Fear and the #NorthamptonClown

A creepy and anonymous clown has been terrifying residents of Northampton by standing around on street corners and staring at passers-by.

 

 

Love 'em or hate 'em, the story of clowns is intertwined with the history of human symbolism.  Much like horror films, clowns can serve as both release valves for tension and safe havens to explore the stickier corners of our psyche.

 

Also like horror films, clowns have their time and place - the court jester or the circus clown are to be found in certain settings, under certain circumstances.  From the first campfire stories on, tales and symbols have helped defang our monsters as well as imparting valuable social lessons. 

 

Horror films serve the social purpose of adding grave consequences to anti-social behaviours (sneaking off to a cabin in the woods to do things you wouldn't do on a street or at home) once owned by fairy tales.  A white-faced character clown can deflate egocentric leaders and provide metaphorical lessons on humility or empathy.

 

But what happens when the metaphor leaves the page, when the horror climbs through the screen?  While there's comfort in caged horrors, the reverse can be absolutely terrifying.  We are unnerved by the heart of darkness that we perceive beyond the membrane of civilization's light; unpredictable, irrational atrocities like the DC Navy Yard shooting burst are bubble of imagined security.

 

It should come as no surprise, then, that a clown without a home or a purpose freaks people out; the metaphor conveyed is not clear and the implications of a barrier-free world are unnerving.

 

Of course, the same holds true for the homeless on our streets, often with mental illness, that have no place to belong.  By their behaviour and manner of dress, though, we can convince ourselves that they belong as part of our urban landscape. 

 

The Northampton Clown could be a proud stalwart of the clown tradition, delivering a powerful and timely social message about perception, fear and exclusion.  S/He could also just be a bored urbanite looking for kicks.  Either way, there's a lesson in here for us about how we interpret the world.

 

Maybe, one day, we'll figure it out.  In the meantime, if the clown on the street should asks you if you want a balloon - run.

 

Cognitive Foreplay: Communication as Idea Sex

 

The latter statement has an edge over the former because its simplicity lies in the fact that it limits the number and scope of the assumptions that it makes. This statement does not presume to assume the motivation of the shooter, it does not attempt to explain the phenomenon of mass shootings, and it does not attempt to displace blame by emphasizing one explanation over another.

 

 

The purpose of sex is reproduction.  If that's all it's about, you don't need to waste time on foreplay - just get to the point, quickly, so you can move on to the next opportunity.  When you rush the job to close the deal, though, there's a chance of missing the mark.  Foreplay is about taking the time to line up appropriately, do the job well and maybe even establish a mutually beneficial relationship that supports a strong, sustainable end product as a result. 

 

Communication is a lot like sex.  If your goal is to plant an idea, you want to deliver it in the simplest, quickest format possible so you can move on to the next target.  That's what messaging does - hit hard and fast using emotion as a tool to register quickly and impactfully.  The problem is, you can't always guarantee your message is received the way you intended; feelings, after all, aren't the same beast as ideas.  If you're too busy to focus any length of attention on your audience, they're going to see that and be turned off.

 

Should you want to create something new that's stronger and better adapted than what came before, you have to take the time to warm up your audience, which means investing yourself in the process a bit.  In communication, that's called a conversation.  It takes time, but it's time well spent - the process is enjoyable and the end result, when reached collaboratively, is explosive.

 

But, if you really need a bullet point, start with this - smart is sexy. 

 

Communication: The Most Human of Challenges

I was nervous that I wouldn't know what to say, so I was relieved to find that he was eating dinner when I arrived. Now when I say he was eating dinner, what I mean is he was being fed. Sitting in his chair, draped with a large bib to catch the food that fell from his lips, I began to see Stephen Hawking in a new light.

Cara Santa Maria - a brilliant scientist, a brave person facing personal depression, a public figure and a pretty lady.  Which mantle do you think most people dwell on when they look at her, or even speak with her?  How often, I wonder, has she had to scale down her prose, push down the swell of her depression to help people get past the way she looks to see the multi-faceted gem, inclusions and all, that lies within?

Stephen Hawking - a brilliant scientist (who made quantum physics a best seller), a limp body trapping a hyperactive network of cognitive activity, a man with the drives of a man but no way to satiate them.  How often have people, even those cognizant of his genius, treated him like an object rather than a person?

I won't lie; my eyes welled up a bit while I read this piece.  I've faced many a communication challenge in my life.  I have some idea of what it's like to have so much you want to share but for whatever reason, be restrained from doing so.  I know the frustration and stigma a chasm of the personal can cause, for both sides.  Cara Santa Maria beautifully captures the tragic poignancy, the almost-meeting of spirits, if not as much minds, through the relatively short time frame of her encounter with Hawking.

Her writing reminds me of a favourite line from Jack Kerouac's On the Road - "We tiptoed around each other like heartbreaking new friends."

If two minds as beautiful as these can't bridge that simple, human gap, can any of us?

When I got home that evening, I cried. Not because I felt sorry for him, or because I realized what it is that I probably take for granted every day. I cried because I felt a fundamentally human urge to connect with this man -- an icon of brilliance in a world sorely lacking -- and I simply couldn't figure out how. Yet, I will hold onto the memory.

So long as we make the effort, there will always, always be something that's shared - even if it's just a new way of seeing ourselves.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: Hey Glenn, the kid's a person and he's in the damned room!