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Why are people afriad of clowns?

definitelyameatbag

Well-known member
I think most major phobias have pretty obvious and rational grounding for their existence. Spiders can be dangerous, so a lot of people are very afraid of spiders. The Sea is and always will be extremely dangerous, so lots of people are scared of swimming or even travelling on boats. Even fears of things like ghosts are "rational" in the extent that, if you assume ghosts do or possibly exist, an entity that you have no idea of defending yourself against and you don't know what they can do to you or wish to do to you is obviously something you're going to feel threatened by. But clowns seem to stand out for being such an odd yet widespread fear - what is so terrifying about a man, an entertainer, wearing a silly costume and facepaint? I don't mean to mock, I just want to understand - could anybody who has this fear try putting into words what they think it is about clowns that unnerves them?
 
The uncanny valley effect caused by the make-up clowns wore coupled with the atavistic fear of something looking at you with bared teeth.
 
Because that's the basis of their charm and trade/

They make you feel nervous and thus make you laugh out of reaction.

or something like that :p
 
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