between the number of Twilight fãs and the number of preteens and teenagers claiming to be vampires. This is no coincidence. Five to ten years ago, the same age group claimed to be witches and wizards.

This isn't necessarily because the teens actually BELIEVE themselves to be vampires, but rather it's a form of pretend play that individuals their age continue to indulge in. It's a left-over remnant of their childhood, and a method through which they learned several truths about their lives and the world way back when. Preteens, and even some teenagers, are young enough to still indulge in this form of imaginative play. In their new world (Middle School and/or High School), they want to understand and belong in the society around them. Imaginative play is how they did this in the past, and it's how they adjust to changes in their body, environment and social life. It's a way of transitioning into adulthood with as little conflicts as possible.

In short-- they will, eventually, grow out of it.

So, if you believe yourself to be a vampire, then odds are you fall into one of the two categories above. In ten years, when someone writes a best-selling book series about ghosts, all preteens will want to be ghosts. That's just how it works.

If you believe that you are a vampire and do NOT fall into one of these two categories (IE, you do not have a psychological disorder and you are seventeen or older), por all means argue with me.

I can almost guarantee you that you will lose.

FutureWifey, clairexxlouxx and 57 others like this

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isabella1345234 really good article and you make a lot of really good points people that "think" there vampires are ethier aubses or need help

Snday525 I think the main reason people believe in the whole being a vampire thing is so they can just get away from the real world for a little while. Not everyone can handle the crap of day-to-day living, so they switch over to night-to-night. I don't 'believe' that I am a vampire, I just enjoy acting that way. For small periods of time. It's just a way to get away from everything and have a little fun when I'm hanging with friends/family. I agree with most of what you say, people should not take vampires to heart. Though, I'm not saying I don't 'believe' in vampires, just that they've been gone to long for anyone to really care about the real-deal anymore. ~*Snday*~

vampinight88 Nice article. I love vampires, + I love to pretend I am one with my friends. I'm really interested wether they really exist and will continue to be until someone proves to me one of the possibilities, so maybe I dont quite agree with that part, but otherwise I like it! ^,,^

loveydovi name:jabar age:427 vampire of:empathy history:when he was 12 in romania he was in a war and captured was sentenced to death but a vampire name henry saved him by leting him feed off of his dead body (died from shot to death) powers:he has the power to be a mortal in day and vamp in night and since a were bit him he can be a were every eclipse on choice apperance:brown short hair,white skin from being so old,sharp nails,tail place of operations:hell,heaven,human world,hous group:maia (because he hates other vamps trying to kill him) belife:god jesus ect favorite activity:drinking angel blood likes:sex,red whine,open spaces like yards,moonlight,flying,runing dislikes:smoking,siting down,crying,vampires,imortality,draining humans and or mortals couple:millions of new wives because they all die when they have babies children:most of all vampires in europe because all of wives birth of children they turn to half breeds (human,vampires) they have abilities to go out in sun and dont die from stakes they just regenarate there is no way to kill them they die from age but think there imortal because regeneration

loveydovi if u liked make your own below

loveydovi oh good blog thing i use to act like a vamp till i meet bleach but anyway ya people make your own vamp below and forget about being a real vampire its stupid just make one and if you disagree you are nuts you can act like a vamp but dont belive your one its crazy if you were imortal you need to see a scientist so they can clone your genes to let everyone imortal over a price but yeah dont belive in that crazy ass shit YOUR GUNNA DIE SOME DAY most americans die at 78 thats the oldest we get come on if you want to be a vamp give up and be emo em0o is not hard its the same thing as vampire but real do it dont be crazy please for your own sake please just dont

Cinders "make your own below" If you want to make up vampire characters, do it in the forums, thank you. Not here.

Friendly_Girl Very good article, Cinders :) Those people really irritate me too, but I don't think they're unstable or something, probably just too obssesed.

M169 I understand completely. I claim I AM HALF Vampire, in which I LITTERALLY crave blood (but can resist of course) and I get burnt REALLY bad in the sunlight. However. I KNOW i am not REALLY half vampire. I WANT to be one. REALLY BAD! But I understand that I cant and it is just a way of keeping my imagination active. I do not hav any sycological problems. Once my teeth bled ffor a long time and i started drinking in for 10 minutues. But other than that small amounts of blood. Plus I just love to scare te living crap outta people! I am impressed with your wording in this artical. :)

peggy1086 but i am a vampire i have fangs and i can fly HONEST!

melvel55 I know im a vampire. U CANT TRICK ME!!!!

