Everyone thinks that Goths are satanists, depressed, do drugs, listen to only sad music. Just last week someone asked me what the difference between a pagan and a hippy was. But this person thinks so. I feel that Some people don't want to accept a belief system which gives them control as most people don't want to be held responsible for their own actions and cannot cope with out guidance because they are scared that they will make a mistake and become socially unaccepted. Everyone is an individual yet we are continually being controlled by other people in order to be accepted yet it is for who we are more about what we are.
Some people feel that a minority group or seen to be out of the norm group is wrong.
I believe they act this way because they don't understand the concepts of that group and are therefore frightened of what it may lead to. Everyone has a right to believe in what ever they want to but everyone has a duty to respect other peoples opinions. I'm still trying to explain to people like my grandmother what this is all about. My mother is a very open minded person and she understands me ,even when she's a litlle bit scared. I'm actually afraid of telling everybody that I'm an eclectic Wiccan because they don't even know what it is,and YES,like in the old times some of them would burn you if they could.