With clowns randomly showing up across the nation, we all ask ourselves what does this mean? We may never know why this is such a huge thing right now but there are a few theories. The most popular theory is that this is a social media fad. Many people post about clown sightings whether they are real or not. If you just scroll through Twitter with the hashtag #IfISeeAClown, you will find horror-movie-quality clowns as shown below. It is something that goes viral very quickly. Eventually, if this is just a fad, it will die out.
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| Twitter screenshot of #IfISeeAClown. |
Unfortunately, clowns are taking this too far and using social media to make threats. Last week, some threats were made and making a crazy situation more out of control. Some schools are on clowns' "hit lists", making them targets for a joke gone to far. Again this may be just a fad, but it is scary business. Overall, just play it safe and don't spread false information about false clown sightings. There is no reason to cause more worry and make matters worse.
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteIt's funny to see how fast these things come and go. That's the world we live in though, on to the next thing. Social media only perpetuates this and to a larger audience. Hoaxes will be an issue for the years to come because police and other agencies are forced to look into every issue. They assume that the tips they get are legit and can take no chances.