I haven't spoken to Mr Henrie and I only know of what he has written, having not seen his show or the secret lives documentary yet- but the guy gets some decent and respectful responses in threads which discuss him.
As to whether what I think he is doing is good for the concept of vampirism and the community as a whole, there seems to be a pretty even split of yes and no.
My personal view is that there is more which need to be done within before the shades are drawn back.
There are still to many negative factors to consider (or not, as appears to be the case). An example is the extreme cases of both anti-vampyre and those who have a total immersion in the mythos. These people live in a fictionalised world and to give credence to their position can only undermine it all in the long run.
And what of younger ones who might actually be awakened in some way, what if they see this and think that it is a good idea to start telling friends, family?
They may be subjected to the harshest ridicule.
And there is a safety aspect- kids that are unmentored getting half assed info and making mistakes, such as with blood. Resources like this place are not widely known and even on other related sites, the attitudes are still very closed in terms of providing impartial and accurate advice, as it is almost always assumed that anyone who claims to be one, is a role player and even if they are, perhaps they might still need help and guidance to prevent them from harming anyone, including themselves.
There needs to be a dissemination from the academic and the fanatsy. I know that this has begun in some quarters, but, with so many not wishing for this, its going to polarise opinion and probably tear factionalised groups apart, maybe even lead to violence.
I probably sound pretentious, but this is a real concern to me- if half the community moves towards 'outing' and the other half withdraw, the results are inevitable.
