UK Teachers Report 4 Year Old Boy To The Terrorism Police For Drawing A Cucumber

from the what-a-pickle dept

Mon, Mar 21st 2016 3:25am — Timothy Geigner

The unintended but entirely predictable consequences from the UK's disastrous Counter-Terrorism and Security Act keep on a-coming. You will recall that this handy piece of legislation tasked teachers with weeding out possible future-terrorists amongst the young folks they are supposed to be teaching. This has devolved instead into teachers reporting children, usually children that would be peripherally identified as Muslim children, to the authorities for what aren't so much as transgressions as they are kids being kids. It has even turned some teachers into literal grammar police, because the universe is not without a sense of humor.

And now we learn that these part-teacher-part-security-agents may be incorporating art criticism into their repertoire, having reported a young Muslim boy of four years old to the authorities because of his inability to properly illustrate a cucumber.

Concerns were raised after the youngster drew a picture of a man cutting the vegetable. [The child's mother] said she feared her children would be taken away from her and added: 'But I haven't done anything wrong... It was a horrible day." Teachers and public service workers have a legal obligation to report any concerns of extremist behaviour to the authorities since July.

And here is the picture the child drew of himself cutting a cucumber.

Now, if we hold our nose and choose to forget for a moment that this is a four year old we're talking about, and not the re-animated corpse of Vincent Van Gogh, we might all agree that the picture on the left looks like a person holding a giant freaking sword, instead of a kitchen knife. The picture on the right will look like pretty much anything you want it to look like because, again, this is a four year old toddler we're talking about. So, it appears the teachers asked the child what he was attempting to draw in the picture, and the response would have been benign, except it hit one of the terrorism buzz-words, kinda sorta.

Staff in Luton told the child's mother they believed he was saying "cooker bomb" instead of "cucumber".

"[The member of staff] kept saying it was this one picture of the man cutting the cucumber....which she said to me is a 'cooker bomb', and I was baffled," she told the BBC Asian Network.

So the child, in addition to being unable to draw a cucumber sufficiently to get teachers to understand the portrayal he was attempting, also wasn't able to properly pronounce the word cucumber, and it apparently came out of his mouth close enough to "cooker bomb" for the nursery staff to freak out and into the de-radicalization program the child goes. I can't stress enough that this child is four years old.

Nor that the staff's interpretations here don't make any sense. So they believed the child was saying he was sawing into a cooker bomb with a death-sword? And that's a more plausible scenario than the staff concluding that this toddler was doing something completely innocent and wasn't articulating properly?

One wonders, as always, just how much leeway would have been afforded the boy if he had pale skin and blue eyes.

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Filed Under: 4 year old, children, cucumber, drawing, pre-school, security, terrorism, uk

83 Comments

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That One Guy (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 2:31am

"Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
At this point parents in the UK should probably start teaching their sons and daughters that they're better off not doing any homework, classwork, or answering any questions posed to them by teachers whatsoever. Sure that will likely result in failing grades, but better that than a 'friendly' visit with the witc- terrorist hunters.
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 5:28am
  
  Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
  Hmm, 4 year old student not doing any school work... just sitting there with a blank stare doing nothing all day in school... He must be plotting a terrorist attack against his classmates and teachers!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:43am
  
  Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
  It's the UK. You can probably go to jail for not answering questions there.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:03am
    
    Re: Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
    You can probably go to jail for not answering questions there.
    If only you were just being facetious instead of factual...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:55am
    
    Re: Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
    No.
    
    But iirc, they can fine you for persistant refusal to answer questions. But I don't think they can use it as evidence if they do.
    
    But it's the UK, so the latter half of that sentence probably doesn't mean anything in a corrupt judical system.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:14am
      
      Re: Re: Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
      Yes, I was right.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_silence_in_England_and_Wales#Right_to_remain_silent
      
      Alth ough certain financial and regulatory investigatory bodies have the power to require a person to answer questions and impose a penalty if a person refuses, if a person gives evidence in such proceedings, the prosecution cannot use such evidence in a criminal trial.[5]
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - G Thompson (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:41pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
        >> the prosecution cannot use such evidence in a criminal trial
        
        Actually that isn't fully correct due to the Adverse interference part of the Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (UK)
        
        (Drawn form the same Wikipedia article - because I'm lazy)
        Adverse inferences may be drawn in certain circumstances where before or on being charged, the accused:
        * fails to mention any fact which he later relies upon and which in the circumstances at the time the accused could reasonably be expected to mention;
        * fails to give evidence at trial or answer any question;
        * fails to account on arrest for objects, substances or marks on his person, clothing or footwear, in his possession, or in the place where he is arrested; or
        * fails to account on arrest for his presence at a place.
        
