# 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:** 37
**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 23, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/721 "2015-09-23T18:00:48Z")
We’re back to this, really? I thought you guys had long since abandoned trying to stick up for the idea that this was even above the median, skillwise, for a 14 year old. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/722 "2015-09-23T18:02:58Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > We’re back to this, really? I thought you guys had long since abandoned trying to stick up for the idea that this was even above the median, skillwise, for a 14 year old. No one is suggesting that. Are you just making up shit you want to be true now? ---
**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 23, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/723 "2015-09-23T18:05:02Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Without any evidence for it, I dismiss it out of hand. Sure, it’s possible. But a lot of things are possible. Without evidence, this is just a wild guess at, essentially, an extremely minor conspiracy theory. Fair point. But I think I should get “the field”, as in Ahmed is not being entirely truthful, even if the details are fuzzy. ETA: Andros, I think it was a fair inference from the challenge “what did you do at 14?” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/724 "2015-09-23T18:06:15Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Aside from it being completely useless as an actual clock, it’s pretty cool. I dunno… alarm function seems to work fine. > [@FXMastermind](#): > > I wish I had thought of putting an old clock in a mini briefcase, then getting busted for having it at school. It’s not too late! Shove a clock in a briefcase, run into a high school with it and then whine to [Breitbart.com](http://Breitbart.com) when you get arrested. I bet _someone_ will send you some shit. Maybe a lifetime NRA membership or something. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/725 "2015-09-23T18:33:42Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > It’s fine if people don’t find it convincing. I’d be happy to see people just not dismiss it out of hand, which deep down is where I think a lot of people have already shifted even if they don’t want to say so (the human desire to appear consistent is very stubborn). That dog won’t hunt dude. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/726 "2015-09-23T19:10:49Z")
“If You See Something, Say Something” \*Across the nation, we’re all part of communities. In cities, on farms, and in the suburbs, we share everyday moments with our neighbors, colleagues, family, and friends. It’s easy to take for granted the routine moments in our every day—going to work or school, the grocery store or the gas station. But your every day is different than your neighbor’s—filled with the moments that make it uniquely yours. So if you see something you know shouldn’t be there—or someone’s behavior that doesn’t seem quite right—say something. Because only you know what’s supposed to be in your everyday. Informed, alert communities play a critical role in keeping our nation safe. “If You See Something, Say Something™” engages the public in protecting our homeland through awareness–building, partnerships, and other outreach\*. [http://www.dhs.gov/see-something-say-something](http://www.dhs.gov/see-something-say-something) \*(Ahmed) Mohamed comes from a Muslim family and is the son of Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, an immigrant and entrepreneur from Sudan who has twice sought to be elected the Sudanese president. Arrest …Mohamed, a 14-year-old freshman who attended MacArthur High School at the time, assembled a clock at his home during the weekend, on September 13, 2015. Mohamed made the clock hastily with only a few parts inside what appears to be a pencil case. As the Dallas Morning News characterized it, "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… …On the next day, September 14, 2015, he brought the clock to school to show it to his engineering teacher. His teacher, upon seeing the clock, said, “That’s really nice”, but advised him to keep the device in his backpack for the rest of the school day. However, after Mohamed plugged it in, the clock beeped in his English class, and the teacher requested to see it. The English teacher then said, “Well, it looks like a bomb. Don’t show it to anyone else.”\* **If Mohamed was had been advised by his engineering teacher to keep the device in his backpack for the rest of the day, why did Mohamed plug in this device in his English class?** _The English teacher then said, “Well, it looks like a bomb. Don’t show it to anyone else.”_ **Remember - If you see something, say something.** \*The English teacher reported him to the school principal’s office, and the police were called. The principal and a police officer then took him out of class and led him to a room where four other officers were waiting. After interrogating him for about an hour and a half, he was taken into custody for “possession of a hoax bomb”, escorted out of the school in handcuffs, taken to a juvenile detention center, and fingerprinted before being released to his parents… …Under Texas law, it is illegal to possess a “hoax bomb” with an intent to “make another believe that the hoax bomb is an explosive or incendiary device” or to “cause [an] alarm or reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies.”