As many IF members may (or may not) know that my wife (mrscardero) has clownaphobia which is a disorder that produces an uneasy or adverse effect or fear to performers wearing makeup (and in mrscardero’s case this fear can very well carry over to people named Clarabell). I recently learned that this phobia can be considered a form of prejudice. Is this true? Is mrscardero a racist?

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"There is one thing that organized religion is not qualified to teach and that is an individual's purpose."-GOD

My son has the exact same fear and he's certainly not a racist, so I don't think it's necessarily intrinsic.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

i don't think clowns are regarded as a race, so your wife isn't a racist.

i think clowns represent and exaggerate, anamolies and strangeness found in humankind. They also act with violence toward each other ,and strange, inexplicable things happen to them in thier performances. It's all a sham but does every child that's going to be an adult know that?

Someone close to me has a phobia about dolls. That doesn't spill over to anything else. Towards humans of any age or colour or whatever label, you couldn't find a more caring person. Maybe the clown problem is a reaction to fake humans?

I don't think she is a racist. I think she is one of the most caring people I have ever met. I think she is highly sensitive and this sensitivity has been categorized as fear.

It's interesting that she is so interested in cartoons and superheros.

I agree with Luguber in that it is probably the "mask" that bothers her. A cartoon is what it is, but a clown or heavily made up person is a "cover up". Is it a reminder of something she is covering up?

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That was a very good answer!

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.

I agree with everyone else, mrscardero is definately not a racist. Prejudice may come from fear, but just because you fear something does not mean that you are prejudiced against it.

I fear spiders. If they are in my house, I will kill them (actually I have someone else do it since my fear is rather debiliating). But out in nature, I just stear clear of them. Just because I fear them I don't think I am prejudiced against them, I accept and understand that they feed on other insects and control that population, but it doesn't change my fear of them

I just don't see your wife being mean to clowns, or telling others to boycott clowns because she fears them. I think that logically she understands that they are meant to entertain us, but for whatever reason they instigate the fear response in her.

Bottom line, we all fear something, but that doesn't mean we are mean or cruel to that thing, whatever it may be.

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

That's a very good point, imo. People who are the most sensitive and caring tend also to be the ones most bothered by what they may see or hear that they may feel are inappropriate. Sometimes that may dove-tail this with being a perfectionist whereas everything must fall within certain parameters. My wife is definitely one of those "perfectionists", and sometimes she would drive my kids and I bonkers because everything had to be just perfect or else... That, of course, is my version of the story.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

When I was a wee boy I had an unreasoning fear of people dressed up as the Easter Bunny... My Mom was really unhappy with me that I couldn't warm up to the Bunny I recall...

- Art

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"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler