a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by Standpipe

    A 9V battery in a backpack is orders of magnitude less dangerous than a cell phone in a backpack. 9Vs can get hot enough to smoke. LiPo can get hot enough to explode. Yet we put up with cell phone batteries by the dozens in every classroom.

In this case the wires and boards were unsecured and could easily have shorted, unlike in a cell phone. Had he plugged it in there's an unprotected transformer floating around in the case.

    You're missing the fact that the kid brought in a project for a class, got credit for that project, and was told "don't show that to anybody" by his teacher.

Wait, is that true? Nothing I've read said anything about it being a project.

    And then, rather than having anyone ask that teacher about the pencil case full of clock parts, the school district called in five cops.

You missed the part where the kid continued to show the clock to others and then set the clock to go off during another class after being told not to show anyone else.

    Not the bomb squad, mind you.

No, because the kid was trying to cause a disruption with a suspicious device, not with a bomb.

Doesn't the whole incident seem suspicious? The kid's behavior, the response, it really seems like there's more behind the story and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the kid has been disruptive in a similar manner before. It's the only explanation that makes any sense.





kleinbl00  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Do you really live in fear of unsecured 9V batteries?

Well good news, friend, because an unsecured 9V battery can't make a clock go off.

    Wait, is that true? Nothing I've read said anything about it being a project.

Did you look?

    Ahmed’s clock was hardly his most elaborate creation. He said he threw it together in about 20 minutes before bedtime on Sunday: a circuit board and power supply wired to a digital display, all strapped inside a case with a tiger hologram on the front.

    He showed it to his engineering teacher first thing Monday morning and didn’t get quite the reaction he’d hoped for.

    “He was like, ‘That’s really nice,’” Ahmed said. “‘I would advise you not to show any other teachers.’”

No, no wait.

    He kept the clock inside his school bag in English class, but the teacher complained when the alarm beeped in the middle of a lesson. Ahmed brought his invention up to show her afterward.

    “She was like, it looks like a bomb,” he said.

    “I told her, ‘It doesn’t look like a bomb to me.’”

    The teacher kept the clock. When the principal and a police officer pulled Ahmed out of sixth period, he suspected he wouldn’t get it back.

But wait, there's more:

    They led Ahmed into a room where four other police officers waited. He said an officer he’d never seen before leaned back in his chair and remarked: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.”

    Ahmed felt suddenly conscious of his brown skin and his name — one of the most common in the Muslim religion. But the police kept him busy with questions.

    The bell rang at least twice, he said, while the officers searched his belongings and questioned his intentions. The principal threatened to expel him if he didn’t make a written statement, he said.

    “They were like, ‘So you tried to make a bomb?’” Ahmed said.

    “I told them no, I was trying to make a clock.”

    “He said, ‘It looks like a movie bomb to me.’”

"Wait, is that true?" No, I lied. I made it up. I stated something as fact so that maybe you'd accept it at face value and not notice that my entire point is based on falsehood.

Does the whole incident seem suspicious? Friend, I had a Pakistani friend who had to stop running at lunch because he got sick of longshoremen spitting on him. But you know what? If I were "suspicious" about something, I might read about it a little more instead of questioning the veracity of people who demonstrably know more than you.

Standpipe  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Do you really live in fear of unsecured 9V batteries?

Of course not, just pointing out that the device was sketchy at best.

    "Wait, is that true?" No, I lied. I made it up. I stated something as fact so that maybe you'd accept it at face value and not notice that my entire point is based on falsehood.

I'm confused. I would say you're being sarcastic but nothing in your comment nor the link you provided says it was a project for school.

    He said an officer he’d never seen before leaned back in his chair and remarked: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.”

    Ahmed felt suddenly conscious of his brown skin and his name — one of the most common in the Muslim religion.

Is he the only brown-skinned child in his school? Because this statement could be considered racist if that's the case....or it still could be because the kid is actually a known trouble-maker and has had similar issues before. Just because the kid claims he hadn't seen the officer before does not mean it's true. He also claimed he invented the clock.

Even if the officer had not seen the kid before he may have heard about the child if he was causing trouble from other officers.

    But you know what? If I were "suspicious" about something, I might read about it a little more instead of questioning the veracity of people who demonstrably know more than you.

You're right. Your one friend's anecdotal experiences makes you demonstrably more knowledgeable about a case that we've both read the same information about and you still make statements about that you can't verify.

user-inactivated  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

oooooh dis gun be good

kleinbl00  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Naah. Blocked and out.

