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Evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins has labeled US teenager Ahmed Mohamed a fraud, claiming that the clock which got him arrested by the Texas police was not an invention, and was suspiciously packaged to look like something different.
Updated : Sep 23, 2015, 08:40 AM IST
Evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins has labeled US teenager Ahmed Mohamed a fraud, claiming that the clock which got him arrested by the Texas police was not an invention, and was suspiciously packaged to look like something different.
Dawkins began with a strange tweet on Sunday, posting a video which showed how easily the clock Ahmed made could be assembled.
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
Apparently Dawkins was irritated by the idea that the boy had claimed the clock as his invention.
@HarryStopes I don't know. Possibly wanted to be arrested? Police played into his hands? Anyway, now invited to White House, crowdfunded etc
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015
Then came the following tweet, in response to an angry fan. Dawkins actually believes Ahmed Mohamed made and carried the clock to school only so he could get arrested, and get publicity.
@HarryStopes I don't know. Possibly wanted to be arrested? Police played into his hands? Anyway, now invited to White House, crowdfunded etc
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015
When attacked by shocked Twitter users, Dawkins continued his tirade:
If the reassembled components did something more than the original clock, that’s creative. If not, it looks like hoax http://t.co/bBcaWoJpbd
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015
After the criticism continued, Dawkins attempted to scale back his remarks.
OK, fraudulent claiming of an "invention" is not heinous. And he certainly should not have been arrested by the police.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) 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
But on Monday, Dawkins once again embedded a video showing how easily the clock could be assembled and hidden inside a case, and stated that he had been 'fooled' like everyone else.
Huge numbers, including me, + the White House, were taken for gullible fools https://t.co/wDWNcYwP73 & police were fooled in a nastier way.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 21, 2015
The once-famous, now-controversial evolutionary biologist slammed critics who accused him of Islamophobia and racism.
I don't give two hoots if the boy is Muslim or Druid, brown or skybluepink. He was victim of same dopey zero tolerance security as everyone.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 21, 2015
Dawkins appeared to criticise the concept of 'zero-tolerance security', blaming it for Ahmed's predicament, while simultaneously using it as a justification for the boy's arrest.
Some saying zero tolerance security is necessary. OK, maybe. But in that case why cry "profiling" in Ahmed's case. Can't have it both ways.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 21, 2015
While blaming the police for 'heavy handedness', Dawkins asserted that the boy's motives were mysterious.
Heavy-handed police did what security officers are taught: zero tolerance. If "profiling" it's not obvious. Boy's motives remain mysterious.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 21, 2015
Dawkins, once famous for his theory of the selfish gene and his overall work in evolutionary biology, has become a stauch critic of religion and of intelligent design in particular, in recent years. He has published a book called 'The God Delusion' in 2006.
Along with neuroscientist Sam Harris, late journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, Dawkins has become known as one of the proponents of 'New Atheism'. The four individuals have also been called the 'Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse' for their views against organised religion.
However, on this occasion Dawkins has surely gone too far. It is notable that neither Sam Harris nor any of Dawkins' other famous atheist allies have retweeted or commented on his rants against Ahmed Mohamed.