Clown!

November 18th, 2023| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Teddy Amenabar of the Washington Post recently reported on coulrophobia—the extreme and irrational fear of clowns!

Philip John Tyson, associate professor of psychology at the University of South Wales, has been researching phobias, particularly among his students.

At the start of every semester, I ask my students the same question: What are you afraid of?
Students routinely cite spiders, snakes and claustrophobic spaces, but a consistent minority would say they were terrified of clowns. I wanted to know why.”

In the 2021 Methodology Report: American Fears Survey prepared for Chapman University, it noted that about 5% of the population in the USA were “afraid” or “very afraid” of clowns. Frank McAndrew, a psychology professor at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., was part of a study, “On the Nature of Creepiness,” in New Ideas in Psychology. Clowning scored the highest among the group, rating higher in creepiness than a taxidermists and funeral directors.

In any case, Tyson and colleagues published “Fear of Clowns: An Investigation into the Aetiology of Coulrophobia,” in Frontiers in Psychology earlier this year.

Tyson:

One of the most surprising findings is that for many people, having a scary personal experience with a clown wasn’t a main contributor to the fear. Instead, people said they were creeped out by clowns because: 1) You can never really know what a clown is thinking (behind the painted façade). 2) Clowns are unpredictable. 3) A clown’s exaggerated features are disturbing (the red nose, egg head, neon hair, etc.). 4) Movie clowns (as in ‘Joker‘ or in ‘It‘) are terrifying.”

All of that made me look at the Psalms (my most recent commentary-writing project) for evidence of laughter. And guess what? Almost all of those instances describe ironic laughter!

Here’s God in the heavens laughing at the puny rebels on earth arrayed against him:

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord mocks them [the rebellious].
Then He will speak to them in His anger,
and in His fury He will terrify them.
Psalm 2:4–5

And again, the divine one laughs at those who, in contrast, are gnashing their teeth in anger at the righteous, the people of God:

The wicked schemes against the righteous,
and gnashes at him with his teeth.
Lord laughs at him,
for He sees that his day is coming.
Psalm 37:12–13

Even the people of God, the righteous, indulge in this ironic laughter at those who do not trust God:

And the righteous will see and fear,
and will laugh at him:
“Behold, the man who would not make God his stronghold,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
strong in his [evil] desire.”
Psalm 52:6–7

And they acknowledge that all evildoers are worthy to be at the receiving end of God’s laughter.

Even You, Yahweh, God of Armies, God of Israel,
awake to punish all the nations;
do not be gracious to any [who are] treacherous in harm.
But You, Yahweh, You laugh at them;
You scoff at all the nations.
Psalm 59:5, 8

But the people of God will have the last laugh (yup, this is the last one in the Psalter):

When Yahweh restored the restoration of Zion,
we became like dreamers.
Then it was filled with laughter—our mouth,
and our tongue with joyful exclamation.
Psalm 126:1–2

One day, God is going to restore his people, eliminating sin from his creation, removing all evil, and causing true laughter of joy and exhilaration in him. Soon and very soon!

SOURCE: Washington Post; 2021 Methodology Report; New Ideas in Psychology; Frontiers in Psychology