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This one can be broken down into ten (10) simple bullet points.
1. Yes it was stupid and wrong and arguably prejudiced.
2. This is not an isolated incident, and hasn’t been for years.
3. That’s what happens when you respond to terrorism the way the Bush II Admin, its supporters and a lot of influential media pundits did after 9/11 (and continue to do today).
4. You can see the results of America’s post-9/11 response not only in Ahmed’s arrest, but also in this letter from the school principal which essentially says (paraphrased) that (1) that the arrest was Ahmed’s fault for violating the student code of conduct, (2) that code is keeping yr children safe from ISIS and (3) we’ll do this every single time something like this happens.
No apology, no “we could have handled that better”, not even a “we’ll review our policy to see if it can be implemented more effectively”. Just “we have a policy, we enforced it, yr welcome”.
5. See also: the mayor of Irving, TX, who thinks apologizing to Ahmed and his family is equivalent to second-guessing the police, which would undermine their authority. And we wouldn’t want that. (<tangent>This is the same logic many people have used to post those “I stand with America’s law enforcement officers” in the wake of #BlackLivesMatter. What they’re actually saying – perhaps without realizing it – is: “I stand with America’s law enforcement officers, no matter how corrupt some of them are and no matter many unarmed people they kill.</tangent>)
6. This is especially galling when you read the details about the actions that the teachers and the police when faced with what they claim they thought was a potential bomb situation. Short version: no one acted like they seriously thought it was a bomb. Ahmed ended up in handcuffs anyway.
7. Possibly the only thing more depressing than the way the school handled it is the way GOP candidates responded to it during last night’s Air Force One debate on CNN. Asked if it was a sign that anti-Muslim discrimination has gone too far, no one wanted to touch that question, and the few who did either changed the subject to ISIS, blamed innocent Muslims for not speaking out enough against ISIS, or said, “You want to talk about real religious discrimination? Let's talk about poor Kim Davis.”
8. One of my first thoughts on hearing the news was the psychological impact this would have on a 14-year-old minority, and what it would mean for his future development. So one good thing about all this is that Ahmed has handled it pretty well. The fact that he got so much support from the Twitterverse is probably a good sign.
He’s also changing schools, BTW. Cos, you know, it’d be awkward for everyone after this.
9. Bruce Schneier has the best headline describing the whole incident:
Choice quote: “We simply have to stop terrorizing ourselves. We just look stupid when we do it.”
10. All of the hoopla over this won’t really change much in terms of the ongoing Fear of Islams – not least because it’s an election year, and most GOP candidates are milking the OMG ISISTERRORSLAM card (and/or the OMG MEXICANZ card) for everything they’re worth. And they’re doing it because they know there’s an audience to pander to with it. The intention may not be to demonize Muslim kids making homemade clocks, but that’s going to be an ongoing consequence.
Tick tick boom,
This is dF
1. Yes it was stupid and wrong and arguably prejudiced.
2. This is not an isolated incident, and hasn’t been for years.
3. That’s what happens when you respond to terrorism the way the Bush II Admin, its supporters and a lot of influential media pundits did after 9/11 (and continue to do today).
4. You can see the results of America’s post-9/11 response not only in Ahmed’s arrest, but also in this letter from the school principal which essentially says (paraphrased) that (1) that the arrest was Ahmed’s fault for violating the student code of conduct, (2) that code is keeping yr children safe from ISIS and (3) we’ll do this every single time something like this happens.
No apology, no “we could have handled that better”, not even a “we’ll review our policy to see if it can be implemented more effectively”. Just “we have a policy, we enforced it, yr welcome”.
5. See also: the mayor of Irving, TX, who thinks apologizing to Ahmed and his family is equivalent to second-guessing the police, which would undermine their authority. And we wouldn’t want that. (<tangent>This is the same logic many people have used to post those “I stand with America’s law enforcement officers” in the wake of #BlackLivesMatter. What they’re actually saying – perhaps without realizing it – is: “I stand with America’s law enforcement officers, no matter how corrupt some of them are and no matter many unarmed people they kill.</tangent>)
6. This is especially galling when you read the details about the actions that the teachers and the police when faced with what they claim they thought was a potential bomb situation. Short version: no one acted like they seriously thought it was a bomb. Ahmed ended up in handcuffs anyway.
7. Possibly the only thing more depressing than the way the school handled it is the way GOP candidates responded to it during last night’s Air Force One debate on CNN. Asked if it was a sign that anti-Muslim discrimination has gone too far, no one wanted to touch that question, and the few who did either changed the subject to ISIS, blamed innocent Muslims for not speaking out enough against ISIS, or said, “You want to talk about real religious discrimination? Let's talk about poor Kim Davis.”
8. One of my first thoughts on hearing the news was the psychological impact this would have on a 14-year-old minority, and what it would mean for his future development. So one good thing about all this is that Ahmed has handled it pretty well. The fact that he got so much support from the Twitterverse is probably a good sign.
He’s also changing schools, BTW. Cos, you know, it’d be awkward for everyone after this.
9. Bruce Schneier has the best headline describing the whole incident:
Choice quote: “We simply have to stop terrorizing ourselves. We just look stupid when we do it.”
10. All of the hoopla over this won’t really change much in terms of the ongoing Fear of Islams – not least because it’s an election year, and most GOP candidates are milking the OMG ISISTERRORSLAM card (and/or the OMG MEXICANZ card) for everything they’re worth. And they’re doing it because they know there’s an audience to pander to with it. The intention may not be to demonize Muslim kids making homemade clocks, but that’s going to be an ongoing consequence.
Tick tick boom,
This is dF
