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Lettitor

Ticked off

ur social media feeds were

flooded last week with the
story of Ahmed Mohamed, a
14-year-old student in Irving,
Texas. Mohamed was wrongfully
detained by police following the
discovery of a clock teachers
thought resembled a bomb. He
has since received an outpouring
of support, including numerous
celebrities speaking out on his
behalf and even an invitation to
the White House from President
Obama.

Colour and race are
prevalent in this case.
Islamophobia is, unfortunately,
an irrational anxiety pushed
by fearmongers everywhere.
Muslim boy in a school with a
device that has numbers on it?
Must be a bomb. Mohamed was
handcuffed, interrogated, and
eventually freed, but one has to
wonder how on earth any of this
was allowed to happen.

According to reports, the
alarm clock went off during one
of Mohamed’s classes, leading
to its discovery by a teacher
who was unaware of his clock
and to Mohamed’s subsequent
detention. The “bomb” had
already gone off—its greatest
threat, alerting any and all in the
vicinity that it was a certain time
of day, was spent. Why were
officers called? Why wasn’t the
school evacuated? Why wasn't
the bomb squad called? This was
a serious bomb threat, wasn’t
it? Instead, everyone dawdled
around, scaring the living
daylights out of some innocent

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© The Other Pressreservestheright to choose what we will publish, and we will not publish material

: kid, waiting for the usual dose
: of an unnecessary show of police :
: force—in this case, handcuffs.

Critical thinking requires

? an examination from either

: side. However, I feel the need

: to preface my words. I don’t

: condone any of the actions

: taken by either the school or

: the police in this matter. The

: relevant authorities were wholly
: and completely in the wrong.

: Regardless of any other aspect or :
: detail, such treatment of a Grade
: g student who obviously wasn’t a :
: danger to anyone, is completely
: inappropriate and inexcusable.

An affinity for tinkering

: with tech is not a hobby

: that even a minority of the

: population is capable of. We

: can assume that Mohamed is a
: bright, aware young man. But his :
: intelligence is one of the main
: reasons some red flags can be
: raised.

An alarm clock most

definitely needs something

: to contain it, but why choose

: something so easily associated
: (thanks, Hollywood) with an

: explosive device? The case

: already selected though, and

: the aforementioned constant

: possibility of Islamophobia being :
:a common and strong fear, why :
: was Mohamed allowed to take

: it to school? The issue is raised

: again when the first teacher

: Mohamed showed the alarm to

: supposedly told him not to show
: it to other teachers—a wise piece :
: of advice. However, the clock
: goes off during another class and :

: the rest is history.

But why have the clock go

: off? Especially having been

: told by a teacher who was

: clearly on friendlier terms with

: Mohamed, wouldn’t it make

: sense to deactivate, or at least

: mute the device? In addition to

: this, Mohamed mentions in an

: interview that he didn’t lock the
: box, instead using a simple cable
: so it wouldn't seem “suspicious.” :
It’s his use of the word suspicious :
: that truly throws me. It implies

that he was fully aware of how

: his invention could be construed
: and was trying to make it less so. :
: One can further infer that due to
: this knowledge, he has a decent

: understanding of Islamophobia

: and the spotlight upon himself

: because of it.

None of it quite checks out

: for me. Though all the extreme

: right wing stories about how he
: probably didn’t build the clock

: and such are irrelevant. The

: kid’s backstory works: he’s made
: gadgets for friends as presents.

: He knows his stuff. My issue is

: that he’s too smart and too aware :
: to allow himself to fall into an

: easily avoidable situation. All of
: this leads to the possibility that

this was planned.
And it may not have been

: only Mohamed’s own doing.

: Despite the temporary fallout, in
: North America’s simultaneously :
: racially oversensitive and :
: insensitive culture, it wouldn't

be difficult to see how the event

: could play out. There would be

the initial overreaction to the

 
 

Image via www.huffingtonpost.com

: discovery, an equal overreaction
: from the police, and then the

: endless social media backlash

: for all involved authorities as

: the victim is praised to the high
: heavens.

Going along with this for

: a moment, what would be the

: motive? For one, personal fame
: is instant. The Twitter account
: @IStandWithAhmed has

> over 100,000 followers. Mark

Zuckerberg and innumerable

: others are behind him. Microsoft
: even sent the kid a ton of their
: products. If he ever wants to do

something entrepreneurial, or

: anything for that matter, he’s
: already got his own brand.

But perhaps the issue was

: bigger than that. Personal fame
: aside, maybe Mohamed just

: wanted to draw attention to

: Islamophobia. Irrational fears

: are only ever stopped when it

: becomes popular opinion to

: be opposed to them. Having a

: young student be handcuffed

: for bringing a clock to school?

: Pretty ridiculous. Very difficult

to support that action. Being

: an Islamophobe after that is
: definitely contrary to popular
: opinion.

Much food for thought here,

: whether youre a right winger,
: left winger, or just a sensible
: thinker.

Danke danke,

Editor-in-Chief

@ theotherpress.ca

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