People Who Claim To Be Afraid Of Clowns
Here’s the thing: They’re not. They just think that saying they are makes for some sort of childhood-trauma personality accoutrement, fostering the illusion that they’re a tortured soul. But they’re making it up. I don’t care if they’ve managed to convince themselves it’s true—it’s time to lure this hackneyed meme into the ice-cream truck, strangle it to death and hide it under some loose floor boards.
JED OELBAUM
5 comments
lcl
Jul 1, 2010
I WOULD agree with you… except when I was about 6 years old I saw (home alone) a tabloid special investigation into John Wayne Gacy. I challenge any 6 year old to watch something like that and then only IRONICALLY be afraid of clowns.
Cut me some slack here…
kevin
Jul 2, 2010
you’re an adult now, so stop acting like a kid, that’s the point. if a clown is going to hurt you or do something evil, it’s not going to be at a circus or a haunted attraction or any other place where clowns are generally associated. if someone breaks into your home dressed as a clown and attempts to hurt you, you should be afraid of that clown, but at that point, he might as well be wearing a barrel. lcl, your comment only confirms the point Jed’s making, people like to use the “fear of clowns” to garner attention…”what’s the reason you tell people you’re afraid of clowns?” should be a standard first date question. the exception of course being related to a victim of Gacy, or suffered a traumatic event that’s just a smidge more threatening than an after-school special. good luck with your fears, i hope someday you can surmount all the adversity.
HT
Jul 3, 2010
PTSD anyone? ha ha but sometimes people just can’t get over the fears of childhood. When you are afraid of something it’s hard to be rational and realize it’s not going to hurt you know? hmm…ok how about we replace clown with rabid death monster? see like this “if a rabid-death-monster is going to hurt you or do something evil, it’s not going to be at a circus or a haunted attraction or any other place where rabid-death-monsters are generally associated” See? For people who have bad phobias this is what living is like and they can’t talk about it because people just make fun of them or shove their fear into their face. But yeah I do think a lot of people are faking the clown thing.
Sophie
Aug 14, 2012
Tell that to my 9 year old, when he sees a clown he starts crying and shaking like a leaf. He is terrified of clowns and has been his whole childhood. Phobias are not rational or logical, it is pretty ignorant to just say “grow up and stop pretending”.
Daniel
Apr 4, 2013
He said people pretending to have this phobia should grow up. Please pay more attention. Also have you tried getting him over his fear of clowns? I managed to get my daughter over her fear of dogs… That kind of back fired because she kept pestering me to get her a puppy.