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About
clownz.com
I get
a lot of angry email (and a lot of really wacked-out email
too -- some good drugs being passed around these days apparently)
about this site and my views... "why this? why that?
why pick on clowns?" The following in no way exhausts
my feelings or thoughts, but it gives a quick synopsis...
Let's
see.. I've felt uncomfortable around the beastly things
ever since I can remember. When I was very young I had an
older second cousin who was the _nicest_ person out there
- but I wanted absolutely nothing to do with her when she
would don her clown garb to march in parades or the like.
I knew who it was under the paint - a kind, caring person
who was trying to give a little bit of joy to the masses
- and yet it scared the crap out of me. So I guess these
feelings have been with me forever... It of course didn't
help that I read Stephen King's
'IT' when I was in sixth grade (the 1100-page book I
could handle - it was the psychological ramifications I
wasn't prepared to deal with).
Those
are a few of my personal views - we can look elsewhere to
find reasons for our fear...
When you look throughout history, it is only recently
that clowns have 'evolved' into positive cultural icons.
It is believed that the white-painted face first took
significance (that I could find anyway) with the ancient
Romans to depict hell-spawn; evil spirits raised from
the dead to conquer and devour the souls of men. So they
essentially had it right waaaaaay back then - why mess
with a good thing? Why put a happy face on hell-spawn?
Great way to lure the little kiddies.
I've run across many examples of how clown-like entities
have been used throughout time to represent the darker
side of life and the spiritual world.. sounds like a wonderful
research paper for a student to explore, don't you think?
Mother Nature is also a great source to look to when
trying to find out why some people are inherently freaked
out by these... well.., freaks. Bright colors on animals
out in the wild mean 'Danger! Mess with me and I could
really #?%$ you up!' From the highly poisonous African
Tree Frog to the beautifully delicate Monarch Butterfly,
the bright colors are meant to warn potential predators
of the impending doom (or at least a really, really bad
taste) that would be brought on by interacting with the
creature... so some of us just stay away.
Curious
as to how this page started? The orginal site consisted
of nothing more than the following:
"Hi boys and girls! My name is Mr. Bill and I just LOVE
railroad tracks.. Look at me! Playing on the tracks is safe
and fun! Please come play with me and if you can't come
play with ME, grab your brother or sister and find some
tracks in your hometown to play on. HEHEHEHEHE!!! Look at
me! Play like me! Clowns are yum yum fun.. and so are these
tracks!"
Ok, I found this picture on the front page of the Wisconsin
State Journal on Tuesday, July 9 1996. I saw this and just
about freaked (it doesn't help that I think that clowns
are evil incarnate) because it shows this *evil* happy clown
playing on RAILROAD TRACKS!!! what the hell is this?? what
kind of message does this convey to children?? While the
papers are full of articles about people getting killed
while playing on the tracks and all that, they're putting
this trash on the front page.. is something wrong here?
So,
a number of years later it has evolved at least slightly.
Have
fun and don't take anything too seriously, ok?
- Jeremy
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