Comments:Texas student Ahmed Mohamed inspires social movement

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Sorry if this is already old and closed; this was the first (and so far only) article I read, and it's extremely disappointing to see the very obvious bias and willful ignorance displayed by the authors. The latest Wikipedia article has been updated now that more facts have come out, but the Wikinews article accepts "clock boy's" account and the political narrative without question. There is an interesting and important story that needs to be told here, but it's not about a teen-aged electronics genius persecuted by ignorant, paranoid, racist Texans because of his Muslim faith; then swiftly saved and exonerated by Obama, Zuckerberg, Facebook, and millions of social media warriors. The real story is more likely akin to a Tom Wolfe novel than the fantasy propaganda, but the Wikinews article doesn't even give a hint. The Wikipedia article doesn't give nearly enough coverage to "clock boy's" critics, but it at least does hint at the criticism, and mentions Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher taking issue. Under the heading "Hoax allegations and conspiracy theories" we read that "Some conservative commentators sought to cast suspicion on Mohamed's family..." Of course, we don't get to read what these unnamed conservatives actually argued, but we know they were roundly criticized by the ACLU, Slate, The Dallas Morning News, etc.

One uncontested and extremely relevant fact that is left out of both Wikis and all of the MSM coverage: the suspected hoax bomb that "clock boy" claimed he "invented" comprised a disassembled alarm clock. Not even disassembled -- he just took the plastic case off an old clock and attached the LED display to the inside of another small case (a pencil box that resembled a miniature metal briefcase), and left all the parts intact and unmodified, with wires hanging loose, including the power supply transformer. This is what Obama called a "cool clock" and what won lavish praise, expensive gifts, trips, a scholarship, invitations for meetings with celebrities, etc. from the likes of the POTUS, Google, Microsoft, NASA, CNN, UN, Turkey's PM, NYC Mayor, and on and on. All of this for taking a clock apart. He didn't even improve the clock -- to see the time you had to open the box and expose the loose wires with 120 volts just dangling there. Remember, the kid was 14, not 5 years old, and just started taking a high school electronics class. The idea that his dangerously repackaged clock would impress his teacher, let alone Bill Gates, is absurd.

This would be a great subject for a real investigative article, perhaps a short book, for any author brave enough to write it. The story is the hoax; not the hoax bomb cum clock, but the massive propaganda campaign and Internet agitprop. Of course this was a conspiracy, and some will dismiss it just for that reason. You don't have to dig very deep to discover all of the political motivations of those perpetrating this hoax; the article even quotes Prof. M. L. Hill expressing why he's pushing his narrative, the same narrative he's always pushing. CAIR tells us "clock boy" wants to use his new found fame for politics. Perhaps he'll continue in his father's footsteps. You'll have to look beyond the Wikis and the MSM to learn about his father. Whatever truth we know will most likely be lost down the memory hole, with most people believing yet another false narrative if they heard about it at all. Poor clock boy; misunderstood genius, persecuted Muslim, saved by Facebook, Twitter, and Obama. Everyone who re-tweeted, liked, forwarded or whatever they do now on social media can claim to be a part of this phenomenon, for good or ill.

An individual news article is a snapshot in time. It doesn't get updated, which would be rewriting history. There are several options for addressing such a problem (three come to mind, off hand); they involve, variously, understanding how Wikinews works and contributing to it — Wikinews is after all a wiki. Granted, Wikinews contribution presents a problem for some people because it involves constructive collaboration with others (not a social skill, but a team-oriented attitude).

Fascinating how the Internet culture can react to situations like these and form a new community which encourages a social movement in order to support an individual or an ideal. -- Cirt (talk) 03:39, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

Indeed. Internet culture also has the downside of being sometimes over-reactive in a damaging way, even getting into mob behavior; but clearly its range of behavior has a good deal more breadth and depth than that of a mere mob. In the dynamics of living internet culture, news outlets can play an important role as a stabilizing objective information stream.

Agreed. Great potential there is.

New development:

• Reps Honda, Ellison and Carson Lead Letter to the Department of Justice Calling for Investigation into the Arrest of Ahmed Mohamed, added at Wikisource.

Could be fodder for another article at some point soon in the future.

Text of letter itself, at :

9-23-15 DOJ Letter on Ahmed Mohamed.