"
So, this story about a 14 year old boy in Texas that was arrested on suspicion of creating a bomb hoax (who, apparently just wanted to show off his latest electronics project to his teachers) that has blown up (no pun intended) all over the news and social media, caught my attention immediately. Not because of his race, or his religion, the seeming absurdity of the situation, the emotionally charged photo of a young boy in a NASA t-shirt being led off in hand cuffs, the hash tags, the presidential response… no, none of that. I’m an electronics geek. I was interested in the clock! I wanted to figure out what he had come up with."
I found the highest resolution photograph of the clock I could. Instantly, I was disappointed. Somewhere in all of this – there has indeed been a hoax. Ahmed Mohamed didn’t invent his own alarm clock. He didn’t even build a clock. Now, before I go on and get accused of attacking a 14 year old kid who’s already been through enough, let me explain my purpose. I don’t want to just dissect the clock. I want to dissect our reaction as a society to the situation. Part of that is the knee-jerk responses we’re all so quick to make without facts. So, before you scroll down and leave me angry comments, please continue to the end (or not – prove my point, and miss the point, entirely!)
Skipping down...
...Ahmed Mohamad did not invent, nor build a clock. He took apart an existing clock, and transplanted the guts into a pencil box, and claimed it was his own creation. It all seems really fishy to me.
If we accept the story about “inventing” an alarm clock is made up, as I think I’ve made a pretty good case for, it’s fair to wonder what other parts of the story might be made up, not reported factually by the media, or at least, exaggerated...
If we stop and think – was it really such a ridiculous reaction from the teacher and the police in the first place? How many school shootings and incidents of violence have we had, where we hear afterwards “this could have been prevented, if only we paid more attention to the signs!” Teachers are taught to be suspicious and vigilant. Ahmed wasn’t accused of making a bomb – he was accused of making a look-alike, a hoax. And be honest with yourself, a big red digital display with a bunch of loose wires in a brief-case looking box is awful like a Hollywood-style representation of a bomb. Everyone jumped to play the race and religion cards and try and paint the teachers and police as idiots and bigots, but in my mind, they were probably acting responsibly and erring on the side of caution to protect the rest of their students, just in case. “This wouldn’t have happened if Ahmed were white,” they say. We’re supposed to be sensitive to school violence, but apparently religious and racial sensitivity trumps that. At least we have another clue about how the sensitivity and moral outrage pecking order lies.
Because, is it possible, that maybe, just maybe, this was actually a hoax bomb? A silly prank that was taken the wrong way? That the media then ran with, and everyone else got carried away? Maybe there wasn’t even any racial or religious bias on the parts of the teachers and police. (read the rest here)
13 comments:
Amazing that when something happens to Muslim people abroad we have papers full of their plight and how the infedils are abusing them. That particular Ahmed has most of America supporting him including the President of America. Same with another teenager named Malala. If we had an iota of sense and fair play, we would worry more about the millions of young Ahmeds and their siblings in Pakistan instead, who have little in life and even less of a future. They are so desparate in their lives that that they would probably give an arm and a leg (figurativley) to be that Ahmed in America who has been invited to the White House after the injustice at his school. When a little girl in Pakistan placed a dot wrongly on the word naat in her class and was beaten up by the teachers, she wasn’t invited to the Prime Minster’s house, but had to flee abroad because there were hundreds wanting to kill her and her family for the misspelling. How many little children are abused physically and mentally in our schools every single day. And they are supposed to be the lucky ones, as around ten million dont even see the inside of a school. They are either on the roads, the workshops, or working as domestic servants. They are serving time, not making clocks. Please don’t worry for whome the bell tolls, because for millions of Ahmeds in Pakistan, even the school bell doesn’t toll for them.
His race had nothing to do with it in my mind. I was pissed that they immediately went to handcuffs, arrest and public humiliation of a 14 year old. I think they were overreacting to his "passive/aggressive" attitude. He was not a danger to anyone. He just irritated some jackass. And is there ever a reasonable limit to 'erring on the side of caution". It was not being cautious to handcuff and arrest him. It was just emotional stupidity. Our society is poisoned and our rights are being trampled by authorities "erring on the side of caution" which is often just an excuse for overreacting when that will almost never stop the nuts among us. Life has risks, and it's less risky than ever in history. You can't control everything. Get over it.
