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The misconceptions by society of the gothic/vampiric lifestyle...

Please explain what you feel are some of society’s misconceptions pertaining to gothic or vampiric culture and discuss how we, as supporters of these lifestyles, can help to educate society about our beliefs.

If you post with a misconception, please follow it up with a suggestion for conquering that misconception.

There should be no posts of "I agree" or "Gee this is a great thread" as that accomplishes nothing and gets in the way of the strand of competent thought. Please come up with something or be silent.

I will give you an example of what I am looking for in a responding post.

I feel that one misconception by society of gothic culture is that they are selfish and rebellious...black clad, pierced up persons with no real concern for the issues that plague their communities.

I feel that one way to conquer this misconception would be for groups of goths and their supporters to contribute to community projects..a sort of gothic outreach if you will. Religious groups do it all the time. Maybe volunteering at blood drives, or helping with HIV awareness campaigns, sponsoring a food drive...there are infinite possibilities and each one sends out the message
"Do not mis-label me by my lifestyle choices."

I am also not really trying to be goth, nor am I trying hard to be vampire or what have you. :) However, I came to this wonderful site to understand the gothic, vampiric, "dark" etc. way of life.

I used the word "dark", mainly because that is how the rest of the world perceives this way of life. It's a sad but true fact. As I have said before, it is ignorance that fuels their beliefs.

As I have opened my mind and accepted that there are more than one ways to believe and think, I have for the better half of 2 years now, learned as much as I could about the gothic, wiccan, vampire werewolf, werecat, etc., lifestyles and belief systems.

One thing for sure is that everyone of the true, honest and sincere members of this site and in the real world (which I have encountered in my travels along the way), are very nice and easy-to-get-along-with people. Some of the most tolerant and intelligent people I have ever met.

It is my belief, that the best way for people to open up and shed the globally-common misconceptions, is through education. I am not talking about local education, but a MASS education about what goes on in the 'dark' side of life.

Where some people get carried away with the dark side, they tend to over-do things a bit and then it creates a negative stereotype, which in turn causes more people to get an incorrect idea.

The only true method is to set examples of yourself. Get out into your community, do good things. Volunteer for community projects, etc. I don't mean stand at the corner and help terrified old ladies cross the road against their will, but perhaps, go to your neighbourhood park and clean up the place with your friends. Basically, what I am saying is... set a good example for others. Then they'd see you in a different light (hopefully). At least that's what I try to do when I am in public.

If you can make them scratch their heads about it, then you know you're doing your part. :)

I can dream, can't I?

i feel that most misconceptions are made by the media depicting only the negative events from a certian sub culture and that only produces a society with hate and ignorance..most people fear what they can't understand or don't know

I am a life long learner. But, I am not a vampire, shapeshifter, or goth. I lead an alternative lifestyle. I fit into the mold on VR better than any where else I have been.

The biggest misconception in my opinion is that people in this lifestyle are not intelligent, hardworking individuals. The people in this lifestyle are looked down upon as misguided, evil, and loosers.

By banding together as we have, sharing resources, and educating others on the lifestyle we choose, we can change the misconceptions.

Trivia, I agree. We are looked down on as losers and mindless misfits. Education and communication on sites such as these can bring about a mutual respect. I have indeed learned a lot here, and for my VR is the best site of all I've seen. We are very gifted and acute seekers here.

Our society will not dismiss their views of us, and for me that is just fine. Let the shallowmongers worry about themselves.

Blessed Be

Well....looked down on? Yes. The misunderstood child from grade school to present. I understand where everyone wouldn't want to come to know the real person behind the scenes. I live it on a day to day basis.
What I do about it is explain the way that I live, and EXPECT, respect. If that doesn't happen. Well, then, good luck to you. I don't give and not recieve. VERY good way to look at our lifestyle. To all My friends out there, yer hot lil freaks and don't worry bout the rest of the BS...

To those that put forth the media, why not a suggestion?

Here is mine: Goths are too lazy to do anything except whine about how they are misunderstood.

I think they can step up and put forth the ideas in their heads, in such a way that they will gain positive attention. There are many entertainers who are Goth that no matter what the "kids" do, maintain the respect they have because they put forth their intellect to the media through their art or interviews.

I also think spell check is a good thing.

Many of the misconceptions about goths and vampires, in my opinion, come from the glamour and glitz of the hollywood films that are forever bombarding our screens. Too many people think that if there is a film about it, then it must be the truth LOL.

Yeah, here too. Especially now with our Summerfest going. I have seen a lot of Goth kids walking around, some in groups of two or more, but no more than four together. I'm not sure weather they concider themselves Vampires or not, but i think they feel comfortable to be justthe way they want. We do have a Goth culb here, and as of yet, have not been to it. I have to really make a point of going.
One misconception is to imeadatly judge one by the way they dress or act, and not to get to know them first. It is a weakness that I am still working on, as I know how it feels to be judged first, being as I have analternet lifestyle.

Are we forgetting the latter part of the question for the former?

