AV Archived Richard Dawkins questions Ahmed Mohamed's 'motives' and sparks backlash (theguardian.com)
submitted ago by TitanDisco
Posted by: TitanDisco
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Archived on: 2/12/2017 1:51:00 AM
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AV Archived Richard Dawkins questions Ahmed Mohamed's 'motives' and sparks backlash (theguardian.com)
submitted ago by TitanDisco
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[–] MDosRobbot 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
At first I felt for the kid, frustrated that a group of adults yelled "Bomb!" and arrested him over a 'clock', but after seeing the picture and hearing more about this story, i'm not even sure if Ahmed's actions are as benign as they are being represented. Now I am thinking that perhaps, there may have even been an ulterior motive and i'm even entertaining the outside possibility that he was put up to it by someone. I don't know.
But what I do know is that people that know much more about electronics than I do are telling me that this isn't something that was "invented" or built but rather just transplanted from a purchased digital clock. Even if that's the case, i'm ok with that, whatever, just a minor misrepresentation. but according to Marc Cuban, on Bill Maher's show, Ahmed went around and showed it to 6 different teachers, even after an early one told him to keep it put away. He then refuses to actually talk with police and explain things, being short and I'm guessing not saying much more than "It's a clock". If he was a bit more forthcoming he probably could have avoided being arrested. Not that I would ever blame him for exercising his right to silence. I don't think it was shyness or social awkwardness that kept him quiet, though.
In one of the early videos of him released he talks about how he didn't close up the case too much to avoid it looking too suspicious. So the fact that his "invention" could be mistaken for something dangerous was on his mind before the whole fiasco even began. Of course, he is referring to the case being closed and it looking suspicious.
Of course, all of this would just be garbage conjecture if it wasn't for what the 'clock' actually looked like. and if you are one of the people who seemingly can't fathom how a person could mistake that for a bomb, saying it looks nothing like one, well, i'm at a loss of words if that is your response to this.
Anyway, looking at the 'clock' in its current state and knowing that we know its simply a transplanted digital clock, its wires hanging all about the place, being able to tell the time only when its open with its circuit board exposed. and does it even have any functionality? I'm assuming it does and that you are able to change the time and set the alarm because it you couldn't that would be a major red flag. but anyway, if he was trying to impress his teachers with that, then he is a fraudulent little fellow at the least. I guess it then could become a question of how fraudulent he is depending on what you think about the situation. Was it simply an attempt to impress gone awry? or something much more insidious?
The fact that his father runs for president in Sudan is certainly a fun little coincidence at the least. Other than that though, there is still some things missing, i'm curious as to how he actually presented it to the teachers and why after being told not to show it to anyone he disregarded that.
Regardless of how I feel about it or what my opinion of it is, I think most anyone can agree that the response to it was rather disproportionate. There have been much worse transgressions resulting from Zero Tolerance than this without even the smallest peep from the MSM and Society as a whole. Though if as a result of this, the whole "Zero Tolerance" policy gets reevaluated in the slightest, then something positive came out of this. Even if it is just put into the spotlight then I'll take it. That thing is the absolute antithesis of common sense and intelligent though and needs to be abolished.