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[Bohandas]

While not entirely related, its kinda kinda hard to blame people for not forgetting about 9/11, though the whole thing with the muslim boy was the result of huge fearmongering.

I don't see any meaningful difference between those protesters and Westboro Baptist protestors

[TempAcc]

And yet, if you make a twitter post about how Westboro Baptists are insane, nobody will you out, and might even support you. Now, if you make a post about radical muslims being insane, hoo boy, you're in for a mountain of posts about how you're supposedly accusing all muslims of being violent, being racist, etc.

Also, radical muslims compose a much larger and more dangerous group than the entirety of the Westboro Baptists.

[Rolan7]

I feel sorry for this poor kid, but the article didn't show any pictures of the clock.

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.

According to Business Insider, here's a picture of a box "like the one Ahmed used for his clock".  Even has a holograph on it, so maybe the same model?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The teacher heard this thing *beep* in the backpack, and made him pull it out.  It's full of hand-soldered electronics and a digital display.  "It's a clock" isn't enough explanation.  I don't blame the teacher at all.  Or the kid.  Sometimes unfortunate misunderstandings happen and nobody's to blame.

It sounds like the police way overreacted though.  Cuffs and fingerprints?  WTF?  Unless he was being uncooperative (he *is* 14) but I don't think he was.

[Bohandas]

And yet, if you make a twitter post about how Westboro Baptists are insane, nobody will you out, and might even support you. Now, if you make a post about radical muslims being insane, hoo boy, you're in for a mountain of posts about how you're supposedly accusing all muslims of being violent, being racist, etc.

Also, radical muslims compose a much larger and more dangerous group than the entirety of the Westboro Baptists.

I don't use twitter. The people on it are a bunch of twits.

[Arx]

I don't use twitter. The people on it are a bunch of twits.

I... I actually have no words.

[Bauglir]

"It's a clock" isn't enough explanation.

It's exactly enough explanation. That's what it is. What needs to be added?

[Bohandas]

I feel sorry for this poor kid, but the article didn't show any pictures of the clock.

They do, (or at least they show him with something I think might be it) but it's kind of hidden off to the side and not labeled. When the casing was open it had exposed circuit boards (and an exposed speaker), presumably being digital, but I've never known circuit boards (or speakers) to explode outside of cartoons. At worst a severely overstressed and defective unit might catch fire, but even that is quite rare.

EDIT:

[TempAcc]

Well, just saying "its a clock" to an object full of soldered up electronical components inside a metal casing that ocasionally beeps and has numerical counters to a teacher in an american school full of kids isn't really the best explanation ever, to be honest. Maybe an electrical engineer or a bomb squad member might be able to tell what it is right off the bat, but not normal people. If anything, it didn't show any apparent payload.

[Bohandas]

Circuit boards don't explode.

EDIT:
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a dish of Jell-o has a better chance of being a bomb. The jelly could be colored gelignite.

[Yoink]

It does look kinda suss. Like a prop bomb you'd see someone defusing in a Hollywood film.

[Arx]

I have seen the Cape Town High Court closed down, the area cordoned off, and a bomb squad called because someone left a suitcase leaning against the wall before. It's not entirely a 'he's Muslim' thing.

It's bloody stupid, and given that this is America we're talking about it's probably ninety percent that he's Muslim, but I've seen this happen in cases with less to suggest it was a bomb/other weapon.

[TD1]

I don't, I'm biased against it :v! Mostly an issue of syncretism, but thats not a problem in all neopagan circles. Neopaganism is a really broad term that I probably make incorrect use of most of the time.

Oh, hehe

I'm likewise biased, only against every single religion

[Bohandas]

I don't, I'm biased against it :v! Mostly an issue of syncretism, but thats not a problem in all neopagan circles. Neopaganism is a really broad term that I probably make incorrect use of most of the time.

And stuff that's not only been flat out made up, but made up in an era when people should know better. Wicca is particularly representative of this.

[Spehss _]

I don't use twitter. The people on it are a bunch of twits.

Ha, nice.

[Arx]

While we're talking about Twitter and the clock...

Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.

Possibly actually Obama, probably a PR person running the Twitter account.


_{'It's what makes America great.™'}