# RO: This is totally going to kill Bring Your Clock to School Day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2015, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454 "2015-09-16T08:35:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/301 "2015-09-18T17:12:57Z")
I assume the dad thought that as long as the kid never said it was anything but a clock, he would be fine. But you’re right that it’s not something worth messing around with. ETA: Does it suggest that keeping his head down and making his family’s safety his primary concern was paramount for him, that he jumped into that whole Terry Jones thing, despite living in a red county and a red state? I would tend to say not. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/302 "2015-09-18T17:29:32Z")
Jones put out a call online for somone to fill the role of defending the Koran. This guy responded - he felt he could do it and he got to take his family to Disney World in the bargain. It hardly seems like he was going to get his family killed or something. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/303 "2015-09-18T17:37:07Z")
So you see nothing wrong with playing the role of the defense attorney in a kangaroo court show trial, in the process semi-legitimizing the whole sordid affair? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/304 "2015-09-18T17:46:30Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So you see nothing wrong with playing the role of the defense attorney in a kangaroo court show trial, in the process semi-legitimizing the whole sordid affair? I wouldn’t do it myself. It doesn’t follow that he did it for self-promotion. It’s especially irrelevant given any evidence for self-promotion in this matter. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/305 "2015-09-18T17:53:26Z")
Given his anecdotes about his mad BASIC skillz and his supernatural feats of prognostication, this feels more like it has to do with **Slacker Inc’s** self promotion than anything else. Poor guy never got the attention he deserved. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/306 "2015-09-18T17:56:51Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So you see nothing wrong with playing the role of the defense attorney in a kangaroo court show trial, in the process semi-legitimizing the whole sordid affair? Why is it wrong? Perhaps it’s a tactical error at worst, if his goal is to present Islam in a good light (or perhaps not), but I don’t see that as a right/wrong sort of thing at all. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/307 "2015-09-18T19:19:18Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > He is fundamentally different - he was put in handcuffs, sent to detention and suspended from school. Yes, and that was a shitty thing to have happen to him. But over the last week even shittier things have happened to probably hundreds of other people. Somebody probably got thrown out of his apartment for no good reason. Another person probably got fired from their job for something their idiot boss did and blamed on her. Some other kid probably got arrested and put in jail on an equally bogus charge, and some lady was put in the hospital by a psycho boyfriend. Each of these events and many others could have been the RO of the week, but through the wonders of the Social media his story has that mystical undefinable quantity known as “buzz” and so he’s Queen for a day, while the others are just SOL. As I said this is more of a general purpose rant of which Ahmed just happened to be an example of. There is nothing that makes him any more undeserving than any other buzz recipient, he just happened to be the one up at the time I felt like ranting. And since his issue is firmly on my side of the political spectrum its easier to articulate my distaste of the media treatment as separate from any distaste of his politics. I’m probably the only one who feels this way, and everyone else is happy with the current 15 minute of fame lottery. But if you can’t voice ill conceived rants based on gut feelings in the pit where can you voice them. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/308 "2015-09-18T19:21:01Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So you see nothing wrong with playing the role of the defense attorney in a kangaroo court show trial, in the process semi-legitimizing the whole sordid affair? Yeah! Fuck him! And Atticus Finch, too! ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/309 "2015-09-18T20:02:55Z")
Now don’t you go dissin Atticus Finch. We can tolerate a lot, but not that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/310 "2015-09-18T20:09:24Z")
Sorry, I thought we were banging on _all_ defense attorneys in kangaroo courts, not just the Muslim ones. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/311 "2015-09-18T20:24:41Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Offspring of a female who believed dinosaurs and people coexisted are bound to have more than a few loose wires in their heads. You mean Bristol Palin is a hoax bomb? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/312 "2015-09-18T20:34:34Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > You mean Bristol Palin is a hoax bomb? Yes, and she will detonate if she ever steps into the Oval Office! Filling the land with hoaxes. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/313 "2015-09-18T20:37:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Sorry, I thought we were banging on _all_ defense attorneys in kangaroo courts, not just the Muslim ones. I’m always down for raggin on that smarmy bastard who defended the British soldiers who committed the Boston Massacre. What kind of lousy sumbich DEFENDS a bunch of soldiers who fire on civilians? Some kind of traitor that douchebag must have been. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/314 "2015-09-18T20:49:55Z")
I wonder if I sent [one of these](http://www.scientificsonline.com/product/two-potato-clock) anonymously to the Irving police department if everyone there would lose their shit? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/315 "2015-09-18T20:57:44Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Just very poor timing really. Whilst I understand the alarm of the authorities, they could have held off for some time until the situation had been brought before the school council and all the minutes of that meeting were available. > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Personally, I think hers was a very bad idea. There is no way on earth a school committee of some kind is capable of determining whether the item was a bomb or not. The police SHOULD have been called because they would be the only local authorities with the expertise to figure out if it’s dangerous. Geez…I didn’t think my post was THAT subtle. Sorry **Boyo Jim**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/316 "2015-09-18T21:01:05Z")
Yeah, I guess your joke bombed. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/317 "2015-09-18T21:23:12Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Yes, and that was a shitty thing to have happen to him. But over the last week even shittier things have happened to probably hundreds of other people. Somebody probably got thrown out of his apartment for no good reason. Another person probably got fired from their job for something their idiot boss did and blamed on her. Some other kid probably got arrested and put in jail on an equally bogus charge, and some lady was put in the hospital by a psycho boyfriend. Each of these events and many others could have been the RO of the week, but through the wonders of the Social media his story has that mystical undefinable quantity known as “buzz” and so he’s Queen for a day, while the others are just SOL. > > As I said this is more of a general purpose rant of which Ahmed just happened to be an example of. There is nothing that makes him any more undeserving than any other buzz recipient, he just happened to be the one up at the time I felt like ranting. And since his issue is firmly on my side of the political spectrum its easier to articulate my distaste of the media treatment as separate from any distaste of his politics. > > I’m probably the only one who feels this way, and everyone else is happy with the current 15 minute of fame lottery. But if you can’t voice ill conceived rants based on gut feelings in the pit where can you voice them. The media and the public at large can’t possibly pay attention to every wrong that occurs. So should attention be paid to none of them? If some get highlighted and get national attention then maybe, just possibly, society will be a little better for it and maybe a few less such wrongs will occur in the future. I think that there is a good chance that more than one school district around the country is now reviewing procedures based on this incident. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/318 "2015-09-18T22:00:23Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > I’m always down for raggin on that smarmy bastard who defended the British soldiers who committed the Boston Massacre. What kind of lousy sumbich DEFENDS a bunch of soldiers who fire on civilians? Some kind of traitor that douchebag must have been. > > Enjoy, > Steven Yeah, and our sainted founding fathers put him in his place. Nothing was ever heard of him again. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/319 "2015-09-18T22:15:39Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I wonder if I sent [one of these](http://www.scientificsonline.com/product/two-potato-clock) anonymously to the Irving police department if everyone there would lose their shit? God yes. Look! - Coiled wires! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/320 "2015-09-18T22:20:18Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yeah, I guess your joke bombed. Someone should clock you for that! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=17)