My only posting in this thread will consist of the following, hopefully not to terribly derogatory statements to come.
People who claim themselves to be such thing, openly and publicly whether they are or are not, give up much of the freedoms one has, when not "open".
Being open about something just means an incorporation into the persona if one wishes it. I find that someone who addresses himself as "Emperor" of the Vampires, has shown me no reason to bow my head in submission.
When it comes to the Vampire Community, I find it is the ones with not just the biggest set of fangs, nor how they carry themselves in "scene" settings. I find it to be more of the way they co-exist with the rest of the world, and can maintain in subtle ways the differences which make them who they really are, if only "odd" to the outside world who has no reason to accept them as they are.
Cancer, runs this website, this is his community. For the work he does to maintain the messes which occur in all sides, he will have my respect, as that is what an elder does. They provide a place of sanctuary for those of a like mind. I will not go in so far as to put Cancer in the same playing field, as Don Henry, I do not presume to know either of them personally. However, I would venture that Cancer has done far greater things for the community then Don Henry, and his 15 minutes. If he is what he claims, then may this be the record, may the doctors take his blood samples and tinker with their genetic coding, figure out what makes it so.
That being said, i have a great deal of respect for people like Emperor Norton, the Emperor of San Francisco, who was the founder of the concept of the Bay Bridge, who thanks to his Dowager Empress Jose, has raised enough money to have the bridge lit from treasure island into the city. The man had his own Currency, and to him, he was who he said, that being said, hes also one of the Patron Gods of the City of San Francisco, the only place in our country to be an Empire, and to have a patron god since Grecian-Roman times.
When it comes to titles, particularly of a public nature it must be given in proper context of what order, and what organization recognizes it as such. Because The pope is only the holy man to the Catholics, The Dali Llama is only the holy man to his people, However to each other they each walk the way of their spirits. All the problems come when people start trying to draw lines in the ephemeral sand and pick fights over whose got the bigger set of fangs. Just because some disk jockey hotshot called him a king, or he called himself an emporer it is only relavent to his position within his own cosmology, and social organism. Just like to pagans, Christ is a figure in his own right, but that doesn't mean a damn if you are pledged to another force which has greater bearing on you then a crucified 33 yr old.
