EDITORIAL: Study of ‘real’ vampires really sucks
Thank goodness we have paid faculty on publicly funded college campuses to research the really important issues of our time. Like the difficulty vampires face in gaining the acceptance of society.
Yes, that probably sucks, so to speak.
The study, led by Idaho State University social work director D.J. Williams and published in the peer-reviewed journal Critical Social Work, is based on the experiences of 11 "real" vampires — as opposed to "lifestyle" vampires, who like to don fake teeth or sleep in a coffin. Some of these "real" vampires prefer to feed on "psychic or pranic energy," while others, called "sanguinarians," prefer to feed on "small amounts" of human or animal blood.
Laura Zuckerman, writing for Reuters, says those who identify as "real" vampires won‘t disclose their existence to those in helping professions. They fear ridicule, disgust and the possibility of a mental illness diagnosis -- a bloody shame, to be sure.
"The study reported that all of the participants seemed to ‘function normally‘ based on questions about their careers and ‘psychiatric histories‘ (apparently, believing you need to drink blood in order to function was not taken to be an indicator of a psychological problem)," National Review‘s Katherine Timpf writes.
The purpose of the study was to highlight issues facing the vampire community and to promote more cultural sensitivity and acceptance -- for instance, resisting the urge to carry a hammer and a wooden stake. "The message is to not take things at face value, to be more aware of our stereotypes and our judgments, maybe focus on commonalities that people have," Mr. Williams said in an interview with MTV.
This political correctness run amok is the perfectly logical result of the pro-diversity culture that requires people to embrace -- not tolerate, but embrace -- differences, no matter how disgusting, stupid or twisted they are.
This isn‘t about Caitlyn Jenner‘s gender identity -- a transition that plenty of Americans are happy to embrace despite the controversy. Nor is it about Rachel Dolezal, who for years self-identified as black and served as president of the NAACP in Spokane, Wash., but was recently found to be white. Not nearly as much acceptance followed, as Ms. Dolezal resigned amid a sea of criticism. But she had some sympathizers.
With vampirism as the latest frontier in tolerance, what‘s next? Will we soon have a "community" of people who identify as dogs? Do we have to acknowledge and study that, too?
At some point, somebody has to say, "You‘re not a vampire. You‘re just really, really weird." And somebody needs to tell college professors, researchers and the journal editors who indulge their occasional idiocy to stay clear of obvious stupidity. If that doesn’t happen, then where does this stop?
The obvious answer: It doesn‘t. Ever.
