[–] GrislyAtoms 2 points 18 points 20 points (+20|-2) ago
At first I was all pro-Ahmed, but I've heard/read some good points that have swayed me a little the other way. I'm on the fence about the whole thing. I don't know who's full of shit, and who isn't anymore. It's getting harder and harder to tell.
[–] Gamio 0 points 19 points 19 points (+19|-0) ago (edited ago)
I had the same opinion as you, at first it looked like stupid fear mongering but the more I'm learning about it the more I suspect someone coached the child into doing this either for attention, political reasons, or good old fashioned lawsuit bait. Either way that family stands to get a lot of money from this.
[–] didntsayeeeee 3 points 18 points 21 points (+21|-3) ago
Or it could just be a dumb kid doing something dumb and then lying to the media afterwards.
It's one of those stories where everybody is stupid. The kid is stupid, the teachers who called the cops were stupid, the cops were stupid, the media was stupid, and everyone who creamed their pants over a minor disciplinary issue in a school they've never heard of is stupid.
[–] indiglo_girls 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago (edited ago)
I've been pretty neutral on this situation, but when I read this kid's quotes it's obvious he is being coached towards a very specific narrative.
βI felt like I was a criminal, I felt like I was a terrorist. I felt like all the names I was called.β He added: βIn middle school I was called a terrorist, called a bomb maker, just because of my race.β
Not to mention, the metal briefcase he used does in all honesty look quite bomb-ish.. It's hard not to feel like their is strategic manipulation going on.
[–] sreggin_llik 1 point 12 points 13 points (+13|-1) ago (edited ago)
http://i.imgur.com/WNhZge8.jpg
Why the hell else would someone disassemble a clock and, of all the alternative housings available, decide to put it into a briefcase if not for the purpose of making it look like a movie bomb?
I've also seen where the school & police are on one hand being mocked for thinking it was a real bomb while on the other being criticized for not acting like it was. Once I saw the goddamned thing, their actions made total sense. They knew it was fake but also knew it was created to look scary.
[–] Kaizervonmaanen 1 point 1 point 2 points (+2|-1) ago
Neither of those pictures are a bomb. One is the clock Ahmed made and the other one is a mobile button panel for a unix mainframe. (see the novell tag, that should be enough. And why would they have a solid button panel on a briefcase bomb? And there is no explosives in either of the pictures.)
[–] GrislyAtoms 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago (edited ago)
And it's these sorts of things that make me think that there may be more to it. There is an uncanny similarity between Ahmed's clock and the device in that shitty picture (but also to other real "briefcase bombs" I looked at pictures of), I will admit.
I honestly was not all that familiar with what a briefcase bomb looked like before all of this. After doing a bit of research, I am starting to have my doubts about the innocence of it all. It's possible he didn't realize how closely it resembled a briefcase bomb, but I have this nagging suspicion that he was fully aware, or at the very least his parents were. Even if his parents weren't in on it, did they not see the thing before he took it to school? I suppose they also may not have been too familiar with briefcase bombs, like myself, and didn't think anything of it.
But I just don't know for sure, and possibly never will. Oh well. I doubt I'll expend much more energy trying to figure it out. I have plenty of other things to worry about.
[–] 2519533? 4 points 10 points 14 points (+14|-4) ago
I wish the following information would finally get circulated: the enclosure is not a briefcase, it's a pencil case. Look at the size of the electrical plug.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zVIc64naL.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/Vaultz-Locking-Pencil-Inches-VZ01479/dp/B001BXZ28K
decide to put it into a briefcase if not for the purpose of making it look like a movie bomb?
Have you ever seen a briefcase? A briefcase doesn't fit in the palm of an adults hand, and a 'movie bomb' has at least some semblance of an explosive.
police are on one hand being mocked for thinking it was a real bomb
They should be. If you're in law enforcement, you need to be able to tell the difference between an explosive and some wires, a transistor and a circuit board. The teacher's should be fired for not immediately contacting the child's parents.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 41 points 41 points (+41|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] didntsayeeeee 2 points 12 points 14 points (+14|-2) ago
Depends what he was doing with it.
We haven't heard the full story, only his side, and his side is obvious bullshit.
[–] pjhile 1 point 12 points 13 points (+13|-1) ago
but right to be prudent
Prudent would be to look at it, realize there is no explosive, and send him on his way. He's a freaking child. Not immediately notifying his parents should be illegal if it's not already. If you can't tell the difference between some wires and a bomb, you shouldn't be in charge of anything remotely close to law enforcement.
He was more provocateur than electronic genius.
Electronic genius? He's a child.
[–] didntsayeeeee 0 points 6 points 6 points (+6|-0) ago
Still, what would you do if you found it on a train? You'd think "that movie prop bomb is probably a prank but I should call the police anyway just in case". And the police would say "that's probably a prank but we should get the bomb squad anyway". And everybody would have their time wasted.
The kid needs to understand that fake bomb threats get taken seriously, so calling the police should have taught him that lesson.
But instead it taught him the lesson "cry victim in a way that the media narrative likes and you'll get loads of free stuff"
[–] Big_Time_Sensuality 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
These kids are building working underwater robots. Doing something like this basically requires being an electronic genius. Some of them are even freshmen. Here's an actual suitcase bomb. Tell me they don't look similar. Hell, the bomb looks cleaner than his "clock". Highly doubt I'll be meeting Ahmed at any of the competitions I do.
[–] blkadder 0 points 12 points 12 points (+12|-0) ago (edited ago)
"...In an answer to a Twitter user who wrote: βI think you too frequently confuse βtruthβ with βobsessive and unnecessary dedication to accuracyβ..." Where to even begin with all that is wrong with that assertion? And Dawkins apologized to them?! SMH....
