The following piece, written by the editorial editors, reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.
Well, when the White House is talking about the creepy clown pandemic sweeping the nation in a press briefing, it's probably time that we do, too.
August marked the beginning of the craze, with the first reports of clown sightings coming from South Carolina. According to those reports, clowns were using money and candy to lure neighborhood children (who apparently trusted strange men wearing terrifying masks) into the Carolinian woods.
Since then, clown sightings have been reported all over social media in over twenty states, with some resulting in legitimate arrests on the basis of terrorist threats. Even in our backyard over in Reading, Ohio, school was cancelled a week ago on the basis of the false report of a chase-and-assault-by-clown.
But in another Reading, the Pennsylvanian one, the craze led to murder -- of one of the clowns, that is. A fight broke out in a neighborhood in Reading when a 16-year-old named Christian Torres wore a clown mask pushed up on his head (not covering his face). The mask apparently started controversy and resulted in the stabbing and killing of Torres by Avery Valentin-Bair, according to the Associated Press. Worse still, the original reports of the stabbing indicated that the stabber was wearing the clown mask, a false rumor perpetuating the craze.
Even Stephen King, the man solely responsible for creating the idea of the "killer clown" with his book It, tweeted at his followers to calm down.
"Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria -- most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh," King tweeted on Monday.
As if to echo that sentiment, real clowns in Tucson, Arizona have actually organized a "peace walk" scheduled for Oct. 15. And on Facebook, a new page titled "Clown Lives Matter" popped up this week to highlight the "injustices" of this new craze and to celebrate clowns that are not psycho killers. This has, of course, received backlash from the Black Lives Matter community, as the rumors of crazy clowns don't actually compare to the police brutality that the latter movement is trying to eradicate. But if anything is true, it's that on the Internet there are no boundaries, which is how this whole thing started in the first place.
This week, the insanity found its way to Miami, as it always seems to. The report of a clown chasing a student by Miami's Rec Center made its rounds earlier this week, as did the rumor of a clown walking by Brick Street, patrolling Uptown.
None of these have been confirmed, nor have they been much of a concern following the (far more concerning) shooting of two Miami students Tuesday in an armed robbery, according to Oxford PD.
On the same day, the New York Post reported that Penn State's campus exploded into a frenzy after students read online that the clown craze had brought three of their masked members to the area. Students took to the streets in a huge, chanting mob, grabbing tennis rackets and other pitchfork replacements in search of any red-nosed perpetrators.
Sure, the phenomenon has taken a backseat here at Miami for the time being, but who's to say rage won't be resurrected come Halloween, when the cult costume will be sure to make an appearance? We can't be sure that real (or imagined) clown sightings are in the rearview mirror, but we can prepare ourselves for some modified versions of the clown car gag.
As noted, Miami is not immune to joining in on the clown madness. In a time when crowd mentality seems to appeal to most, Halloween is prone to incite some amount of mob-like activity, especially when you factor alcohol into the picture. It's important to remember, then, that these clowns have not been proven to be all that dangerous, and the ones sighted on Halloween will be no different.
If you plan on dressing in solidarity with Clown Lives Matter on Oct. 31, then be safe -- identify yourself as a harmless student who felt a calling to the clown life.
If you enjoy gathering in large crowds intent on tracking down the presumably dangerous clown, don't beat the poor guy to death. He's just trying to have a good time in his own perverted way. Just be safe.
But hopefully everyone forgets about the clowns soon. Just like the "Harlem Shake" and Jibbitz.