I mean, seriously, think about it. Was he threatening by bringing it to his teacher and showing it to him, asking his opinion. Is that how you conduct an attack? That fact alone should have told them he was not a threat. This was a combination of authoritarian mindsets covering their ass and getting upset.
I don't know what to think about this mess. If he showed it to a teacher who told him not to show it elsewhere, someone knew it was not a threat or a bomb. They way it was handled was ludicrous since they did NOT sequester that hoax or bomb. They knew. The rest is a muddle.
So the thing wasn't even a real invention? That's funny. Wait, no - it's sad. It's cheating, really. Which might be the real story here if our press would act like curious journalists instead of narrative-pimpers.
I mean - this whole thing is ridiculous any way you slice it. Bags makes great points. I was struck by the fact that the kid wasn't arrested until later that day. huh?
Dear old Dad is quite the activist.
Make of that what you will.
I smell set-up.
"I smell set-up"
Quite possible, and they fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
I highly recommend this post of recent cartoons on various subjects. A lot of really great ones. You will enjoy.
Cartoons
If that kid had tried to bring that into the White House instead of school, they would have shot him.
Have you noticed how these stories always fall apart on closer examination.
Lazy ass media immediately goes for the narrative template.
Lots of over reaction on everyone's part, including the White House. The White House should have made it more eucenimical and invited the pop tart gun kid.
White House involvement is the tell. It would be nothing otherwise. And there is so much more that comes reeling off at merest examination. Twitter was flowing with tidbits all night and day. One look at the boys father and ping ping ping ping ping like Hollywood squibs. Jesus Christ. And the bits about the boys approach and attitude throughout. Little boys just aren't that great at carrying out their Dad's goofy little fuck with the system plans, the system created in large part by jackasses like you fucking with the system. Dad wants to admire his own handiwork upon the system, and the boy is a terrible actor. The backstory is overloaded. I'd link you all over the place starting with [ahmed mohamed +father] but who's interested in this cooked shit?
Worst fucking clock ever. We tear shit apart see how it works put it back together puzzle over the extra pieces at home and leave the torn up shit there. Doesn't everybody? At that age, didn't you?
If your buddy did that you'd say worst fucking clock ever, Dude. You just ruined a clock.
It was already broken.
Oh man, that made me think of the toaster I was given and now I'm pissed off all over again.
This was the first time I ever had an apartment by myself. A bit late in life, actually, for the very first time of living totally alone. It felt weird. There were always people around. I was tacking things together for my very first all-by-myself household. A friend gave me a toaster that would be discarded otherwise and I was offended. Honestly, why would someone give another friend a broken fucking toaster? Goddamnit, this brings me right precisely to the Tourette's Zone. Just get me a goddamn motherfucking new toaster.
I really have to examine this friendship here.
This is actually putting me off toast.
Surely, an embarrassment for you to see your discarded junk.
it PISSED me off. I give the best of myself, they give me junk. That's what angered me. I recovered, but it angered me. To no avail anyway. Dumbass will vote Hillary with the reliability of celestial bodies. We don't speak, but for reasons of his State Religion and not a broken toaster.
This was not an "invention" unless we are defining invention as Joe Biden would. That said, I am pretty sure this was some geeky kid who tore an old clock apart and then brought it to school to show it was still working. That is not a bad thing guys. We want kids to do stuff like that. The risk of this thing was electrocution, but a little danger is the spice of life...
He showed it to his engineering/science teacher who said it was cool (well as cool as most 14 year old DIY projects are). Then he made the mistake of taking it into English and showing it there. He got sent to the principal...okay, that is what happens when you disrupt your class with a questionable box of live wires.
But at the principals office they confirmed 1) it was not a bomb and 2) that Ahmed never claimed it was a bomb. So what is the appropriate response to this? Wouldn't it be, have your parents come in and get your clock and go back to class?
Instead, these school administrator have the cops haul him away in handcuffs (and take a picture of it).
So yeah, CAIR and Obama are all over this. I despise CAIR, they are liars and troublemakers, but I can't be surprised they are all over this story. Ahmed's dad may very well be a political activist. But do we know this was a set up from the start (that is a big assumption) or was this just a kid being a kid and it got out of hand.
I guess we will find out, but I cannot defend these administrators based on the story I have heard (I reserve to change my mind if the underlying story turns out different).
Post a Comment