In the aftermath of the Dawson College shooting a self proclaimed vampire community spokesperson set out to correct the image of the vamp community in the broader media by making everyone appear as even greater nutters than they were in the public perception until then, we covered that here.
Fortunately the community has some vocal enough members to answer her piece with an equally open letter:
The following is a response to the open letter that Michelle Belanger issued in the wake of the recent ‘Canadian Columbine’ shooting that was emailed to her.
I wish to thank all those involved from the vampire comunity who provided support, encouragement, corrections and advice in helping to put this response together.
This was a joint effort and I could not have done it without you.
An open letter to Michelle Belanger
A person within our community trying to improve public perception and express their sympathies is to be heartily commended. Let us not be mistaken though, this was never your true intention behind your open letter.
At best it is nothing more than a display of staggering ignorance by someone who claims to not only hold the interests of the community dear to their heart, but who also pushes themselves as ‘an authority’ on the topic.
At worst this is self-promotion and opportunism in a most disgusting and vile manner.
You display unforgivable hypocrisy in your call for others to display tolerance and an open minded attitude towards this community, when your own intolerant hatred prevents you donating to an Islamic charity {1} working hard to correct the wrongs you accuse them of {2}.
The commentary on your journal spews forth with all manner of idealism about how in the wake of visible hate crimes after Columbine, you were convinced that if your letters were printed you could improve perceptions and convince the world we are not evil or malicious.
It is almost believable had you not already offered the rather more realistic opinion that the truth of the matter is that no words will shake those who commit hate crimes:
“They’re not attacking necessarily out of a sense that you’re different or more powerful or evil or anything like that — they’re attacking for the pure and simple fact that you’re different.
…
9 times out of 10 these people could care less whether or not we’re “real” vampires. They’re just lashing out at something they don’t understand — something that’s not like them” {3}
Yet now there is a sudden urgency to have your name and your thoughts printed and in the media. Why now, Michelle, when you’ve ignored countless such events in the past.
Where were you in 2002 when Mathew Hardman hit the news for having murdered a 90 year old pensioner {5}, removing her heart and drinking her blood to become a vampire after reading instructions on the Internet. An incident that not only went without a public letter from you, but even a discussion on this matter within the House Kheperu mailing list {6} failed to draw a single comment from you.
How about more recent events? October 2005, Scott Dyleski murdered his neighbor and was charged with first-degree murder, the media running with the ‘troubled Goth’ angle {7}. Again, no open letter from you.
Just six months ago, Medicine Hat saw the brutal killing of a family {8} that once again was spun by the media who focused on the Gothic and Vampire connection. The killers were active participants of the VampireFreaks.com website, which brought uncomfortable media commentary regarding online vampire-themed communities, in the same manner the Mathew Hardman case and that we face now in the wake of the Kimveer shooting.
Again, not a word from Michelle Belanger, determined activist for the improvement of public perception of the Gothic and Vampire communities.
Are we seriously to believe that you are so ignorant that you truly believed your claim on Coast to Coast that Columbine was the last act of fatal violence involving those labelled as Goths or Vampires, when hardly a month goes by without the various news feeds and papers publishing at least one article about such an incident?
Or should we come to the more sinister revelation that your ‘sudden’ desire to speak out despite having had a number of previous opportunities and the fact you have a book and CD release are simply mere co-incidence?
As sickening and vile as the conclusion that forms is, we must accept the simple fact that current events have provided you with opportunity after opportunity over the years for you to speak out on events that concern the community. You have repeatedly made the decision not to, despite your current claims that your sole motivation is to improve the perception of the Vampire community.
It seems plainly obvious that the real reason for your letter is that this is the first such incident in which you have seen a clear opportunity to promote yourself, reinforced by the fact that with mentions to your house, your books and the black veil your letter reads more like your biography than a description of the Vampire community.
Contrast your blatant advertising with Gothic author, musician and artist, Voltaire, when he spoke out on Fox News with regards the Scott Dyleski murder last year{9}. Fox mentioned his book to establish credentials and he manages to seemingly do the impossible, failing to mention his stage act, his Nu-wave band, his toys, books, CDs, comics, his stop motion work or the vampire house he associates with.
You have proven yourself to be an intelligent individual and a very capable writer, so we cannot be expected to allow you the excuse that perhaps you were unaware your letter would be interpreted in this manner. You have the intelligence and the talent to ensure that anything you say is deliberate and intentioned.
You are a member of ‘Voices of the Vampire Community’ (VVC), a group that brings together the heads of many vampire groups with sole intention of better promoting and benefiting the entire community. If you did want to speak out about the community, why ignore the platform offered by the VVC, when this was intended to be one of its stated main purposes, especially given you have already admitted to the VVC that you are not informed enough to speak out on behalf of the entire community:
“I want to be able to offer a fair representation of every one’s opinions, not just my own.
…
I get asked by people to describe the community. I know HK, but I don’t know everyone else here, unless there’s communication. I’m more than willing to at least make an attempt to present everyone in an equal light.” {10}
So if promoting the unified community is your aim why do you fail to use the tools given to you in favour of promoting only yourself?
You make constant comment to your good nature and how determined you are to make a difference, that your intentions are good and you only
wish to benefit the community and others.
If this is true, then why is it that being asked if you could you not use your contacts in a better fashion and ‘exactly how much of the
profits will go to Katrina victims?’ caused you to not only scrap your book project supposedly aimed at benefiting Katrina victims but to also privately attack those who asked the questions as the reason the project was scrapped?
Proof positive that far from wanting to use tragic events to benefit others, you seek only to carry on the finest traditions of the
Sanguinarium and benefit yourself by ripping off others, expecting to be free from criticism or comment as you do so.
With regret in my heart I must accept that in you, this community has a most self-serving, ignorant and despicable of characters. Your words spin an inspirational and noble dream, selling us with Utopian visions of tolerance, benevolence and good will. Yet beneath these paper thin lies lurks a creature apparently devoid of compassion and caring little of morality and other’s personal tragedy.
I sincerely wish for you that the great efforts you go to in whoring the Gothic and Vampire communities to sell yourself and trade on your hollow words provide you with all the money, fame and peer recognition you clearly crave and believe you deserve.
And let the rest of us all hold onto the hope that this day comes soon, so that you may return whatever husk you leave us with back to those who truly care: the many community members out there who get their messages out without the need for self-promotion. They are the real credits to our respective communities.
With eternal optimism,
-V.
References
{1} Donation to Islamic Aid –
http://community.livejournal.com/psyvamps/47746.html?thread=244610
{2} Islamic Aid – http://www.islamicaid.org.uk/ourwork3.html
{3} http://groups.yahoo.com/group/housekheperu/message/7736 (requires
membership of group)
{4} Teens in massacre plot to have court hearing today – http://www.thetrenchcoat.com/categories/52-Winslow-Township/P2.html
{5} Teenager guilty of ‘vampire’ murder – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/2166683.stm
{6} http://groups.yahoo.com/group/housekheperu/message/11895 (requires
membership of group)
{7} Vitale slaying suspect charged with murder – http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/21/vitale.suspect/
{8} Girl, 12, charged with murdering family – http://www.religionnewsblog.com/14434/girl-12-charged-with-murdering-family
{9} Voltaire on Fox News – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5psCjK6tzQ
{10} Voices of the Vampire community discussion 1/28/06 – http://psychicvampire.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=43