Some people here argue that it's a bad thing if Ahmed Mohammed and his family planned for him to provoke a reaction from the school authority by bringing the clock to school. Why is this bad? In 1892, the New Orleans Citizens Committee planned a confrontation to challenge Lousiana's railroad racial segregation law. A member of the Committee, Homer Plessy, boarded the train along with a private detective with arrest powers hired by the Committee. Plessy, who is 1/8 black, got into the "whites only" car. Later, when a train conductor came around, he informed the conductor that he is 1/8 black but would not vacate the car. The hired private detective then arrested Plessy. The legal case the ensued ended up becoming the basis of the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case. Rosa Parks, too, was an NAACP activist and her refusing to sit in the back of the bus was also an event planned by the NAACP to challenge segregation in Montgomery, Alabama. In this event, even if the event was orchestrated by the Mohammed family or a Muslims rights group to expose the Irving ISD (and we have no proof of that), it was still up to the Irving ISD and Irving PD to make themselves look ridiculous by going way over the top with the handcuffs and the 5-cop interrogation. If this was all a set up, then I say congrats to Ahmed and his folks for getting the Irving school and police to expose themselves.
It's bad because of claim that they did it for political and personal gains, not to show problems with the school and PD. If they did it on purpose and their intent was said something like to show off how dumb zero tolerance is... It's still a stupid argument for the mere fact that whatever their intention, the school and PD still is responsible for their own actions. Blaming the "other side" show lack of any responsibility or accountability. I DON'T think the school or PD is doing that. It's some folks, mostly on the right, the same one that beat the drum of being personally responsible and accountable that is going to the distance with conspiracy theory to blame the kid and his family.
agreed. What happens here it's an effort to a) victim blaming b)far fetched conspiracy theories c) trying to distract from what is a blatant and obvious abuse of power with undertones of racial profiling. It's such a pointless exercise because regardless of some shadow incentive it illustrated the behaviour of that school and that PD. But when people don't have any real arguments to answer to the legitimate points and the outrage they try to make blows bellow the belt and discredit the victim. It happens all the time with the scum of the earth : politicians, demagogues, and of course with lawyers.
But the charge against Ahmed apparently wasn't that he was endangering the school, but rather than he brought a hoax bomb. If this whole thing was orchestrated (which I'm not yet convinced of, but can't rule out), then the school was right to believe something suspicious was going on and this clock was actually intended to provoke a reaction. The handcuffs were maybe going overboard and Ahmed's ethnicity may also have played a role in triggering the reaction, but the family was basically asking for some kind of punishment in that case. Schools shouldn't take a hoax bomb lightly, IMO, even if it is clearly fake on closer inspection.
No, school and PD shouldn't take a hoax bomb lightly. It doesn't apply in this case since it's not a hoax bomb. It is the fact that that assumption was made so incorrectly that is the failure. That failure lie solely with the School and PD. A kid bringing to school an electronic clock project is asking for some kind of punishment? Is that because society have too much bias? Are you saying this is ok? This remind me of those that said women that dressed provocatively and was raped was asking for it. It again, remove responsibility and accountability and placed the blame on the victim. Stop with blaming the victim. You mean if this was orchestrated to be a hoax bomb? If that's the case, the kid failed at orchestrating it to be a hoax bomb. But the PD and School still bite and failed at not being able to tell the difference. Worse, after questioning, they still can't establish that it was orchestrated to be a hoax bomb. They failed miserably. My suspect is their conclusion was right, they were wrong in assuming it was something it wasn't. If this was orchestrated to show that the PD and school can easily be fooled to think a clock is a faux bomb, they accomplished that task. Perhaps the family knew how all the parties involved would react and planned this out beautifully and expose the failure of the PD and school.
Bill Maher is so high he can no longer tell the difference between a bomb and a clock. Kinda sad really
I guess in the same way that Homer Plessy was a hoax hoax white guy. The Ahmed Conspiracy Theorists are really getting into multiple levels of reverse psychology... Truly, they have a dizzying intellect. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E2y40U2LvKY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I still am having a hard time understanding why this situation has gotten so much attention. I don't fault the teacher or school for being suspicion and think it was worthwhile for them to check. I agree arresting and taking him out in handcuffs was an overreaction but they've dropped the charges and otherwise didn't do any further harm to the kid. To me this deserves and apology on the part of the school and LE and a review of their policies and training.
Gee I wonder who could be perpetuating the islamophobia and paranoia in Irving Texas? Beth Van Duyne is Mayor of Irving, Texas, the city where the now famous Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school. When Beth isn't mayoring she spends her time as a high-profile anti-Sharia law activist.