[–] poop_on_a_stick 0 points 9 points 9 points (+9|-0) ago
I think Dawkins just knows how to pick his battles. Even if he stood by his statement unapologetically and tried to explain his perspective to a bunch of SJW twitterers, how long would it take? My guess is something between too long and infinity. It's not right of course but these people are like piranhas and social media is their pond.
[–] blkadder 0 points 9 points 9 points (+9|-0) ago
The odd thing is I have seen him be unapologetic and hold the line at other points which is one of the things I respect about the man. Rule #1 of dealing with SJWs in my experience is to never, ever apologize to them as you potentially would to a reasonable person. They take it as a sign of weakness and will just amp up the attacks until you are apologizing constantly. There is no appeasing the vast majority of them so it is pointless to even try.
[–] novictim 0 points 28 points 28 points (+28|-0) ago (edited ago)
And that is exactly why PC Principal is featured on South Park. The pendulum has swung back to much into the red of political correctness.
Dawkins and Maher and Sam Harris and Salman Rushdie and all the other reasoned and reasonable people want us to question more, not less. Questioning this kids motives in light of his MSNBC statements on being seen as a "bomb maker" before this incident can't and shouldn't be ignored.
[–] RoninSnowman 0 points 12 points 12 points (+12|-0) ago
Then you, my friend, are exactly part of the problem, being any PC is like saying it's ok to have a little infection, but eventually it grows and spreads into what we are seeing now. PC is a refusal to confront and question rationally and use ones sense and brains when confronted with issues, it's a way to silence opposition and disagreeing points of view when they don't fit the PC's own, I hope you do see that it is a fallacy to have any PC. Being good to everyone is ok, being PC is like giving out Aid's, and unless you're Jared, you don't want to be known for that.
[–] shittersfull 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I think that's hitchens?
[–] ObscureReference 3 points 0 points 3 points (+3|-3) ago (edited ago)
If people are going to reframe this as a provocative act on the kid's part*, then I will respin this as an attempt to prove not all electronics that are not in standard commerical housings as bought off the shelf are an attempt to kill people with a bomb. Not everything with an exposed circuit board is a fricking bomb!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic *Not that I completely believe that but if this is your spin, then that is my spin. [Edit] - Anyone watch Narcos, what was the package of the bomb that blew up the airplane? What would a smart person do who wanted to cause harm do in this social environment?
[–] sreggin_llik 3 points 1 point 4 points (+4|-3) ago (edited ago)
http://i.imgur.com/FABuuOP.jpg
Why the hell else would someone disassemble a clock and, of all the alternative housings available, decide to put it into a briefcase if not for the purpose of making it look like a movie bomb?
Edit: I've also seen the school & police are on one hand being mocked for thinking it was a real bomb while on the other being criticized for not acting like it was. Once I saw the goddamned thing, their actions made total sense. They knew it was fake but also knew it was created to look scary.
[–] ObscureReference 2 points 1 point 3 points (+3|-2) ago (edited ago)
Because he was an excited fourteen year old kid who wanted to show off how smart he was. This was not the first thing he had shown off.
If you want to consider him as a kid who is starting shit then you can. I can believe he is could be an enthuastic, possibly socially akward geek who didn't think his invention out. [Edit] And you are using a jpg making this a political thing about religion?
[–] Kaizervonmaanen 1 point 4 points 5 points (+5|-1) ago
Neither of those pictures are a bomb. One is the clock Ahmed made and the other one is a mobile button panel for a unix mainframe. (see the novell tag, that should be enough. And why would they have a solid button panel on a briefcase bomb? And there is no explosives in either of the pictures.)
Briefcase bombs have explosives in them, a bunch of electronics won't make anything go boom.
[–] flimflamedthezimzam 1 point -1 points 0 points (+0|-1) ago
God you're fucking dumb. Why would you key a bomb like that? Why would it even need a fucking motherboard? What the fuck would it possibly be computing? It has a goddamed cooling fan for fucksake!!! COMMON SENSE MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU HAVE IT.
[–] Sydviciouz 1 point 2 points 3 points (+3|-1) ago
We know it's not a bomb. It's the fact that he made this clock to look just like a bomb. It reeks of shady.
[–] cattarhero 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
It's always about race. It's not about your race, it's about your "religion", dip-wad!
[–] throwaway56789 ago
Agreed. I will continue bringing up the fact that the Tsarnaevs were, literally, Caucasian. They were white kids from the Caucasus mountains of Russia. Not Arabs. Ethnic Chechens are not Arabs. They're Muslim Russians. They could have passed for Jewish or Greek. The reason they are reviled is because their actions stemmed from their belief in their murderous cult. Members of Aum Shinrikyo weren't terrorists because they were Asian. They were terrorists because of the actions they took that stemmed from their belief in their murderous cult. Jim Jones' members were of all races; he founded Jonestown in Africa and called his cult the "rainbow family" -- that is, a community of all cultural backgrounds, but all of whom were centered on following the orders of their cult leader. Just because Muhammad is dead and has been for 1,500 years, and because he allegedly "heard the voice of God" and his literate co-conspirators inscribed his teachings in a book that was allegedly "inspired" by divine revelation, doesn't make Islam anything other than a cult of violence and murder. It's not a valid belief system deserving of respect just because it's old and has a lot of members.
Muslims can be of any race. John Walker Lindh was an American from California. Cat Stevens was an Englishman. It's not race. It's cult belief. We need to stop giving Islam protections as a "religion" (I would venture it's time to stop giving any religion carte blanche in the constitution) and start calling it what it is: a cult. You get arrested for preaching death to psychiatrists, you're not going to be let go because you follow Scientology. You're going to be locked up because what you do is pertinent to a dangerous cult, and you don't deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt.
It's time we find a final solution to the Muslim problem.