1) Lisp isn't exactly a complicated pattern to match (syntax is much more simple/readable than say, Java/Ruby). If you do a lot of macros there are difficult things involved, but then again, macros are an entire level of power greater than Ruby/Python.
2) You don't have to use the concurrency stuff if you are just learning programming. The whole point of STM is that it takes care of the concurrency and transactions for the programmer. This is like saying garbage collection is more difficult than hand allocating memory because the system that implements it is more complicated.
3) Huh? I mean, if you want to use Java libraries you have to learn a bit of the java idiom (.... camelCase), as well as the library that you want to use, but there is no demand that you become intimately acquainted with the JVM any more that you become intimately acquainted with the specific implementation details of python or ruby.
I'm not sure if your post is FUD or genuine ignorance of Clojure (or both).
2) You don't have to use the concurrency stuff if you are just learning programming. The whole point of STM is that it takes care of the concurrency and transactions for the programmer. This is like saying garbage collection is more difficult than hand allocating memory because the system that implements it is more complicated.
3) Huh? I mean, if you want to use Java libraries you have to learn a bit of the java idiom (.... camelCase), as well as the library that you want to use, but there is no demand that you become intimately acquainted with the JVM any more that you become intimately acquainted with the specific implementation details of python or ruby.
I'm not sure if your post is FUD or genuine ignorance of Clojure (or both).