When asked that question a lot of folks would likely respond “vampires”. This is a knee-jerk reaction to the fact vampires drink blood and kill humans. Labelling vampires evil purely on the basis of their predatory nature is damn unfair in my opinion. Keep in mind we humans hunt and farm animals for our survival.
Let’s face facts, vampires need blood to survive. Do we condemn predators in the animal kingdom as evil because they hunt and kill? The way I see it, vampires are another step up in the food chain, no more inherently evil than a lion or tiger. It just so happens they feed on humans, and humanity likes to view itself as the Numero Uno species on the planet.
For a moment let’s ignore the fact vampires drink blood, subsequently killing humans, and take a closer look at human behaviour.
Throughout history, humanity has committed a litany of atrocities against itself and we continue to do so. Think about it people; slavery, wars, religious and minority persecution, discrimination, murder, theft, assault, corruption amid governments and law enforcement. The list of humanities crimes is a mile long. Worst of all, we do this to each other, our own species! How can that not be described as evil?
What I like to do with my writing is explore humanity. Why do we not learn from our past? Why do we repeatedly commit the same crimes against each other? Is humanity incapable of learning from past mistakes?
Using vampires allows me to scrutinise human behaviour and make judgements or declarations human beings cannot. (Without coming across as sanctimonious prigs.) Vampires see straight through us, they see our strengths and weakness; they see where we went wrong.
In my latest book I look at relationships and sexuality. Now some of you may be offended with the notion of same-sex relationships, and that’s okay. But ask yourself, why? Why do we feel we have to label everything? Man or woman? Young or old? Black or white? When we label people and behaviour it bestows certain expectations, a lot of which are unfair and unjust.
Remember when it was assumed and expected that all women were good for was to marry and have children? That’s because women were lumped in together as the weaker sex. Roll forward in time and we now accept as fact, that women and men should be treated as equals. After all, they are free-thinking human beings.
Never would I like my writing to be described as a social lecture. This is why I use vampires. I want people to enjoy the story, and if they take something away from it that maybe makes them think a little; well that’s just a bonus.
About Rebeka Harrington
Raised in country
With so many varied interests and eccletic taste in most things, Rebeka enjoys incorporating all of them in her writing. She particularly enjoys writing about vampires.
Rebeka seeks to define and explain vampires in a way not done before. This was achieved with her debut title "Vampires Revealed". Following titles revolve around exploring the world and characters created in her first release.
Currently Rebeka lives in Melbourne with her “demented” but lovable cat, dividing her time between writing and managing a small boutique entertainment agency.
Rebeka’s latest release Desires Revealed is available for purchase at:
Smashwords
Amazon
Cosy up with her characters – www.vampiresrevealed.com
5 comments:
Interesting post, Rebeka. I feel the same way about vampires, and humans too.
She is interesting.
great post!
Thanks so much for having me. Is good to know I'm not the only one who thinks this way about vampires.
You're quite welcome. Yep. You are not alone.
great post. we really enjoyed having you here, Bek.
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