        This is also specifically a part of the standard caution that Police give anyone once arrested in the UK
        
        "You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."[emphasis added]
        
        NSW, Australia now has a similar thing law on inference which is very contentious though has not been really tested yet either.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- AnonJr (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:50am
  
  Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
  Or is this is a clever ploy by the UK Home-school Industrial Complex to cause a bigger shift towards home-school initiatives...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 5:39pm
  
  Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
  Now Timmy, what is 1+1?
  - mmmmm, lawyer.
  No Timmy just answer the equation.
  - But my mommy and daddy said I shouldn't answer any questions without a lawyer.
  
  News: Mother and Father arrest after turning their child into a terrorist.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Tim, 15 Oct 2016 @ 9:56pm
    
    Re: Re: "Now remember son, don't say or do anything. At all. Just sit there and try to look harmless."
    1+1=2,12*12=144,123*345*2+3586*12*0=0 :)
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 3:40am

Hmm
One wonders, as always, just how much leeway would have been afforded the boy if he had pale skin and blue eyes.

And I wonder if the press would have been interested in the story if the boy had had pale skin and blue eyes.
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- carborundum (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:05am
  
  Re: Hmm
  So when a family had to actually fear being torn apart over the scribblings of a toddler, and his subsequent mumblings under tense scrutiny from multiple adults, your "worry" is PC reporting. Right.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:04am
    
    Re: Re: Hmm
    So when a family had to actually fear being torn apart over the scribblings of a toddler,
    
    Where did you get the "family being torn apart" bit from?
    
    It isn't in the report.
    
    Plus the things that the mother said are easily explained by the promptings of reporters who know what will make the story newsworthy and are eager to obtain it.
    
    Note that the (admittedly stupid) initial concern was not escalated by the police/social service , who decided to take "no further action".
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Marc, 23 Mar 2016 @ 3:57am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Hmm
      The reporting should not have happened in the first place.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Coyoty (profile), 23 Mar 2016 @ 7:25pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Hmm
        You think it should have been suppressed?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - nasch (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 3:50pm
    
    Re: Re: Hmm
    your "worry" is PC reporting. Right.
    
    You know, it's possible to be concerned about multiple aspects of a story simultaneously, even if one doesn't comment on all of them.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- PaulT (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:19am
  
  Re: Hmm
  "And I wonder if the press would have been interested in the story if the boy had had pale skin and blue eyes."
  
  This kind of idiocy is always newsworthy.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Richard (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:07am
    
    Re: Re: Hmm
    This kind of idiocy is always newsworthy.
    
    Wrong!
    
    According to the linked story:
    
    "Just under 2,000 under-15s were referred between January 2012 and December 2015. "
    
    I don't remember an average of ~2 news stories on this topic per day between 2012 and 2015 so clearly it isn't always newsworthy.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:27am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Hmm
      Do you think that might be because the press will typically highlight the most absurd cases, such as this, while including a note about just how many slightly less absurd but still absurd cases there are generally and trust the reader to understand that this is all dumb?
      
      Or do you REALLY think that I, as the author, only get my druthers up in a twist when members of the Islamic faith are treated poorly? Because I'm generally considered the anti-religious hawk around these parts, so that would be a silly thing to believe....
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Richard (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:53am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Hmm
        Or do you REALLY think that I, as the author, only get my druthers up in a twist when members of the Islamic faith are treated poorly?
        
        No - you responded to the story that was available via the BBC and other places.
        
        However my point was that - given the large number of nominally similar incidents that don't get reported we don't know the criteria by which such things reach the level of coverage where you would even be aware of them.
        
        Now it may be that the simple stupidity of it is enough but we have no evidence that that is true and victimhood is such a big prize in the modern world that there must always be some doubt.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - MadAsASnake (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:02am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Hmm
      And how many of that "just under 2000" have proved to be "terrorists".
      
      Once we get that answer, maybe Osborne's budget can be fixed.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - PaulT (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:53am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Hmm
      "Just under 2,000 under-15s were referred"
      
      ...and how many of those were for drawing a picture? How many were 4? It's not the mere referral that's notable.
      
      "I don't remember"
      
      So, nothing happens unless you've personally read about it?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 9:04am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Hmm
        Bears have been quietly coping with assertions that they are responsible for certain littering in the woods, and have been disparaged thus for millennium, no less. They have spoken with counsel and requested subpenas for witness lists. From their perspective, if there are no witnesses, the the allegations are merely hearsay and likely discriminatory.
        
