That's it! Here's my copy and paste speech about why vampire aren't real.
I. Introduction
A. Attention
Vampires; Are they real?
B. Background/Need.
According to Sanguinarius.org for Real Vampires, MedlinePlus Encyclopedia website of medicine and medical needs, and Gaiaonline, a community website where I interviewed those who claim to be real vampires. I have gathered more than enough evidence to say that vampires in any shape of the word are not real. The term vampire was not popularized until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to what can only be called mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.
C. SP/CI
I plan to persuade you into acknowledging the correct terminology of what vampires truly have and the history of using mythical and supernatural labels for those who have problems that couldn’t be answer at that particular time period. Here are three points I would like to go over. First; People today who truly believe they are vampires but in truth they are really people who have a medical conditions that’s already known and treatable; Second; The name of the condition and symptoms of the condition that explains the vampire like behavior these people are experiencing; and Third; What would society be like, if all medical problems was quickly label as some mythical or supernatural problem.
II. Body
Problem
First, let’s go over people who truly believe they are vampires. Unfortunately in today’s world where people are receiving answer and treatment for things they didn’t always knew what ell’s them. There are people who much rather, or I should say refuse to either search or acknowledge whatever kind of problem they have and choose to label themselves as something form the dark ages would used. As I interviewed a few of these “vampires” from Gaiaonline, I tend to pick up a pattern and similarities of the bias claims they are making. For starters, both the vampires and the people all establish that the vampires they are claiming to be are not the type you see in horror flick and in scary novels. They say they are not the undead, sunlight doesn’t kill them, garlic has no effect on them and they are not immortal. So what things does these people have that makes them think they are a vampire? The biggest claim they make is this strange need to drink blood. It’s almost if they have to have it, because they feel weak all the time. They also say after drinking blood they claim to have more strength vs. the humans. Without their source of blood, they say they feel weak and suffer from fatigue constantly and easily get sick. Another thing I notice about these “vampires” that they are between the ages of 12-25. Which the only time said person claims they are a vampire is when they have already hit puberty. Those who also claim to be vampires tend to visits doctors who couldn’t diagnose them of the problem they are truly experiencing; thus, leaving them desperate for some kind label for their predicament. With a lack of an answer from doctors who couldn’t pin point the problem, somehow they pick the word ‘vampire’ because this creature fits them the best. It quite sad that all the words in a medical dictionary that relates to them, they pick a word form mythology. Since they have given up or didn’t look hard enough for the answer they need, now they have this idea that they are a different species of humans, all because they couldn’t fine the correct term for their case.
Solution
Second, the name of the condition and symptoms of the condition that explains the vampire like behavior these people are experiencing. The reason for the constant fatigue and weakness that these vampires are having is because there body is low on iron. It could be cause by malnutrition or a deficiency, which the body is having a hard time absorbing iron. Whatever the case maybe, the condition they have is called anemia. Anemia is a condition where red blood cells are not providing adequate oxygen to the body’s tissues. Approximately 20% of women, 50% of pregnant women, and 3% of men are iron deficient. This explains why there were more women who claim to be vampires than there are men in my little interview. Iron is an essential component of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying pigment in the blood. Iron is normally obtained through the food in your diet and by recycling iron from old red blood cells. Without it, the blood cannot carry oxygen effectively and oxygen is needed for the normal functioning of every cell in the body. The symptoms of anemia are pale skin color, fatigue, irritability, weakness, shortness of breath, sore tongue and brittle nails. Sound familiar? The main symptom about their blood craving is called Pica disorder. Pica is a medical disorder characterized by an appetite for largely non-nutritive substances. For instants, dirt, chalk, feces, glass, starch, wood, and of course blood is one of the many odd things that people with this disorder will ingest. Some are so common, that they even have their own terminology for them. Trichophagia; is the consumption of eating hair and wool. Hyalophagia; is the consumption of eating glass. And yes, vampirism is the ingestion of blood. Even though pica occurs in small children with mental disabilities like autism, most type of pica occurs in those who have a biochemical deficiency. Manly iron deficiency. Treatment for pica emphasizes psychosocial, environmental, and family guidance approaches. Treatment options include: discrimination training between edible and no edible items. Treatment for anemia is as easy as taking iron supplements such as, vitamin C and ferrous sulfate. Also make sure to eat foods that are rich with iron. Raisins, poultry, fish, and whole grains are all fine choices.
Visualization
Third; what would society be like, if all medical problems was quickly label as some mythical or supernatural problem. Can you imagine living in a time that there was no such thing as medical science? A time that mental problems were quickly label as some form of supernatural occurrence? According to Vijai P. Sharma who is a PhD states that mental illness is like any other sickness. The fear of mental illness is deep rooted and it is largely irrational. The fear gained its roots in the dark ages when mental illness was seen to be the devil's work. People in the dark ages believed that the mentally ill were possessed by the devil and therefore the exorcists physically tortured the mentally ill to drive the evil spirit out of their bodies. Many women who were mentally ill were branded as "witches" and were ceremonially burned on the village post, ironically, as an act of kindness to save their souls. For at least three thousand years as the records tell us, patients with psychotic illness were feared, therefore tortured and chained so others could live safely. A survey of people's attitude towards mental illness indicates that even today, in our so called "developed" society, seventy percent of people think that the cause of mental illness is personal "weakness." This view held by seven out of every ten individuals implies blame. The thought is if you allow yourself to be gripped by a mental illness, you are a weak-kneed person. You let your worries or negative thoughts get out of hand. People who subscribe to this "weakness" theory of mental illness think that if a person would only try harder, he or she can overcome the mental or emotional disorder he or she is suffering from. What they may not know is that a mental illness can't be cured by personal strength or sheer will power alone. Thus this leads to another reason why people still consider themselves vampires in this day of age. They’re suffering from a psychological disorder which makes it difficult to eradicate this false idea of being a vampire. Even after you given the answer to the problem of their condition, vampires who don’t grow out of the belief that they are a different creature all have some form of psychological disorder that needs to be dealt with, with the help of counseling. The problem with the weakness theory is that it breeds insecurity and guilt about mental illness and blocks out proper intervention usually until the situation gets out of hand.
Conclusion
In conclusion we have look over three aspects of why vampires are not real. First; people today who truly believe they are vampires; Second; the name of the condition and symptoms that explains the vampire like behavior; Third; what would society be like, if all medical problems was quickly label as some mythical or supernatural problem. We all wish we were something more spectacular than being a boring human being. But for some, we know when to pretend and when not to. For some cases, there are people who truly believe they are some kind vampire type creature, just because of poor diagnoses from doctors they went to, who couldn’t pin point their problem. Without the psychological help and medical treatment, these ordinary people like you and me, are stuck in a stigma of irrationality of some belief that they are vampires. Everyone; the people I interviewed who claim they are vampires all wish they were not vampires. But since there stuck in believing they are because they never received real help, most of them most likely will never break free. This is not the Dark Ages. No one with a psychological disorder, or any disorder for that matter should ever be label as mythical and supernatural being. Research is just a mouse click away.
