7. DARK SHADES, DARK SHADOWS

                                                                                      Landis, John, The Blues Brothers (1980)
     According to the publication Epoch Times (founded in 1999 by U.S. supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline), quoting "new research published in Psychological Science", the wearing of sunglasses may trigger people's belief they are protected from other's inspection and attention. "Darkness appears to induce a false sense of concealment, leading people to feel their identities are hidden." Delving shamelessly into the realm of a magician's prerogative, Epoch Times stands by the results of a study claiming "wearing dark shades creates a supportive environment for lying, effecting creative license, as it were,  for dishonesty and self-interested behavior." 

    Further, "In three experiments where darkness had no actual bearing on anonymity, the subjects involved reportedly deemed themselves sufficiently undercover to engage in morally questionable actions." (To wit, short-changing others in financial transactions).

     Obtuse references to drug-dealing aside, this twisted regurgitation of the Proverb, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" (as incentive to commit evil!) is a travesty bordering on criminal entrapment. We take offense at unforgiving stereotypes and preconceived assumptions aimed towards "Dark Shaders" - harmless souls who instinctively sense a cheap layer of black (UV sensitive) plastic (habitually worn out of courtesy), is all that protects the general public from mass-induced panic (witnessing our blood-veined eyes in other-worldy rapture). Of course, you'll never see Jesus, Mohammed, or the Buddha depicted wearing dark shades, cringing in the rays of the Sun, or requiring Visine to "get the red out". 
     We proudly uphold the practice of occulted vision, (blindly) walking the line with fellow junkie intransigents, Beat poets, jazz musicians, celebrities in rehab, and midnight owls (and other Moonlight Nocturnals). 

      In our world, it helps to clearly demarcate the shadows in order to step through them. Ask Ace vampire Barnabas Collins how he found himself, reflectionless, on the Other Side of the Looking-Glass, through the television screen.

                                                               Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, Dark Shadows