Dragonclaws "If you swallow too much blood, your stomach will reject it and vomit." Apparently just psychological for Americans, as blood is regularly consumed elsewhere. There's this [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/loupiote/sets/72057594073092132/]blood soup[/url] of Northern Vietnam, which is duck blood with some herbal flavoring. There're these Ethiopians who [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/4967623477/]drink[/url] a mix of cow's blood and cow's milk. Then there are the usual blood pudding type of dishes in Europe. You're still not a vampire, though.

Cinders I meant if you swallow too much human blood. I forget what my source was, because I wrote this article over a year ago, but that's what I was researching.

lastblackfire3 ... I don't know if i really want to post here, but for the other vampyres who have... I am a vampyre. but not just any. most of you have heard of underworld, correct? well, i am the same. i am a hybrid cross between a vampyre and lycan. born lycan, turned vampyre. the only thing is, i don't stay in a half human/ half dark dog type thing like in the movie. i will turn into a werewolf looking body when i transform. i will stay in a human form when i am a vampyre. but you people have it all wrong. twilight is a lie. we don't sparkle in the sun or whatever, believe me, i've tried. we aren't all pale as heck like most people think, i am samoan, so if you see a samoan's or hawaiian's skin, that is my skin color. i don't drink blood ALL the time to survive, just raw meat, pretty much. oh, and people think we dress all 'goth' and 'emo', right? WRONG. We really don't always dress like that. we wear black, yes, but we also wear other things. and no, not everything about us is sex and crap either. what else is there? um, oh hey... we don't live forever. we die just like everyone else. we don't have 'super strength', well, not all of us. well, not really strength, a few just don't feel pain, so its easier to fight for them. some of us can do what edward does, but we're smart enough to be able to control it and only read from them when we want to, close it up when we don't. you ever heard of a 'third eye'? thats where visions or images of things (like items), memories of past lives, and small 'look ats' of the future' come from. back to the 'we don't live forever' part. we really don't, i don't know where people got that crap from. we die like every other person and living organism on earth. we just have one way of staying here, and that is to 'body hop'. its like taking yourself from your body and going into someone elses. take it over, kind of like 'possession', but the original owner can have some power over themself. if you have any other questions, feel free to message me or something. i don't really mind. I'm sorry if you read this and are thinking right now 'what a waste of my time'. -shrug- I didn't tell you to read it. But thanks for reading anyway!!!

Cinders For an explanation for the above monologue, see reason number two.

lastblackfire3 I am SO nothing like Twilight. I do age. I am sixteen years old and Im pretty sure in a couple months I'll turn seventeen. I am not a Twilight fan either, Twilight is BS. Ugh, there are witches, but I'm not a witch. I mean, I study wicca, but thats it. I am chirstian as well. And don't cal me crazy or dumb, or fake. Because you don't even know me. And don't say I don't need to know you to think you're mental. Because I think, respond, and live just like you. No one is ever insane, because we still think clearly, Unless we black out and do stuff, like sleep walking. Thats a different story. I don't BELIEVE I am a vampire. I KNOW I am. By the way, I am not a statistic. yes, I am in high school, but i am not like the others who aren't what I am. I am not the only one either. Your explanaitions are bogus. (By the way, I read earlier that someone said they can't se themselves in mirrors. Thats not true. We are, as I said before, basically human; so basically, we CAN see ourselves. Even in mirrors. And they also said something about bloody holes on their neck? That doesn't mean they are a vampire, it means they either hurt themselves or willingly allowed someone to. But they said they are as old as 1567 or whatever, it is a possibility, but from the rest of their reply, highly doubtful. I'm older than that, believe me or not.) [the person's name is 'sickla', just found it.]

Cinders You'll note that, and I quote (from my own article) "Despite what you may have assumed, the age-relation doesn't have much to do with Twilight. It actually has to do with stages of development." You don't have to like Twilight to want to believe yourself to be a vampire (or, using your word, "KNOW" you're a vampire), or any mythical creature for that matter. Also, I never said you were crazy, or dumb, I referenced readers of your monologue to reason number two, which, like I said, is age-related. I never said you didn't age, in fact, I said the opposite - that you do, and you will, age out of this phase. I don't know you, but I know the world, science, psychology, children (as a teacher, I have to) and, well, common sense. Add to the fact that when I was a preteen, one of my favorite "in jokes" with my friends was that I was a vampire, and so were they, and it helped me to connect. Wicca is also a common fascination of the youth because it's mysterious and its prayers are referred to as "spells" and the positive energy they encourage is called "magick" which makes it feel like magic might actually be real, when really it's part of a belief system like Buddhism or Taoism. Look, I'm not judging you. I suppose that, despite the use of the second person, this article wasn't so much written for people who... "know"... they are vampires so much as it was written to explain that "knowledge" to others who are baffled by it. When it's explained, people understand, and when people understand, they become less ignorant, and when they become less ignorant, they are less likely to say something offensive. Like, "U think u r a vampire? OMG U must be lyk so ttly crazy bitch!" At any rate, in some Bram Stoker novel, say you were a vampire. Do you really care if a bunch of humans on the internet don't believe you? In fact, wouldn't it be better for your race if they continued to believe you were fictional? No need to get upset - keep your story, stick to it, at least until you grow out of it, and I'll just stick to teaching.