\* > **[Ahmed Mohamed clock incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Mohamed_(student))** > > On September 14, 2015, then 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested at the MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, for bringing a disassembled digital clock to school. The incident ignited allegations of racial profiling and Islamophobia from many media sources and commentators. > The episode arose when Mohamed reassembled the parts of a digital clock in an 8-inch (20 cm) pencil container and brought it to school to show his teachers. His English teacher thought the device resembled a bomb, confi... It doesn’t seem that Ahmed Mohamed brought this device to school for a class project. He just brought a bomb-looking clock device to school on a whim. After being told by one teacher to keep the device in his backpack, Mohamed deliberately disregarded this advice and opened his backpack in English class in order to plugg the bomb-like clock device into an electrical outlet. Why would he do that? (To draw attention to himself? To create an incident? Because he’s too stupid to realize what effect a bomb-like device would have in a school environment? ) Once the English teacher contacted the Principle (if you see something, say something), the Principle contacted the police (again, if you see something, say something). The police investigated the incident (if something suspicious is reported, you damn well better check it out). Ahmed Mohamed gets invited to the White House. If another student had brought a butter knife to school, they would have been suspended and told to find another school. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/727 "2015-09-23T19:18:48Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > “If You See Something, Say Something” > > … I saw a kid carrying a backpack. It looked very similar to the one the Boston bomber had. Then I saw another, then another, then ever more. I used my head and didn’t say anything. Nothing exploded. “If you see something, use your fucking head” fits better. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/728 "2015-09-23T19:29:44Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I saw a kid carrying a backpack. It looked very similar to the one the Boston bomber had. Then I saw another, then another, then ever more. I used my head and didn’t say anything. Nothing exploded. > > “If you see something, use your fucking head” fits better. Did you see a pressure cooker? That’s what the Boston Marathon monsters used. If you object to “If you see something, say something”, I suggest you take it up with the DEPT of HOMELAND SECURITY. This 14yr old certainly didn’t act like some kind of hero. Or a genius. What he did was simply stupid. ---
**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 23, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/729 "2015-09-23T19:38:18Z")
What evidence is there that Obama tweeted before seeing the clock? The tweet apparently came at 12:58 PM on the 16th, according to this: > **[President Obama Tweets at Muslim Boy Whose Homemade Clock Was Mistaken For Bomb](https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/09/16/president-obama-tweets-muslim-boy-whose-homemade-clock-was-mistaken-for-bomb)** > > 'Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?' tweeted the @POTUS account. The photo was released at the time of the Irving Police press statement, which had occurred “late in the morning” of the 16th, as per: [http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/09/16/irving-police-chief-student-macharthur-high-school-bomb-scare/32501713/](http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/09/16/irving-police-chief-student-macharthur-high-school-bomb-scare/32501713/) It’s funny that people criticizing Obama for acting without sufficient information would get the information so wrong. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/730 "2015-09-23T19:39:06Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > **If Mohamed was had been advised by his engineering teacher to keep the device in his backpack for the rest of the day, why did Mohamed plug in this device in his English class?** Because he is 14 and did not spend a lot of time thinking that an obvious clock would look like a bomb to anyone. Because 14-year-olds are so noted for their tendency to follow the letter of every instruction given to them. > [@doorhinge](#): > > _The English teacher then said, “Well, it looks like a bomb. Don’t show it to anyone else.”_ > > **Remember - If you see something, say something.** > > _The English teacher reported him to the school principal’s office, and the police were called. The principal and a police officer then took him out of class and led him to a room where four other officers were waiting. After interrogating him for about an hour and a half, he was taken into custody for “possession of a hoax bomb”, escorted out of the school in handcuffs, taken to a juvenile detention center, and fingerprinted before being released to his parents…_ So, suspecting that it was a bomb, no bomb squad was called, no evacuation of the school was called, the police did not bother to talk to him for another several class periods after the “bomb” was discovered, but when they did, they prevented him from calling his parents or talking to a lawyer. Thus, we see that the school authorities are idiots for sitting on a suspected bomb and taking no action to protect the school from a suspected bomb. (Or the school administration knew it was no bomb, but decided to harass the kid because of his ethnic background.) We also see that the police are in violation of the law. > [@doorhinge](#): > > …Under Texas law, it is illegal to possess a “hoax bomb” with an intent to “make another believe that the hoax bomb is an explosive or incendiary device” or to “cause [an] alarm or reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies.”