Lets talk about the clown world meme in unnecessary detail, from the perspective of someone who has been to clown school https://twitter.com/robert_mariani/status/1252387921895632901

Clown world originated on 4chan at some point, starting with the use of the "Honkler" pepe.

*Honk Honk*

4chan worked hard to retain memetic copyright by producing explicitly racist takes on the meme: the same tactic they used to take control of the original pepe meme, to great effect.

However, despite their best efforts, the core idea of the meme is much more generally relatable

Fundamentally the meme is about a shift in perspective about the world:

We live in "interesting times", and it's easy to feel overwhelmed, confused, traumatized, and... grim.

Honkler is unaffected by this day to day reality and sees the world for what it is: a cosmic joke

Take the "Pagliacci Pill" and suddenly the world's problems... don't seem like problems anymore

. @zimonitrome made the canonical clown world video that captured the meme's true essence. He took the video private in an effort to distance himself from alt-right racists/nazism (after it "claimed" the meme), but mirrors do exist and are worth a watch:

Here's an interesting essay about some of the philosophy that has sprung up around the meme (from a decidedly grim, non-honkpilled perspective): http://vjmpublishing.nz/?p=12550 

Now that we've laid that groundwork, let's talk about clowns a little bit.

Actual clowning has gone underground in America, so unfortunately the primary images we have in our head when we think of clowns are "shitty birthday clowns" and "evil demon clowns"

Clowning as an activity is centered around crossing boundaries, exploring taboos, and questioning our shared assumptions, in a way that generates laughs.

Think of the court jester, famously able to address forbidden topics to the king without losing his head.

We all live in our own reality bubbles, & the role of the clown is to pop and reshape those bubbles. This is done for the benefit of an audience: "observers" who gain a more nuanced understanding of true reality.

(The "Demon Clown", otoh, performs only for their own amusement)

A "Joey" clown looks to play tricks on people (like throwing a pie in their face) & an "Auguste" clown radiates naive childlike innocence (who receives the pie in the face... but somehow likes it).

These cross boundaries by either mocking them, or naively crashing through them.

"Clown World", then, is the idea that the world itself is acting like a "Joey" clown: constantly pulling the rug out from underneath of us.

The only way to be able to find joy is to radiate "Auguste" energy, rolling with the punches and cultivating an earnest, uncynical stance

I read once that the Greeks valued comedy over tragedy: "tragedy" was the perspective of the people living their pathetic lives, and "comedy" was the perspective of the gods, looking down and laughing at them.

It's hard to have an outside perspective about a thing you are currently experiencing, but hopefully, one day, we will be able to look back at all of this and... laugh?

yikes