The threat of intelligent Muslim kids!

Kat

The look on Ahmed's face is much better than the one with the stupid handcuffs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ahmed-mohamed-supporters_55f9879be4b0d6492d63be95

hedonist

Aww, great photo.

GF, there's so much fuckedupness in how this was viewed, not to mention mishandled, from start to (almost) finish.

The kid is alright.

Cliffy6745

Godfather. said:

........really ???? makes a clock that looks like a bomb, takes it to school and Dumbama invites him into the white house ?????? and you guy's think the kid was mistreated ? ...where's my Rebel Flag
and Southern Army uniform I want to go the white house, do ya think they'll let me drive my Trojan horse into the driveway ?

Godfather.

Speak English, please

badbrains

Cliffy6745 said:

Godfather. said:

........really ???? makes a clock that looks like a bomb, takes it to school and Dumbama invites him into the white house ?????? and you guy's think the kid was mistreated ? ...where's my Rebel Flag
and Southern Army uniform I want to go the white house, do ya think they'll let me drive my Trojan horse into the driveway ?

Godfather.

Speak English, please

Don't you mean American?

Bentleyspop

Cliffy6745 said:

Godfather. said:

........really ???? makes a clock that looks like a bomb, takes it to school and Dumbama invites him into the white house ?????? and you guy's think the kid was mistreated ? ...where's my Rebel Flag
and Southern Army uniform I want to go the white house, do ya think they'll let me drive my Trojan horse into the driveway ?

Godfather.

Speak English, please

He's an American living in America.
He only speaks American.

Cliffy6745

Alright, I agree in general that this is a terrible story and handled very poorly by many adults who need to handle these situations better. That said, as the MTA says, "see something, say something". Putting aside the fact that this kid is muslim, what if this thing were part of a bomb and teachers took his word that it was a clock and something terrible happened. I don't know the exact school situation there, but from what I understand he was a freshman. School started 2 weeks ago for much of the country, so assuming this kids middle school and high school were separate, his teachers knew him for a whole 2 weeks. I don't think the teachers were necessarily wrong for being concerned and bringing it to the attention of authorities. How it handled after that was terrible.

I truly hope this doesn't stymie this kids love for science and building/inventing things and I think it's great that he has received a ton of support.

PJ_Soul

So I gather some people think the reaction would have been much different if, with everything else being equal, the kid had been white? ..... I think that's an unfounded assumption in this case (unless I missed something important, like the school said that a Muslim/brown kid should know better, or something along those lines).

dignin

PJ_Soul said:

So I gather some people think the reaction would have been much different if, with everything else being equal, the kid had been white? ..... I think that's an unfounded assumption in this case (unless I missed something important, like the school said that a Muslim/brown kid should know better, or something along those lines).

They led Ahmed into a room where four other police officers waited. He said an officer he’d never seen before leaned back in his chair and remarked: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallas-county/headlines/20150915-irving-9th-grader-arrested-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school.ece

Cliffy6745

dignin said:

PJ_Soul said:

So I gather some people think the reaction would have been much different if, with everything else being equal, the kid had been white? ..... I think that's an unfounded assumption in this case (unless I missed something important, like the school said that a Muslim/brown kid should know better, or something along those lines).

They led Ahmed into a room where four other police officers waited. He said an officer he’d never seen before leaned back in his chair and remarked: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallas-county/headlines/20150915-irving-9th-grader-arrested-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school.ece

Like I said, I think it was handled after it was passed along to the authorities, especially with him being interrogated for 4 hours without being able to call his parents, but I have no problem with the teachers passing it along to the authorities.

PJfanwillneverleave1

I think it is a sign of the times and the parents should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something that looks like this to school.

If he brought this through to airport screening what would've happened?
What would've happened if brought this to any security or screening lines?
I'm sure everyone here would be saying "What the fuck was this kid thinking"?, instead
Safety is paramount in schools.

PJ_Soul

I think that if a kid is building electronics in an educational atmosphere, that is a LOT different than bringing some homemade electronic through security screening.

PJfanwillneverleave1

PJ_Soul said:

I think that if a kid is building electronics in an educational atmosphere, there is a LOT different that bring some homemade electronic through security screening.

It's just a clock though.
So no big deal.

PJ_Soul

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

PJ_Soul said:

I think that if a kid is building electronics in an educational atmosphere, there is a LOT different that bring some homemade electronic through security screening.

It's just a clock though.
So no big deal.

Huh?

g under p

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

I think it is a sign of the times and the parents should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something that looks like this to school.

If he brought this through to airport screening what would've happened?
What would've happened if brought this to any security or screening lines?
I'm sure everyone here would be saying "What the fuck was this kid thinking"?, instead
Safety is paramount in schools.

Someone said that Ahmed being a new student in HS it was proper that precaution should be taken and to have his device checked out. It was a nightmare as to what happened after that and should never have happened.

Peace

oftenreading

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

I think it is a sign of the times and the parents should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something that looks like this to school.

