Bad News for Coco

From MSNBC comes evidence of the sad state of the circus.

LONDON - Bad news for Coco and Blinko — children don't like clowns, and even older kids are scared of them. 

That's the finding of a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards.

The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between 4 and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary.

Who doesn't?  I blame Stephen King.  Maybe Fellini.   

As metaphor for the political realm: the Roundhouse is the circus and the lobbyists are the clowns.  Disliking them won't make them go away - although I can take care of Blinko for a small fee. 

Comments

[Inky Ink, Inc.]

Interesting idea. Perhaps they should make the lobbyist identify themselves by wearing red noses and those big floppy clown shoes in the Roundhouse. And they would have to drive around Santa Fe in miniature clown cars with, like, 20 of them crammed into each one. It would help the parking situation too.

[Pagliacci]

Interestingly, there is a Wiki entry on evil clowns: The irrational fear of clowns is known as coulrophobia. A quote often attributed to actor Lon Chaney, Sr: "There is nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight." To paraphrase, “There is nothing funny about a lobbyist in the roundhouse” – here’s a post from DFNM (thanks to Marjorie at m-pyre for the heads up)

http://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/democracy_for_new_mexico/2008/01/letter-from-the.html#more