Student Arrested for Clock 'Bomb'

[Swatter]

Now, I have no doubt the father saw this as a golden opportunity to push his political agenda. At the same time, with the facts immediately at hand when the incident occurred, the school could have handled it a lot better. Getting the police involved due to the possibility of it being a bomb hoax, a position that did not stand up to scrutiny, was just stupid. Zero tolerance policies have caused so much stupidity in America, it really defies any sort of rational explanation.

On the other hand, the kid's identity and opportunities he receives for years going forward will be closely linked to a false victim narrative. It is sad, but that is the country we live in. This case is much like the Michael Brown case; a false racist narrative spreads like wildfire over a media all too willing to accept the story at face value. As cracks emerge in the story, the original creators of the myth have moved on. The myth becomes fact and the next time something similar happens, this new "fact" is the basis of the narrative for the new incident.

The media are simply too lazy and too frightened to revisit the false narratives it largely creates. We are left with the inability to sort fact from myth, because the media never sought to correct the narrative in the first place.

[mirth]

Getting the police involved due to the possibility of it being a bomb hoax, a position that did not stand up to scrutiny, was just stupid.

It increasingly looks like it was intended as a hoax bomb. It also seems likely the father had a hand in orchestrating the event with the intent to trigger a police response which he could then claim was heavy-handed.

What is not standing up to scrutiny is the notion that this was a kid who innocently built a homemade clock and brought it to school to impress his science teacher. It now looks like a staged event to push an agenda.

[Swatter]

I guess we will agree to disagree.

[bayonetbrant]

some decent perspective

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/ahmed-truthers-clock-muslim/

[mirth]

some decent perspective

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/ahmed-truthers-clock-muslim/

Great find, Brant.

This nicely captures how I now think about the matter.

I jumped to conclusions about Ahmed's clock the first time, so I'm not going to do it now. But what these geeks show us makes the entire episode look very fishy. The early Ahmed Truthers on this blog who suspected the kid was put up to this stunt by his attention-seeking gadfly of a father might have been on to something. Whatever the truth is, it seems at least likely that Ahmed did not "invent" anything. That may not justify the overreaction of school officials and the Irving police, but it's worth seriously considering, if Ahmed did, in fact, plagiarize this device, whether or not he was trying to provoke exactly this kind of overreaction. Somebody needs to get to the bottom of this — or has the story become too useful for the White House and others who rushed to Ahmed's defense to discredit?

[Swatter]

The problem we are dealing with has two distinct facets. The first is school reaction and the second is the fishiness of the father and the device after the fact. Its a sad commentary on the news media that instead of doing their job as reporters and investigators, they simply took initial reports and fit those reports into the pre-made narrative that minorities are oppressed by institutional racism. It just so happens that particular narrative is the go-to narrative to get hits and views (and perhaps fits into their worldview win-win).

I sincerely doubt the kid was being provocative, its just too convoluted. The proponents of the hoax theory want to string together events, that as you string the pieces together become less and less likely to the point where they simply say it is fishy.

The most likely explanation is that the kid put took apart a clock and put it into another case. Perhaps not the most praise worthy thing, but he thought it was cool. He brings it to school to show his teachers and it creeps some teachers out and they initiate the process that lead to the police being called and the kid being arrested. The kid was not being as cooperate as he could have been, perhaps he thought his father was right about Islamaphobia and was being a typical teenager when confronted with something unfair (shock, shock). Enter the father. He saw the political implications of this and immediately took advantage of the situation and the predictability of the media. This is where we stand now.

My scenario is the simplest and most likely explanation that fits the facts. No need for improvable supposition, just a simple narrative that fits what we know.

And yes, it is not fair to other kids who are standout inventors who receive no special attention from the President and other celebrities. At the same time, the idiotic response to the initial media reports and the gifts and opportunity that flowed from that are not the kids fault. I hope he makes the best use of his opportunities, though perhaps not truly earned. That life people!

[mirth]

I don't think it's stringing together facts. It's objectively looking at information that was left out of the original narrative. The closer one looks at this the more it looks like a staged event intended to provoke a response from the school/police and less like an innocent mistake by a 14 year old inventor.

[LongBlade]

an innocent mistake by a 14 year old inventor.

Keep in mind, per the article above, the kid *invented* nothing. He disassembled an electric clock from the 1980s and placed the various components (still connected to each other and working properly) into a briefcase. Having seen pictures of said "invention" it is clear the device in no way resembles a clock but instead looks like a bunch of electronics stuffed into a briefcase.

What that might look like I'll leave to your respective imaginations.

This isn't simply a random string of events which conspired against a hapless kid. The events have context. The context has meaning.

[mirth]

I was using the term 'inventor' ironically.

[LongBlade]

I was using the term 'inventor' ironically.

Ah. My mistake.

Carry on, my good man.

[Bison]

Well the news is the kids sister was suspended for making a bomb threat to her school a couple of years ago.   Seems like a family pattern forming to me.

[LongBlade]

Well the news is the kids sister was suspended for making a bomb threat to her school a couple of years ago.   Seems like a family pattern forming to me.

Events have context. Context matters.

[Nefaro]

Rumor has it that two of the questioning officers let a couple things slip to the locals:

1) The clock was counting down, not keeping time.

2) When questioned about it, the kid gave smartass remarks and refused to give a straight answer.  Therefore, the arrest theatrics.


Of course.. the details of the arrest cannot be officially released to the public because the kid is a minor and the parents would have to sign off on permission to do so.  Which would likely be against whatever original intent they had.

[LongBlade]

Rumor has it that two of the questioning officers let a couple things slip to the locals:

1) The clock was counting down, not keeping time.

2) When questioned about it, the kid gave smartass remarks and refused to give a straight answer.  Therefore, the arrest theatrics.


Of course.. the details of the arrest cannot be officially released to the public because the kid is a minor and the parents would have to sign off on permission to do so.  Which would likely be against whatever original intent they had.

That would be the final fact to seal this theory. It would explain everything.

Except how the kid got it to count down.

<reflects for a moment>

I'm not sure this story holds water. Remember, the science teacher saw it first. Wouldn't he have thrown up a flare if it were counting down? Seems weird.

[mirth]

Well the news is the kids sister was suspended for making a bomb threat to her school a couple of years ago.   Seems like a family pattern forming to me.

Events have context. Context matters.

#contextmatters