If he brought this through to airport screening what would've happened?
What would've happened if brought this to any security or screening lines?
I'm sure everyone here would be saying "What the fuck was this kid thinking"?, instead
Safety is paramount in schools.

Your point about airport security is irrelevant. You aren't allowed to bring gels through airport security, either, but somehow kids are still allowed to bring yoghurt and hair products to high school. Why? Because they are completely different situations (setting aside the non-utility of the gel ban on aircraft for time being).

Phrases like "safety is paramount" and "you can't be too careful" get bandied about, when in fact this case is a great example that you can, indeed, be too careful. Being too careful is currently causing a whole host of bad outcomes in the US, and to a lesser extent in Canada. Kids don't walk to school or play in outside because, who knows, there might be a sexual predator out there. And in this instance, a kid who showed initiative and inquisitiveness, and who appropriately took his invention straight to someone who should have been the appropriate contact person to understand what he was doing, gets arrested. If this little piece of electronics might be a bomb, why couldn't any bit of electronics that kids carry around in their backpacks be a bomb? And if it was, why did he take it straight to the teacher to show her?

"Should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something like this to school" - it's a sad day when someone says, apparently without irony (although who knows in your case), that a kid should know better than to bring his home made science experiment to school.

PJfanwillneverleave1

oftenreading said:

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

I think it is a sign of the times and the parents should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something that looks like this to school.

If he brought this through to airport screening what would've happened?
What would've happened if brought this to any security or screening lines?
I'm sure everyone here would be saying "What the fuck was this kid thinking"?, instead
Safety is paramount in schools.

Your point about airport security is irrelevant.

No it's not.
You can bring a digital alarm clock on board.

edit - I said his parents should've had the foresight, not the kid.

dignin

oftenreading said:

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

I think it is a sign of the times and the parents should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something that looks like this to school.

If he brought this through to airport screening what would've happened?
What would've happened if brought this to any security or screening lines?
I'm sure everyone here would be saying "What the fuck was this kid thinking"?, instead
Safety is paramount in schools.

Your point about airport security is irrelevant. You aren't allowed to bring gels through airport security, either, but somehow kids are still allowed to bring yoghurt and hair products to high school. Why? Because they are completely different situations (setting aside the non-utility of the gel ban on aircraft for time being).

Phrases like "safety is paramount" and "you can't be too careful" get bandied about, when in fact this case is a great example that you can, indeed, be too careful. Being too careful is currently causing a whole host of bad outcomes in the US, and to a lesser extent in Canada. Kids don't walk to school or play in outside because, who knows, there might be a sexual predator out there. And in this instance, a kid who showed initiative and inquisitiveness, and who appropriately took his invention straight to someone who should have been the appropriate contact person to understand what he was doing, gets arrested. If this little piece of electronics might be a bomb, why couldn't any bit of electronics that kids carry around in their backpacks be a bomb? And if it was, why did he take it straight to the teacher to show her?

"Should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something like this to school" - it's a sad day when someone says, apparently without irony (although who knows in your case), that a kid should know better than to bring his home made science experiment to school.

^^^^ This

PJfanwillneverleave1

dignin said:

oftenreading said:

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

I think it is a sign of the times and the parents should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something that looks like this to school.

If he brought this through to airport screening what would've happened?
What would've happened if brought this to any security or screening lines?
I'm sure everyone here would be saying "What the fuck was this kid thinking"?, instead
Safety is paramount in schools.

Your point about airport security is irrelevant. You aren't allowed to bring gels through airport security, either, but somehow kids are still allowed to bring yoghurt and hair products to high school. Why? Because they are completely different situations (setting aside the non-utility of the gel ban on aircraft for time being).

Phrases like "safety is paramount" and "you can't be too careful" get bandied about, when in fact this case is a great example that you can, indeed, be too careful. Being too careful is currently causing a whole host of bad outcomes in the US, and to a lesser extent in Canada. Kids don't walk to school or play in outside because, who knows, there might be a sexual predator out there. And in this instance, a kid who showed initiative and inquisitiveness, and who appropriately took his invention straight to someone who should have been the appropriate contact person to understand what he was doing, gets arrested. If this little piece of electronics might be a bomb, why couldn't any bit of electronics that kids carry around in their backpacks be a bomb? And if it was, why did he take it straight to the teacher to show her?

"Should have at least had the foresight that this could happen by bringing something like this to school" - it's a sad day when someone says, apparently without irony (although who knows in your case), that a kid should know better than to bring his home made science experiment to school.

^^^^ This

Come on dignin
Use your own words, I know you can do it!

g under p

I wonder if the authorities will give Ahmed his clock back? If they do at least he'll get a chance to fix it.

Peace

oftenreading

g under p said:

I wonder if the authorities will give Ahmed his clock back? If they do at least he'll get a chance to fix it.

Peace

You know, I can't decide if you mean that he needs to fix it because the authorities took it apart, or that he could "fix it" and actually make it into a bomb.

I'm obviously spending way too much time on this board