\* Every time he was asked, he said it was a clock. Under no no reading of the story could this be considered a hoax bomb. All they had to do, (if they were too stupid to recognize that there was no explosive), was go talk to the engineering instructor. > [@doorhinge](#): > > [Ahmed Mohamed clock incident - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Mohamed_(student)) > > It doesn’t seem that Ahmed Mohamed brought this device to school for a class project. He just brought a bomb-looking clock device to school on a whim. After being told by one teacher to keep the device in his backpack, Mohamed deliberately disregarded this advice and opened his backpack in English class in order to plugg the bomb-like clock device into an electrical outlet. > > Why would he do that? (To draw attention to himself? To create an incident? Because he’s too stupid to realize what effect a bomb-like device would have in a school environment? ) Because he is 14 and does not realize that adults consider clocks to be the same things as bombs–even when they take no action to protect the other students and faculty under their care. > [@doorhinge](#): > > Once the English teacher contacted the Principle (if you see something, say something), the Principle contacted the police (again, if you see something, say something). The police investigated the incident (if something suspicious is reported, you damn well better check it out). It helps if they do not violate the law in the meantime. (And they, too, were too stupid to order an evacuation of the school from a suspected bomb or to call the bomb squad to analyze the device.) > [@doorhinge](#): > > Ahmed Mohamed gets invited to the White House. If another student had brought a butter knife to school, they would have been suspended and told to find another school. If the student had been John Jones instead of Ahmed Mohamed, the school would have never called the police and the police would not have violated his civil rights. John Jones might have received a detention for disrupting the class and that would have been the end of the matter. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/731 "2015-09-23T19:42:11Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > This 14yr old certainly didn’t act like some kind of hero. No one says he did. Don’t make stupid shit up. > [@](#): > > Or a genius. No one says he did. Don’t make stupid shit up. > [@](#): > > What he did was simply stupid. Kids are idiots. What the fuck is your excuse? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/732 "2015-09-23T19:47:31Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Did you see a pressure cooker? That’s what the Boston Marathon monsters used. > > … No the BMB hid the pressure cooker inside a backpack like the ones I described above. I guess you missed that. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/733 "2015-09-23T20:01:23Z")
“If you see something, say something” applies to suspicious activity. You see someone leave a backpack or taking a bunch of photos of a power plant, etc. In this case, what the teacher saw was a clock, one that the teacher knew was a clock. One that the principle knew was a clock. One that the police knew was a clock. Upon seeing that it was just a clock, the path should have ended with the teacher. ---
**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 23, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/734 "2015-09-23T20:03:12Z")
Referring to him as just Mohamed is an interesting choice. Typically we don’t just last-name kids. I wonder what is motivating that? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/735 "2015-09-23T20:28:31Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Referring to him as just Mohamed is an interesting choice. Typically we don’t just last-name kids. I wonder what is motivating that? In view of **doorhinge** ’s [peculiar naming conventions](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17150095&postcount=754) in his many Bridgegate posts, I’m surprised he doesn’t refer to Ahmed as “Hoax Bomb Mohamed.” ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/736 "2015-09-23T20:29:24Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > No, in the real world, a clock isn’t hidden inside a case, a case that you have to open to even see the clock, and then you have to plug it in somewhere. Actually there are clocks that display that way. They are fold-able for use when travelling. In the olden days they were wind-up. With digital clocks they run on batteries. Adding a plug adds to the bulkiness but I suppose it was to show how to do two types of power (and to kids… more complicated is better.) [Fold-able and cased travel alarm clock images on google](https://www.google.com/search?q=folding+alarm+clock+case&biw=1236&bih=577&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMIxN3D9_yNyAIVgnuSCh39AAH7) Nowadays just about everyone uses their cellphones as an alarm but there are a few Luddites like my husband and me who use radio clocks and those have power cords and battery back-up. There might even be a few people who still prefer wind-up clocks. Can you imagine the looks on the teachers and cops faces seeing this clock: [http://img.diglog.com/img/2008/1/middle\_86fe7c8216f64ba8878bd2841e21c934.jpg](http://img.diglog.com/img/2008/1/middle_86fe7c8216f64ba8878bd2841e21c934.jpg) ---
**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 23, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/737 "2015-09-23T20:31:35Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Referring to him as just Mohamed is an interesting choice. If Mohamed had created a cool app for a phone, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Hell, we wouldn’t even know Mohamed existed. But you bring one suitcase bomb to school … ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/738 "2015-09-23T20:35:07Z")
If Mohamed will not go to school, the school must go to Mohamed. > [@some pitiful fool](#): > > Typically we don’t just last-name kids Were you ever a 14 year old? They \*only \*use last names with each other, or at least some derogatory nickname. Adults, not so much, though. ---
**Author:** ![Alkash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Alkash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alkash)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/739 "2015-09-23T23:13:51Z")
Could this whole bru-ha-ha be avoided, if Islam wasn’t known as a particularly filthy and violent religion, and it adherents didn’t commit countless despicable acts of terror, murder, torture and rape in the last couple of decades throughout the world? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/740 "2015-09-23T23:21:22Z")
Maybe. More directly though, it could have been avoided by the application of a modicum of common sense by those in a position of authority at the school/police. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=36) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=38)