14-year-old Texas boy arrested for bringing homemade clock

[Cow Poke]

I hope this kids Dad sues the school and Irving police back to the stone age for the outrageous response to a harmless science project.

The law has no power to move people through time.

[Teallaura]

Most of those being gun violence.

How many do you want to have in your local school? If the answer is none then it's a bad idea to have a school so wrapped up in stats that they refuse to react sensibly to the particular situation.

[whag]

Most of those being gun violence.

I hope your point isn't that Muslim terrorists prefer bombs to guns.

How many do you want to have in your local school? If the answer is none then it's a bad idea to have a school so wrapped up in stats that they refuse to react sensibly to the particular situation.

They acted sensibly? The whole point is that they acted insensibly.

[Sea of red]

It's ridiculous in so many ways I don't know how else to express it.

Labeling and stereotyping a teenager based on a problem on the other side of the Earth is not a compelling reason to react in this manner. Try and treat any other group of people the way Arabs are often treated, and just see if you don't get slapped with a lawsuit. The fact of the matter is, we've become exactly the way the terrorists wanted us to become: fearful, cowardly, paranoid, and prejudice. I'm sure ISIS loves this kind of stuff - it further fuels their message.

[seanD]

Land of the slaves, home of the cowards.

[Jaecp]

A circuit board is threatening?

From what I've heard it also had a tiger on it. Maybe they don't like jungle cats?

[Mountain Man]

A circuit board is threatening?

Well, a circuit board, a bunch of wires, and other unidentifiable parts inside a briefcase could certainly make me nervous in the right (or wrong) setting. Imagine someone trying to sneak that past airport security.

[Teallaura]

I hope your point isn't that Muslim terrorists prefer bombs to guns.


They acted sensibly? The whole point is that they acted insensibly.

No, my point was that yours is a red herring.

Common sense didn't show up at that school that day.

[Teallaura]

It's ridiculous in so many ways I don't know how else to express it.

Labeling and stereotyping a teenager based on a problem on the other side of the Earth is not a compelling reason to react in this manner. Try and treat any other group of people the way Arabs are often treated, and just see if you don't get slapped with a lawsuit. The fact of the matter is, we've become exactly the way the terrorists wanted us to become: fearful, cowardly, paranoid, and prejudice. I'm sure ISIS loves this kind of stuff - it further fuels their message.

Still the same bridge, SoR. You are jumping to conclusions just as they did.

You're actually doing the exact opposite of what you intend. When everything is 'bigotry and racism' sooner (usually) or later, you go from exposing a wrong to committing it. Assume the worst about everyone and that's all you'll find - and worse, encourage.

Unjust accusations become grounds to play victim - and causes the very resentment that often lives around the base of the very bigotry you want to stop.

[Mountain Man]

1)Do you have any idea how a bomb works? Seriously, you, these school officials, and the police in Irving TX need to learn the basic functions of a bomb - none of which are present in this clock.

2)Thanks for telling everybody that you are an anti-Arabic bigot.

Ah, yes, when I wrote what I wrote, I just knew that some self-righteous social justice warrior would swoop in full of impotent rage and with shrill cries of "Bigotry!" as if Muslim terrorism isn't actually a thing that has happened in the US. Thank you for not disappointing.

As for my knowledge of bombs, no, I don't actually have any idea how they work, and probably neither did the teachers. I only know what I've seen on TV, which admittedly is probably not the best source of information for this sort of thing, but at the same time, when a kid brings in a device that looks suspciously like how bombs are depicted in popular entertainment, well, I don't think it's at all unreasonable to procede with due caution.

Let me put it this way: If you took Ahmed's homemade clock and left it on a busy street corner, would it or would it not cause a panic?

[KingsGambit]

What nobody has explained to me is how he was charged with creating a bomb hoax. In order for it to be a bomb hoax you actually have to claim to have a bomb which he never did.

[Irate Canadian]

Well, a circuit board, a bunch of wires, and other unidentifiable parts inside a briefcase could certainly make me nervous in the right (or wrong) setting. Imagine someone trying to sneak that past airport security.

This type of reasoning is what lead to the creation of the Patriot act.... Just because something can be used for bad thing does not mean we overreact to situations. The student repeatedly told officials that it was a clock, so I don't see where he's at fault.

[Irate Canadian]

Well, a circuit board, a bunch of wires, and other unidentifiable parts inside a briefcase could certainly make me nervous in the right (or wrong) setting. Imagine someone trying to sneak that past airport security.

Then never use a computer or especially a Rasberry Pi circuit board, after all it has wires that connect to each other, right?

[One Bad Pig]

Well, a circuit board, a bunch of wires, and other unidentifiable parts inside a briefcase could certainly make me nervous in the right (or wrong) setting. Imagine someone trying to sneak that past airport security.

He wasn't trying to sneak it anywhere, let alone past airport security - and there's obviously no explosive component to it. Further, people do not nonchalantly carry around bombs in their backpacks - people who are sent on suicide bombing missions are typically hopped up on drugs and/or nervous as all getout.

[Irate Canadian]

Have any of you seen the "clock"? Frankly, I don't blame the teachers for being a little nervous, especially when the student in question is a Muslim.

Obviously racial profiling works! /s