7 ms·

Why is it so absurd? Because young people never do stupid things for attention? Was the school/police reaction over the top? Yes, for sure. Is the counter-r

by qyv 11y ago

Why is it so absurd? Because young people never do stupid things for attention? Was the school/police reaction over the top? Yes, for sure. Is the counter-reaction given to this kid in an effort to appear to appear to be on the side of goodness and rationality equally silly? Absolutely.

InclinedPlane 11y ago
Because he didn't, period. There are only two scenarios here that are tenable. Either he built a real bomb and brought it to school or he didn't build a real bomb. If he didn't build a real bomb then the question becomes whether or not he attempted to scare people with a hoax bomb. Unquestionably he didn't build a real bomb. Moreover, he didn't attempt to scare anyone with a fake bomb either. He brought a clock to school. He insisted to everyone that it was a clock. And he tried to avoid showing it to people. That is not a hoax bomb in any sense of the word. If you don't have a hoax bomb and you don't have a real bomb then what do you have? Panic, and bigotry. Nothing more.
- tedks 11y ago
  That is not how zero-tolerance policies are enforced in any school district.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > That is not how zero-tolerance policies are enforced in any school district. Zero-tolerance policies are their own can of worms, but neither such policies nor any possible explanation of their enforcement explains the characterizations made after the fact by both school and law enforcement officials regarding the supposed "hoax bomb".
    - tedks 11y ago
      http://www.irvingisd.net/cms/lib010/TX01917973/Centricity/Domain/1454/Irving%20ISD%20Student%20Code%20of%20Conduct%202015-2106%20English.pdf http://www.irvingisd.net/cms/lib010/TX01917973/Centricity/Do... http://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/367?filename=FOD(LEGAL).pdf http://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/367?filename=FOD(LEGAL).... These are the relevant documents. They are short enough to read them in less than 5 minutes. Can you tell me what the legally-mandated punishment is for bringing a non-weapon that resembles a weapon onto school grounds is? It's easy to bikeshed about "characterizations", but there are legally no other ways the school district could have reacted on the day they were making decisions.
      - dragonwriter 11y ago
        > Can you tell me what the legally-mandated punishment is for bringing a non-weapon that resembles a weapon onto school grounds is? Can you explain the relevance since -- except in the sense that every digital clock in existence resembles a fictional weapon through the Hollywood tendency to depict bombs as digital clock displays -- the actual device in question does not in any meaningful sense resemble a weapon.
        tedks 11y ago
        Do you think that matters at all? Literally everyone involved in this chain of decisions, from the teacher to the school principal to the superindendent, are only interested in covering their own ass. They don't need to think that the device in question resembles a weapon, they just need to think that ANYONE will at ANY TIME think that it does and penalize them for not acting as the law mandates. Further, you answer your own question. Remember that chicken fingers qualify as weapons under these policies.
- beeboop 11y ago
  What you're saying is against everything else that has been said. He showed it to every teacher that day until he was sent to the office. He plugged it into the wall so it would beep and get the teacher's attention. I am sure he said "hey guys it's just a clock!!!" with a shit eating grin knowing people's reactions to it was that it didn't look like "just a clock". I know because I was that kid at his age too and did shit like this (but with pictures of things like looked like a penis but TOTALLY WEREN'T GUYZ!!!).
- AnimalMuppet 11y ago
  But see, I could make something that I called a "clock", and tell people that it was a "clock", and still deliberately make it seem like I've got a bomb that I'm trying to pass off as a clock. The "trying to avoid showing it to people" kind of fits this idea.
  - InclinedPlane 11y ago
    Ah yes, the classic "check out this extremely cunning and subtle genius who is too dumb to build his own clock right."

by qyv 11y ago

InclinedPlane 11y ago

Because he didn't, period. There are only two scenarios here that are tenable. Either he built a real bomb and brought it to school or he didn't build a real bomb. If he didn't build a real bomb then the question becomes whether or not he attempted to scare people with a hoax bomb. Unquestionably he didn't build a real bomb. Moreover, he didn't attempt to scare anyone with a fake bomb either. He brought a clock to school. He insisted to everyone that it was a clock. And he tried to avoid showing it to people. That is not a hoax bomb in any sense of the word. If you don't have a hoax bomb and you don't have a real bomb then what do you have? Panic, and bigotry. Nothing more.

tedks 11y ago
That is not how zero-tolerance policies are enforced in any school district.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > That is not how zero-tolerance policies are enforced in any school district. Zero-tolerance policies are their own can of worms, but neither such policies nor any possible explanation of their enforcement explains the characterizations made after the fact by both school and law enforcement officials regarding the supposed "hoax bomb".
  - tedks 11y ago
    http://www.irvingisd.net/cms/lib010/TX01917973/Centricity/Domain/1454/Irving%20ISD%20Student%20Code%20of%20Conduct%202015-2106%20English.pdf http://www.irvingisd.net/cms/lib010/TX01917973/Centricity/Do... http://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/367?filename=FOD(LEGAL).pdf http://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/367?filename=FOD(LEGAL).... These are the relevant documents. They are short enough to read them in less than 5 minutes. Can you tell me what the legally-mandated punishment is for bringing a non-weapon that resembles a weapon onto school grounds is? It's easy to bikeshed about "characterizations", but there are legally no other ways the school district could have reacted on the day they were making decisions.
    - dragonwriter 11y ago
      > Can you tell me what the legally-mandated punishment is for bringing a non-weapon that resembles a weapon onto school grounds is? Can you explain the relevance since -- except in the sense that every digital clock in existence resembles a fictional weapon through the Hollywood tendency to depict bombs as digital clock displays -- the actual device in question does not in any meaningful sense resemble a weapon.
      - tedks 11y ago
        Do you think that matters at all? Literally everyone involved in this chain of decisions, from the teacher to the school principal to the superindendent, are only interested in covering their own ass. They don't need to think that the device in question resembles a weapon, they just need to think that ANYONE will at ANY TIME think that it does and penalize them for not acting as the law mandates. Further, you answer your own question. Remember that chicken fingers qualify as weapons under these policies.
beeboop 11y ago
What you're saying is against everything else that has been said. He showed it to every teacher that day until he was sent to the office. He plugged it into the wall so it would beep and get the teacher's attention. I am sure he said "hey guys it's just a clock!!!" with a shit eating grin knowing people's reactions to it was that it didn't look like "just a clock". I know because I was that kid at his age too and did shit like this (but with pictures of things like looked like a penis but TOTALLY WEREN'T GUYZ!!!).
AnimalMuppet 11y ago
But see, I could make something that I called a "clock", and tell people that it was a "clock", and still deliberately make it seem like I've got a bomb that I'm trying to pass off as a clock. The "trying to avoid showing it to people" kind of fits this idea.
- InclinedPlane 11y ago
  Ah yes, the classic "check out this extremely cunning and subtle genius who is too dumb to build his own clock right."