Standpipe  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

He doesn't have a valid point so he blocked me, lol.

cgod  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

His points seem more than reasonable.

You seem like an authoritarian apologist who doesn't give a shit that your previous "points" were rebutted and will continuously find reasons that five cops need to put an innocent young boy in handcuffs. Why would he want to keep engaging with you?

You might not be a cop/authority ass kiss, you also might be a troll.

Standpipe  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    His points seem more than reasonable.

i just don't get how anyone can believe that. A serious response like that usually has serious reasons behind it, and that is what is actually reasonable to assume. Without clear evidence of racism (like slurs), it's not logical to blame the reaction on racism with the details we know.

    You seem like an authoritarian apologist who doesn't give a shit that your previous "points" were rebutted

What was rebutted? That the device was sketchy? That he was told not to show it to others and he ignored that?

All I've maintained is that the whole situation seems very strange and that there's no way to know whether the reaction was justified given the details that have come out.

cgod  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The cops never thought it was a bomb, the school never thought it was a bomb, the kid never represented it as anything but a clock. Five cops arrested a fourteen year old boy for having a clock.

I'll anxiously await new details.

Standpipe  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

As any logical person should, as there are massive holes in the story.

cgod  ·  3377 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Any updates?

Standpipe  ·  3376 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Nope, gone from our social awareness like the puff piece it actually was.

cgod  ·  3376 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Or there is no diabolical plot afoot, did you consider that? Just assholes cops over reacting and stupid zero tolerance school policies.

Standpipe  ·  3375 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've always maintained that it could go either way based on what we know. It just feels like there's more to the story than the media presented to get most people to foam at the mouth.

user-inactivated  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

lol no he just doesn't feel like playing today.

I am though. Where the hell you at bruh, I responded.

Standpipe  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    lol no he just doesn't feel like playing today.

Hard to play when you have no game.

    Where the hell you at bruh, I responded.

I'm on my way fam, see ya soon. Let's go get some Froyo, yo.

arguewithatree  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

what? he's a 14 yr old kid who's proud of what he made. of course he's gonna show it off.

Standpipe  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

He's a 14 year old kid that actually didn't make anything and was told not to show it to others because he might get in trouble and ignored that statement. I suspect the teacher knew he was going to be disruptive (probably based on previous behavior), and really should have held onto the clock until the end of the day to prevent an issue. Does the reaction seem overblown: yes. Does that actually mean we can call it a 100% inappropriate response without knowing all the details and the kid's behavioral history: no.

arguewithatree  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

what do you mean he didn't make anything? shit, as a 23 yr old i couldn't wire a circuit board to anything to save my ass lol.

also i like how you're trying to say that we can't draw conclusions based on not knowing his behavioral history but you're over here willy nilly saying things about how he must have been intentionally disruptive. i've seen nothing suggesting either way that he was more or less disruptive than your average kid.

Standpipe  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    what do you mean he didn't make anything? shit, as a 23 yr old i couldn't wire a circuit board to anything to save my ass lol.

He unscrewed the case to a clock and shoved the components in a pencil box. No wiring at all. Here's a video showing what he did:

    also i like how you're trying to say that we can't draw conclusions based on not knowing his behavioral history but you're over here willy nilly saying things about how he must have been intentionally disruptive. i've seen nothing suggesting either way that he was more or less disruptive than your average kid.

My point is that it could go either way and generally things don't get such a response for no reason.

arguewithatree  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Enh ok so he didn't reinvent the wheel. still better than your average 14 yr old i'd argue

no reason except...racism and islamophobia?

Standpipe  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Possibly, or maybe he was truly a disruptive presence in the school. People love to jump on the outrage wagon, though, so the media plays it up.

The true test will be in whether or not there's a lawsuit and the outcome of that. I haven't read anything that suggests the parents are going to sue, which also sounds fishy to me. Sounds like they'd get a nice settlement to me as the district wouldn't want to go to court if they couldn't show the kid had behavioral problems.

user-inactivated  ·  3383 days ago  ·  link  ·  

We've reached the eye of the circlejerk.

    Only by insisting that the administration reacted due to racism makes this a race issue.

Nigga I'm not even gonna touch that quote, I just want you to look at it again.

If they were that fucking scared they wouldn't have kept it around and in police cars and near teachers and without an evacuation of any kind.

You're reaching so hard trying to jerk yourself off with your devil's advocate garbage that you're going to break your pelvis.