Reverse engineering the narrative of Ahmed's clock
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| Obviously, it's a clock |
Instead of saying much myself about what appears to be a very clever passive-aggressive hoax designed to bring sympathy to North Texas Muslims in general and fame and hard cash to the Mohamed family central to the whole thing in particular, I'm just going to put up a series of links that highlight anomalies in the Ahmed narrative either not or under reported elsewhere.
Gina Cassini has put the two main elements together, that the clock was not an invention but rather a reassembly of old clock parts in an aluminum pencil case, a setup that - odd for a clock - concealed the digital clock face. In other words, a jumble of electronic parts in a closed box: of course, "It's a clock".
The other element was the early reaching out for legal aid.
CNN reveals that Ahmed has already scored close to $10,000 out of a goal of $100,000 from his ordeal. If Ahmed makes his goal, a scholarship to MIT will be moot.
Running a story on Sarah Palin, extensive pictures at the British Daily Mail reveal the pre-designed-in Muslim angle to the affair.
Here's a YouTube video of Bill Maher's show including, among others, North Texas billionaire Mark Cuban
Taken together, the entire collection of facts of the case suggest a brilliant passive-aggressive ploy which sucked in as its accelerant everyone from local publisher Wick Allison's lily-white empire to the President of the United States.
Credit in this affair should be extended to both the local high school and police department, who simply did their jobs as detailed and didn't backpedal or otherwise allow themselves to be Ahmed like the rest of the media. Even the the Islamic Association of North Texas, which operates the Mohamed family mosque, put out a statement saying
"We're not pointing a finger at the school district or the police department," Hamideh said. "Under the current climate that exists in this country, you can't really blame them because when they see something like that, they have to react."
So Keith, you now ask, where should I be placing my future wagers?
I'd say
100% that the liberals double down and dig in on this
50%/50% whether or not the Mohamed's try to squeeze some lawsuit money out of the affair
Pretty sure that anything substantial in the way of the offers (Facebook, Twitter, MIT, etc.) will quietly fade away with the news cycle.
100% that we now have a new verb: to be/have been Ahmed.
UPDATE (as they say):
50%/50% whether the family really wants any more close inspection of Ahmed's clock, or of any other facts of the case for that matter:
Officer James McLellan said Thursday the family is free now to recover the clock that was seized as evidence, but the family has not kept appointments for meetings to do so.
:
Irving Independent School District Communications Director Lesley Weaver said there is more information, but it cannot be released without a privacy waiver from the family. “All they have to do is sign a release form and we’ll be able to give a different perspective of what happened that day in the classroom and the hours following,” she said.
:
Mohamed family members declined to discuss a privacy waiver. They were still considering possible legal representation over the incident and national television interview requests Thursday.
UPDATE 2:
More of the Mohamed Family's Zany Sense of Humor: "Twin Towers Transportation Corp."
Incidentally, I pulled this last link from the site of Rod "#IStandWithAhmed" Dreher, founder of the Benedict Option, my prime candidate for sockpuppet Benny, founder of the now abandoned fake Catholic, pro-Benedict Option newsletter The Benedict Post, and all around beloved Moses who will lead us all into the Benedict Option land of Safe Spaces, but not until the Easter Bunny appears to him in a dream wearing a hijab and pointing the way.
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ReplyDeleteMy take on all this: I don't know whether Ahmed was originally put up to the prank (say by his chip-on-the-shoulder family). So I'll start with my most-likely premise that he's an adolescent boy all too happy to demonstrate how stupid and lame the teachers and admins at his school are -- as adolescent boys are inclined to do (voice of experience speaking).
ReplyDeleteAnd as is all too common these days among "educators" who know so little about what they purport to teach -- there is no limit to the knee-jerk ignorance of current-day public schools.
But as is all too common these days among the "victim" baiters and those willing to be baited (Mohamed family and CAIR among the former, Obama and the media among the latter), the adolescent prank is so easily turned into a worldwide phenomenon (BBC lead story), with its penumbrae reaching presidential politics (the Ben Carson silliness).
Wash, rinse, repeat, until the next outrage-of-the-day pops up.
P.S. I see that #IStandWithAhmed Dreher, or more accurately #HookLineAndSinker Dreher, has now turned, and is becoming #IStandWithAhmedTruthers Dreher.
While it would be hard to invent a more eager useful tool of a wannabe-liked puppy than Ahmed Mohamed, it's really difficult to understand the total obtuseness of any Muslim, particularly one as old as 14 years, to the public perception, in recently Sharia-sensitized Irving, TX, of a Muslim bringing an ambiguous looking electronic device to school in a closed aluminum case a week after 9/11. I wouldn't be surprised, however, to find young Ahmed somewhere on the high-functioning autism scale.
DeleteDreher, of course, always maintains a wide stance. He's the Colossus of Rhodes of opinion opportunity.
Oh I'm sure his being Muslim was part of the prank as thought up by young Ahmed. But I'm not convinced that it was originally conceived as a worldwide media event or political statement, rather than merely a kid's prank.
DeleteMy larger point is that a school that cannot apply some level of reasoned judgment, along with the basic awareness of how the world works so as to discern a clock from an explosive device, ought not be trusted with the education of children. Nor should schools that cannot apply reasoned judgment when a small child chews a Pop-Tart into the shape of a pistol, or hands out candy canes with Christmas verses, etc. etc. etc.
My larger point is that a school that cannot apply some level of reasoned judgment, along with the basic awareness of how the world works so as to discern a clock from an explosive device, ought not be trusted with the education of children.
DeleteFrom what I understand from everything I've read they understood it wasn't a bomb almost immediately. In fact, the left continues even now pushing the meme that the authorities there thought it was a bomb, mainly by using Ahmed's quote "she thought it was a bomb" when in fact here teacher actually said "It looks like a bomb". Social gambits like the one being played out depend on such differences.
The true concern which persisted was over not being sure whether the thing was brought in as a prankish hoax bomb, against which they have a fairly immovable policy, or whether in fact it was simply an innocent attempt to impress as claimed. Given the plausible deniability of the moment and the looming liability of publicly accusing a young Muslim, the school and the Irving police ultimately demurred, never realizing that they never really had any options in the first place.
From what I understand from everything I've read they understood it wasn't a bomb almost immediately. .... The true concern which persisted was over not being sure whether the thing was brought in as a prankish hoax bomb, against which they have a fairly immovable policy...
DeleteIf this is indeed the case, then what possible rationale can there be for involving the police? Beyond the usual cowardice of "our hands are tied - we have a zero-tolerance policy", of course.
And if that is indeed the case, this should have been at most a matter for school discipline, as in scraping gum on Saturday or somesuch. Utter stupidity.