Groupthink: It’s Okay to Hate Clowns!

Disclaimer:
I almost didn’t post this entry because on Thursday, Willow made a post about her dislike of clowns. I want to say right off the bat that this is not in response to that post. I had decided last week to post this entry about clowns for Halloween. I understand why Willow feels the way she does–she has some bad memories–so she's not the kind of person I’m addressing, okay?

If you perform a Google search on “scared of clowns”, you will get 813,000 results. “I hate clowns” brings 1,090,000 and “clowns should die” harvests a shocking 6,260,000 results. There's even a site dedicated to the hatred of clowns, an anti-clown online community, and a number of similar forums.

What is it you hate or fear about clowns? I’m not talking about a casual dislike of clowns and clowning, or actual, diagnosed clinical coulrophobia (fear of clowns). I’m talking about those of you who say you hate or fear them because it's part of the groupthink. The truth is, we've been programmed to find fearing and hating clowns totally acceptable. Let’s face it. It’s safe. I mean, if you were to say in a group of people that you hated or feared knees (genuphobia), or paper (papyrophobia), they’d look at you a little strangely, or suggest you get help. But say that you hate clowns, or that they terrify you, and everyone breathes a sigh, starts laughing, and echoes, “Me too!”

I understand not liking clowns, but whole websites and forums dedicated solely to spewing violence and venom against them? That, I don't understand. It tells me more about the hater than it does about the clown. It tells me that in some cases, there's more beneath the surface than an unpleasant childhood experience, or a personal disinterest. We can no longer voice that kind of vitriol against race, gender, age, or sexual identification/orientation, so we have to put that somewhere (I guess). Human nature has always demanded a scapegoat, and the clown seems to be it at this time. But clowns are people trying to bring laughter and happiness to our world. They're not cartoons or concepts, they're people.

Throughout the centuries, most cultures have had clowns. A pygmy clown performed as a jester in the court of Pharaoh Dadkeri-Assi during Egypt's Fifth Dynasty, about 2500 b.c.e. Court jesters have performed in China since 1818 b.c.e., and when Cortez conquered the Aztecs in 1520 b.c.e., he discovered Montezuma's court included jesters similar to those in Europe. Most Native American tribes had some kind of clown characters, who played important roles in the social and religious life of the tribe, and in some cases were believed to be able to cure certain diseases.

The fool, or jester, was intended to show the simplest state of a human being--a person without money, social standing, or intellect. With our modern sensibilities, most of us are uncomfortable with the idea of ranking someone because of the misfortunes of birth or circumstance. We like to de-emphasize the differences that separate us from the less fortunate, rather than emphasize them. Things were different in earlier centuries, however. The fool or simpleton was unabashedly mocked and scorned on the one hand, but on the other hand became a vehicle for many profound ironies. In Shakespeare, for example, it's the fool who speaks the most profound truths. A clown acts as a mirror, showing us the hidden parts of our nature that we prefer not to reveal. So you see, it’s not the clown who is hiding something, it's you.

It has been said that our response to a clown might depend on where it is seen. At a circus or a party, a clown is expected, perhaps funny, but the same clown knocking on your door at midnight is more likely to evoke fear rather than amusement. This effect is summed up in a quote by actor Lon Chaney, Sr.: "There is nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight." This may or may not be true, but I've seen paintings of dogs playing poker, and I'm not afraid of or feel any hate for either poker or dogs.

When people tell me they're terrified of clowns, I ask them if they're also afraid of Carnival maskers. What's the difference?

Why do we find this worthy of loathing and fear...

...but find this pretty, even exotic?
I'm not talking about the esthetics,
I'm talking about the absurdity of fear and hate.

Certainly it's not, as some say, about people hiding themselves, or frozen, expressionless faces, because traditionally, clowns over-emphasize these while Carnival masks are expressionless. Talk about hiding something! Who knows what's going on under those masks? With a clown, it's no secret.

In my surfing around anti-clown forums on the web, I was surprised to read so many comments by people who said they hate clowns because "they're fake", "their make-up is weird", and that "they're creepy". Oddly enough, most of these were people who would have no problem watching a Marilyn Manson video, or complimenting each others' facial piercings. And most of them, young toughs whose every other word was "f***" or "Fa**ot" said they were afraid of clowns. Big men. I'll bet it doesn't keep them out of McDonald's.

The fear and loathing of clowns wasn’t so prominent before the slasher movies of the 70s and 80s. With the circus no longer a town’s annual “big” event, kids have seen more of these scary clowns than actual, trained clowns. Hollywood, being what it is, took something innocent and morphed it into a monster, exploiting both clowns and children.

As a final thought, allow me to add that I'm in no way confusing this issue with other kinds of hate and discrimination; I doubt that most people would actually physically attack a clown, refuse to rent to one, or deny a clown a table in a diner. If I decided to go to clown school, I doubt you'd suddenly turn on me. I know that it's not the people who become clowns that bother so many, it's what clowns represent. And that's my real point. To see a clown in a dream, symbolizes absurdity, light-heartedness, vulnerability, and the childish side of your nature. The countenance of the clown is a reflection of your feelings and emotions. Perhaps you fear or hate clowns because you mistrust these things in yourself.