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Despite overwhelming support for Ahmed Mohamed, figures like Richard Dawkins and Bristol Palin are critical of the 14-year-old’s intentions.
After learning Ahmed Mohamed’s not-so-pleasant experience with his teacher and the police, many individuals and groups from America and beyond expressed their support to the tech-savvy 14-year-old student. But not everyone is impressed with Ahmed’s “talent” and many are also critical of his actions.
Professor and controversial evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins are among those who are skeptic with the boy’s story. On Sunday, September 20, Prof. Dawkins made a series of tweets questioning Ahmed’s real intention, his invention, including the invitation he got from organizations especially that coming from the White House.
In one of his tweets Dawkins said that “If the reassembled components did something more than the original clock, that’s creative. If not, it looks like hoax… It’s fine to disassemble & reassemble a clock. But don’t claim it’s your INVENTION.”
In another tweet he mentioned that the boy’s real intention is to impress his teachers and become famous “Yes, there are other reasons why a boy might take a clock out of its casing & pretend he’d made it. Trying to impress teachers, for instance.” In a subsequent post, Dawkins added that “Possibly wanted to be arrested? Police played into his hands? Anyway, now invited to White House, crowdfunded etc.”
In his successive tweets, Dawkins wanted to insinuate that the young Mohamed tried to claim having invented his own clock when in fact he just took clock parts and housed it in a different case. He also thinks that the student only wanted to impress his teachers and staged his own arrest.
Richard Dawkins Accuses Ahmed Mohamed of Committing Fraud[/tweetthis]
The string tweets which essentially incriminate Mohamed sparked criticism from his followers and other Twitter users. Most of the replies questioned Dawkins’ personality and reminded him that the person he is accusing is only a “kid”. One of the tweets reads “he’s an enthusiastic fourteen year and you, a grown man and public figure, are trashing him on the internet for ‘fraud’.”
@RichardDawkins he's an enthusiastic fourteen year and you, a grown man and public figure, are trashing him on the internet for "fraud"
— Jon (@RowettBrew) September 20, 2015
Sorry if I go a bit over the top in my passion for truth. Not just over a boy's alleged "invention" but also media lies about J Corbyn.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015
After receiving several negative replies for his tweets, Dawkins eventually backtracked and explained his side. The professor apologized on Twitter “Sorry if I go a bit over the top in my passion for truth. Not just over a boy’s alleged “invention” but also media lies about J Corbyn.” In another tweet he said “I’m not putting down the child. I’m putting down myself & the rest of us being fooled. And the police for arresting him for nothing.”
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
Richard Dawkins is not the only public figure critical of Mohamed and of the White House invitation. In an interview, Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol Palin said that President Obama’s decision to invite the high school student to the White House is “overstepping his boundaries.”.
Palin explained that instead of promoting equality and tolerance, the White House’s action will only deepen racial divides. Palin stressed that “This is the kind of stuff Obama needs to STAY out of. This encourages more racial strife that is already going on with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ crowd and encourages victimhood.”
Bristol Palin also criticized the president for directing more of the blame to the police who according to her have already suffered massive criticism from the public.
After Ahmed’s release from police custody he told his father he did not want to return to MacArthur High School. The boy’s father has informed the Irving Independent School District that Ahmed and his siblings would no longer be attending their schools, but he has yet to decide on a new one.