        There has been some grumbling about suing under ISDS. American bears would sue in the EU. EU bears would sue in the US. Both the EU and US bears would sue in Asia, and Asia would sue in the EU and US. Africa would sue everybody else because they have no bears and feel that they have been deprived of culturally significant anecdotes and proverbs.
        
        Meanwhile, fallen trees are concerned with the quality of the worldwide collection of audiologists whom have failed to take notice of their falling, and have an apparent unfounded and demeaning fear of the woods.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:58am
  
  Re: Hmm
  would not have been a story because it never would have happened. Only because he is a muslim the teachers reported it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Fenderson (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 9:00am
  
  Re: Hmm
  "And I wonder if the press would have been interested in the story if the boy had had pale skin and blue eyes."
  
  In the exceedingly unlikely event that this would have occurred with a WASPier boy, I would expect that the press coverage would not only have been more extensive, but also filled with more outrage.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 11:23am
  
  Re: Hmm
  Before the Muslim invasion of Britain, it was the much-hated Irish who regularly constituted "the usual suspects" -- and that was before the birth of The Troubles (and IRA terrorists blowing up train stations) gave the Brits a genuine reason to fear the Irish living among them.
  
  It's not often talked about these days, but there was once MUCH MORE discrimination against [pale skinned and blue eyed]Irish decades ago than there is against colored people today.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - klaus (profile), 22 Mar 2016 @ 12:18am
    
    What?
    I'm not convinced that the British people have ever hated or feared the Irish, certainly no more than Lancastrians have ever hated or feared folk from Cheshire, or Shropshire. Or people from Norfolk have ever hated or feared folk from Suffolk. Those plucky Brits survived The Blitz yet still give Germans the time of day on Mediterranean beaches. As for Ireland? Cromwell's New Model Army was a long, long time ago.
    
    The British are a mongrel nation, and all the stronger for it. The problem they have is that their leadership is, at least since the latter half of the 20th Century, far too arrogant, and utterly clueless.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jigsy, 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:05am

I have this fantasy that thousands, if not hundreds of years from now, people will look back at the early 21st century and think "Wow... the people back then were really fucking stupid, weren't they?"

And stuff like this is reason why.
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- Groaker (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:56am
  
  Re:
  What makes you think that is a fantasy? Or that it will take thousands or even hundreds of years. Or that people in the future won't have their own idiocy that will eventually be looked back on as witch-hunting?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Dreddsnik, 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:04am
    
    Re: Re:
    I think that's the point. It's fantasy to believe we will be any better in the future. Possibly fantasy that humanity will even exist hundreds of years from now. It's more likely we will wipe ourselves out in less than 50 years.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- PRMan (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:23am
  
  Re:
  This will look like the Salem Witch Trials to our descendants.
  
  But worse, because we didn't accidentally ingest a large amount of hallucinogenic ergot first.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Capt ICE Enforcer, 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:23am

Breed Fear
Look at how we have been brought to believe. With all the different media outlets talking about all the horrors of the unknown. People start to believe it is their duty to act. Whether motivated by the feelings that the proper authorities knows best, or the fear that if they don't act something bad could happen to them or someone else. People will act strange to those on the outside looking in. But in the eyes of the UK this is exactly what they want. People afraid in order to get more power.
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 9:01am
  
  Re: Breed Fear
  if you ever play wolfenstein the new order there is a bit in a sewer lvl where you can overhear citizens reporting on each other because they have been conditioned to report anything that deviates from what those in charge consider the norm.
  
  It really bothers me how that game really nailed it, with how people have been conditioned to report on each other.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Capt ICE Enforcer, 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:25am

Ugh
God, I need coffee before I post.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:29am

Many thanks!
We would like the thank this fine upstanding member of the human race for her swift and professional action.

Many a cucumber will be spared a horrible death because of her!

Sincerely yours,
-- The Cucumber Integrity Agency
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Arghh - even more stupidity, 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:36am

The unintended effects of this legislation is ...
... the creation of even more terrorists because of the brutalisation of them as children by the very authorities that were supposed to be protecting them.
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- David, 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:47am
  
  Re: The unintended effects of this legislation is ...
  Unintended? Where do you think budgets come from? The terror fairy?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:03pm
    
    Re: Re: The unintended effects of this legislation is ...
    Yes, unintended, because they intend to use fear to reduce the potential terrorism in their own citizens by raising the bogeyman of "aliens amongst us" being the terrorists instead.
    