lastblackfire3 Okay, I apologize. I guess its because this might be the hundreth time I've heard this kind of a thing. Sorry. I over reacted and put words in your mouth... or rather, your article. I will not age out of this though, I promise you that. I am what and who I am, there isn't anymore changing for me. As a teacher, you don't just have to KNOW us entirely. You can try, but we are young. Getting to know us is like an army ant letting prey live and go. Which is very rare to happen, by the way. I don't say I am a vampire to connect, if I had it my way, I'd only be lycan. But I couldn't have it that way. You may have used that as a way to meet people and get closer to them, but I use it to find people who really are like me, not people who only think they are. I agree on the Wicca bit; completely true. I realize you are not judging me... well, now I do... and I apologize again for jumping the gun there. (Haha, for some reason I laughed at the "U think u r a vampire? OMG U must be lyk so ttly crazy bitch!") Sorry, who is Bram Stoker? Never heard of the author. I didn't really care before, but then again, it not that I don't care. Its me trying to help people understand us better. But some people still don't. But it doesn't mean I can't try. So I don't know why I care so much... because people who think they are one of us try to pass as one but are completely off? I'm not really sure why I give a hoot. Would it be better for US to think we are ficitional? It should be, but when people start realizing what we do, they'll put us in the Looney Bin forever. So sometimes we keep to ourselves and deny all, or we try to get people to better understand our situation. I mean, there are humans out there that call themselves 'hunters'. They try to kill us. People think it is wrong for us to be what we are. but no one ever fusses over the people who are trying to kill us? Its alright for them to kill us when we don't ever go around JUST killing? I can't gorw out of this. Unless you can magicly take away my wolf form and take away my memories. Sure, maybe I'd give ita try. But until then... have fun teaching.

Cinders Bram Stoker is the author of Dracula. "Would it be better for US to think we are ficitional?" - I read this sentence and my first thought was, "Whoa, getting way too meta on me, Descartes!" And then I realized the implied subject was "Would it be better for us if humans thought we were fictional" not "Would it be better for us if we thought we were fictional." Other than that little philosophy joke, there's really nothing left to say. Except I'd love to talk to you in ten years to see how life is working out with you... being a vampire werewolf person... Hope werewolf isn't an offensive term. Didn't mean it that way.

lastblackfire3 Its not offensive, but I'm not a werewolf. I'm lycan. But a lot of people make that mistake, its fine. Sure, ten years? That works.

T_ballack Was a good article but with some facts wrong. Craving of one's own blood will be renfield syndrome, and a syndrome or disorder doesn't just disappear when u stop believing in it. Hey make no mistake, i'm not trying to conflict what u are saying, just voicing my opinion. I also think it might be unhealthy if people where to start performing rituals of drinking people's blood, cause i don't want to die for a reason as idiotic as i'm a wannabe vampire and am gonna drain u dry. but i think its safer to say that most people who say they are vampires probably aren't but not all. I'm not talking about those who say i sparkle in the sun mind u, but i mean there actually isn't any substantial proof that vampires don't exist but there also isn't proof that they do either, but if we can believe God exist without substantial proof then it would be prudent to take into accounts that vampires might exist, because that we don't believe in something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. but i support the fact that a real vampire wouldn't be on here arguing but then again we might never know since we don't know the true behaviours of vampire. Hey I'm sitting on the fence here, playing it safe.

11BrokenAngel *sigh* We know all that... You didn't have to break our hearts by voicing it. But u gotta admit, some humans DO have special abilities... Also, since this IS a Vampire club, ppl hav the right to fantacise about being 1 and they can keep telling each other that they are real vampires all they want, no 1 should tell them what they can say and what they can't.

11BrokenAngel lol! Still... It was a pretty interesting article! Thank u! ^^

Annanonymous This is a very good article. I totally agree with he non-vamp guys and girls.

DramaQueen1020 Wow Cinders I loved this article! I love to joke around about being a vampire (my friends call me Vampire sometimes cause I'm so pale and have pointy teeth) but its all for fun. We're theatre people. Well never really lose our immature fairy-tale side, but we're sane. We don't actually believe we're vampires but it's fun to pretend. You've made some excellent points here and I enjoyed reading this! P.S. to most people who believe they are vampires, I'm pretty sure if I was a real vampire, I wouldn't sparkle in the sun. SMeyer totally butchered the classic idea of "vampire"