Okay, let’s set this straight: I am not a clown hater, nor fear-er. I think that being a clown as a profession is an affirmed happy and beneficial position in our society, and many people, despite the media entourage, should understand that. And by putting “clowns” in general on blast, there are people whose careers and livelihoods are affected. I would bet that many professional clowns curse the day Stephen King was born.

Alright, let’s talk about the current issue. It is 2016. We have had a strange and hopefully dying surge of clowns going around the United States terrorizing people. Some carry weapons, others are stalking, and many are just being plain creepy.

I pray that this is kept OUT of our future history textbooks for my own sanity’s sake.

So basically, we have a bunch of fake clowns dressing up in clown costumes and terrorizing people, sometimes on their own property.

Even in Riverside, at my college, one acclaimed "Killer Clown" came onto our campus at night, showing pictures of our campus and taking a selfie at a distance away from a Starbucks on a Facebook Page named "UCR Beware."

Us Highlander students received an email and notifications on school living places, warning about the clowns on campus.

And what I have to say to the clowns, is to stop.

Stop for your own safety.

It will only be a matter of time until you wrong into the wrong person. One video that I found online showed a man cracking a bottle over a "Killer Clown"'s head, other ones getting punched or hit with baseball bats.

The definition of terrorism is the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal.

Now, I do not think that these clowns have any political plan. They are mostly unintelligent young people trying to scare people for fun.

However, these acts, some of which have been semi-violent, have caused people fear for their safety. Overall, these actions have and will hurt more people than help society. The "Halloween Spirit" should never be entangled with such devious actions and such carelessness for the law and others.

Please be careful, readers. But do not let them scare you. Yes, they may be wearing a mask, but like all monsters, there is always a human underneath of them, and they are just as responsible under the law as anyone else. They can be arrested, taken in, and punished for any harm they cause to your community.

Stay safe, and have a very Happy Halloween.