EDITORIAL: Stop clowning around

Most people find clowns to be creepy, despite their huge smiles. Maybe Stephen King’s “It” traumatized the world, or maybe the world simply does not trust those painted-on smiles. Either way, a creepy clown craze is gaining popularity and is playing into people’s coulrophobia, the fear of clowns.

People are dressing up as creepy clowns to chase and scare unsuspecting citizens. What is worse is the trend appears to be gaining momentum; in fact, more people are joining as both clowns and clown hunters. This craze is not limited to the U.S., they have been spotted in Canada, London and Australia.

In 2014 videos of killer clowns chasing people with knives and machetes went viral, with the YouTuber, DmPranksProductions, gaining around 50 million views for each clown prank video. The popularity gained by these videos has spurred people to pull the pranks live.

One of the first reported incidents this year came from South Carolina in late August. Children told their parents a group of clowns tried to lure them into the woods by offering the children money. The police who followed up on the children’s claim went into the woods but did not see any evidence of clowns. Later, when adults did spot the clowns, the adults began shooting in the direction of the woods.

Why is this trend gaining popularity? Some blame the power of social media and how easy it is to share videos by using hashtags. Others believe these pranks are done by people who are overly excited for Halloween or the remake of the Stephen King movie “It.” Whatever the reasoning behind these pranks, these clown sightings are causing more harm than laughter, and it needs to stop.

People dressing up as clowns while running their errands might be funny to some people. But, it is not funny when they purposely put on “scary” clown makeup, chase or threaten others and make them feel scared for their life. It is not amusing to lure children into wooded areas. These clowns are popping out of bushes or trees, and some are even carrying weapons.

Multiple schools have been placed on lockdown or have canceled classes as a result of online threats. Most of these threats are hoaxes, but the threats are not only hurting victims; they are also hurting the people disguising themselves as clowns. A junior high student in Alvin ISD was arrested and charged with the third-degree felony of making a terroristic threat. Two parents from Wisconsin were recently arrested for child neglect charges when they left their 4-year-old child home alone to participate in a clown prank.

The clowns are taking a risk by scaring people because it is hard to know how a person will react to being scared. Some people have a fight response, versus a flight response, and may retaliate by shooting or fighting back. A group of students from the University of Connecticut decided to take matters into their own hands by hunting the clowns. More than 500 students from Penn State University also conducted a clown hunt on their campus.

The clown pranks need to stop before mass hysteria leads to serious injuries, deaths or trauma. For example, a victim can be epileptic or have a heart condition. Children can be traumatized by the event or develop anxiety. The pranksters are also taking time away from cops who need to be focused on the bigger crimes, not creating anti-clown patrols or sending cops to schools to protect students from online threats.

Work for children’s entertainers and professional clowns are suffering from these pranks as a result of people developing a negative perception about clowns. Even McDonald’s has decided to pull Ronald McDonald for now. Professional clowns are scared to arrive at an event in costume for fear of random people noticing them and assuming they are “creepy” clowns instead of children’s entertainers.

It has become clear the clown pranks are getting out of hand when horror master, Stephen King, puts on Twitter that it is “time to cool the clown hysteria.” With Halloween coming up, the sales of clown costumes has skyrocketed. Harley Quinn and the Joker from the “Suicide Squad” movie are two of this year’s top-selling costumes. With clowns on every corner, everyone needs to take extra precaution on and before Halloween. Do not be a Bozo, stay safe!

OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST

Clown chaos comes to Houston

Written by: Jhonatan Guerrero

Creepy clowns have been popping up across the U.S. for the past two months. The clowns have tried to lure women and children, chased people with weapons and sent threat messages online. READ MORE

STORIFY: Killer clowns are no laughing matter

Created by: Crystal Sauceda

People dressing up as killer clowns are a trend that has recently gone viral. While most viral trends tend to be entertaining, the killer clown trend is far from funny. READ MORE