Come on people the idea here is to put forth suggestions to prevent the misconceptions we see, not just bitch about them.

Well to combat the misconceptions that are due to the way we are portrayed by the hollywood glamour, we could always drop a nuke on hollywood.

Thus falling into the misconception of being voilent. haha

There are real solutions aside from the jokes we make, it's a matter of thinking outside what we normally do, and attempting to make a difference.

I think it's rather sad that people prefer to joke all the time about what is an issue that people have done at least 30 threads on it in the past 6 months, yet are unwilling to put forth ideas that we can do.

Sorry leibe.

On a serious note, i believe that education is the key here. If we were to eductae the masses somehow then we would indeed have a much better reputation. I truly believe that hollywood has a lot to answer for, so maybe a large mailshot to the various hollywood studios would be a great help to their understanding of how we really work. I wonder if anyone has even thought to do that. Most I have spoken to in the past have indeed joked about it and have not had the guts to approach the hollywood studios or even teach others about us goths. But I am a great believer in allowing others to know how our minds work so that they may understand us better.

After all, being goth is not about our choice of clothes or the music we listen to, it's about not being afraid to express ourselves in a way that is not attached to the generalised conformist regimes.

M

Thank you menerfecious, that is a very good possible solution to the hollywood issue. With education people are also more likely to write about the issues and put them forward into publications that the masses will read.

Even VR is an example of this, the idea that it is a database for all things vampire and goth. It shows much of our diversity.

Volunteer in your goth garb...
how many of us go to do volunteer work, or to the hockey game decked out like we would to the club?

I mean sure you dress up a little more to go to the club... but how many of us dress down or completely mundane out to do our daily chores or sit in th edoctors office.

How many of us sit on the bus and project an attitude of I'm better than you when we are all dressed up?
isn't unapproachability a big part of our goth gettup?

A common misconception that gets on my nerves is that gothic is not only a culture but also a style...a part of historym for example gothic was a popular style of churches in France and Italy...its used to describe castles and old houses...many people when they hear goth just automatically think..ohhh goth people..but it also makes me think architechture..an age of beautiful art and style..but yes goths are much too stereotyped into one group assuming theyre all the same, education to other about the culture not only religions would broaden the world's mind..also goths who create fuss and give bad impressions also put off the willingness for others, other cultures to learn about the culture.

Veering just a tad here... I think a big misconception is that the content of this website draws 'goths' only or even mostly. I can argue that this stuff is quite commercial and appeals to the masses... a HUGE majority of this site aren't even close to goth. I would never call myself one- I am too many things to discount the rest that I am with that title.

People in general for the most part thrive on feeding all their sides- Goth is just part of my life, it doesn't encompass me, or even hold the biggest part of me.

No need for a suggestion in conquering this misconception... just for people to realize this 'community' holds far more than the alternative~ it holds a massive amount of the mainstream.

Ok the biggest misconception about goths are that goths are evil or weird,
i do not think their is nothing a person can do to make other people believe what you are and what you are not, so i do not think anyone should do anything to remedy this because the majority of people are weird and evil, so why should i do anything to explain who i am to people that do not matter...

The biggest misconception is exactalyl what was stated above and it is the media whether it is news radio or even the movies always depecting the bad guy in black thus the gothic scene is viewed as such

Yes, people are scared of what they don't understand.. even though there is really nothing -to- understand. Everyone is always going to be different.. there are no two alike (other than twins and even they aren't exactly alike).

I'm not sure I completely agree Brad. There is always something to understand. If you are goth, vamp, etc. you already know what is to be understood. People who are not can only get their perceptions of a group by hearing from other people and if the only people ofering information do so out of hate, fear, misunderstanding, whatever it is, the only message spread is a negative one. While I don't necessarily believe that preaching the virtues of being a (insert group name here) from the rooftops is most effective or wise, I would not just readily dismiss someone who could be my best friend if only the knew the truth about me.

I say if the opportunity presents itself to better other people's understanding of you, go for it. That's just my take on it.

I find a big misconception is that ppl think both are just plan evil. I have seen many ppl who r goth and u cannot tell them apart from the veryday normal person (if there is such a thing) u can never judge a book by its cover it is wat lies underneath that counts

As beautiful as that sentiment is, I think our biggest problem stems from getting other ppl to see that about us. I think when you are persecuted for whatever reason, you tend to open your mind a little more and analyze your own prejudices before letting them hurt others. However, if you've never experienced it (at least not in a major way) I think it would be less likely for you to be conscious of your own actions and thoughts.

well, i've heard some idiotic ones but i just found this website that creeped me out. it's completely full of lies and even blames the website vampirefreaks for two shootings. i wouldn't be surprised if they go after vampirerave soon. anyway, if anyone wants a good laugh, check out

www.godhatesgoths.com ugh.

Because THAT had something to do with the thread topic...


Thank you to those of you who posted about the topic. It's nice to see some people who try to make this world a more tolerant place.


*waves white flag*