If It Looks Like a Bomb.... Check Your White Privilege

Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year old Muslim in Texas, completed a science project which was making a clock but, it suspiciously looked like a bomb because a briefcase was used. The young man is said to have been evasive about the clock when he was questioned by the teachers about it. Authorities were contacted and the young man was arrested for a few hours.

In the video clip below, Bill Maher defends the decision to arrest the boy stating truthfully that there was nothing wrong with people being concerned about their safety. In short, Muslims are known for blowing stuff up around the world. Mark Cuban also chimes in saying that he actually spoke with the boy on the phone and heard the young man's sister feeding him answers to say.

“For the past 30 years it’s been one culture that has been blowing s**t up over and over again,” Maher added.

On Twitter, Richard Dawkins has called this boy out as being a fraud. Mohamed had claimed that he invented this clock himself but, this video paints a different picture.

If this is true, what was his motive? Whether or not he wanted the police to arrest him, they shouldn’t have done so https://t.co/LtOFAAmVxK

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

The gentleman narrating the video points out that the components of this clock were not invented at all, instead the parts are all manufactured. The boy simply removed the casing on a regular clock. Was this fraud or a hoax? Was the boy trying to get arrested in order to call attention to himself and gain sympathy? Or was this just a lazy kid who was trying to get an easy A?

Perhaps in the next few days we will get a better grasp on what has occurred here. I guess it just depends on how Mohamed will respond and if we learn anything more about him.

The response to Dawkins has been almost hostile. The Tweets responding to him seem to suggest that the boy's dishonesty should be excused because he's only 14. I find that to be a ridiculous excuse. Why would the boy's age matter when many children his same age are capable of invention? If the video above is true, the best we can say is that Mohamed was extremely dishonest and should not be given praise but rather an F and a scolding.

Comments like, "Don't punish him because he's just curious and took a clock apart" seem to demonstrate that many people in our culture feel that participation is good enough. Yet, if that participation is not met with honestly, how is that good?

I guess we will have to wait and see. What do you think?