    The budgets are based on what they can scare out of the silly pollies based on "hooo aliens amongst us - can't trust, bad aliens" and "I'm scared for May safety".
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 4:52am

Environmental Impact
More resource-friendly to brutalize in-country kids into becoming terrorists than having to ship troops and government agents overseas to do the job. Much reduced carbon footprint for us and the future terrorists.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 5:09am

This is the inevitable outcome when you tell teachers to look out for "terroristic kids" in schools.
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MadAsASnake (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 5:16am

Who are the terrorists here? Why would anyone charged with the responsibility of a 4 year old even believe that terrorism would be something that a 4 year old would comprehend? What possible good could come from this? Why put a family through this? Theresa May needs to be told to put a stop to this stupidity. School teachers have far better things to do than bang her drum.
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2016 @ 6:49am
  
  Re:
  Because the teacher was able to shut down the class for the entire week and got a paid vacation essentially.
  
  There's a certain school in Luton (you can google) which does this because 'there are black kids and they'll stab someone' etc etc.
  The local Authority has to pay for the shut down / stress holiday for the teacher etc..
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 5:23am

So this child has learned at an early age not to trust authority. He's also learned not to do things in a class room for fear that the most innocent action might bring outlandish reactions.

The family has learned by this time that kindergarden isn't a place to put children, that is if you want your son or daughter to stay with the family. Be sure that this is just the beginning and other families will soon learn the same lesson.

So how long before a revolution happens?
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 9:03am
  
  Re:
  I give it 10 years
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
drewdad (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 5:57am

Young kids and Scale Errors
I suppose we'll also report kids as terrorists when they try to sit inside of a Barbie car. They could crush Barbie, y'all! The horror!

Any teacher who doesn't recognize a scale error in a young kid should be thrown out on his/her ear.
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2016 @ 6:50am
  
  Re: Young kids and Scale Errors
  If they line up barbie and ken, thats a barbie-queue and BBQs have fire and fire is caused by explosions which are terroristic.....
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jibberish, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:03am

Always
Surveillance and forcing people to rat out their countrymen has one purpose and one purpose alone and that's oppression and crushing dissent. The whole reason the US exists is because that's what England does and old habits die hard. It seems that nobody is beyond a little hypocrisy so the US decided to abandon their principles (again) and follow their lead.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:11am

just wait until the 'Snoopers Charter' that May insists is desperately needed to keep those in the UK safe and protected, then you'll have even more of this crap going on!!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:14am

How Naive! We all know that terrorists start the indoctrination process at a very young age.

That kid of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik needs to be watched very carefully.
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What Did You Say, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:35am

Here's Your Sign
When you have REAL grammar police, you DO live in a police state.
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David, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:39am

You can't make this shit up
And since it is impossible to imagine the amount of stupidity of people, creating laws that will only cause less damage than good once you assume everybody is a reasonable person is idiotic.

Because if this underlying assumption held true, we would not be needing laws in the first place.
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Ninja (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:13am

Remind me of my friend telling me when she was little and got angry she'd say "fuuu" which translates to fuck you. Once her parents discovered the cops, the military, an exorcist priest, the marshals and Terminator were called to restrain the criminal.

After the doomsday, several explosions and pea soup vomit we found out she was mimicking her dad. Because of course.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:30am

No doubt he will be doped up for the remainder of his pitiful life. Guess they could make some real money selling his organs on the Asian black market though, saving him from a fearful fruitless futile future. GD British twats. Thank God for global warming.
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William H. Taft, 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:34am

Typical Brits,
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 7:57am

At least the child in the drawing wasn't naked! (The UK made that illegal back in 2009.)
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Andrew Lee, 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:02am

Hey, watch out now.
Four year old's are the second most dangerous people on earth next to twelve year old's.
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CK20XX (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:05am

This is far more ridiculous than all those internet videos of cats freaking out over cucumbers.
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2016 @ 2:13pm
  
  Re:
  Maybe that is why they are worried about terrorism. They are worried about ISIS plots to terrify cats with cucumbers.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 8:57am

security theatre.

Or if you prefer the star of david and the nuremburg laws. Those awful people must be made examples of because we know they are evil inhuman scum out to destroy us all.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 9:04am

This makes the US school systems look intelligent, and I think that's too kind a comment.
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- John Fenderson (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 10:13am
  
  Re:
  This sort of thing happens in the US too.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 11:25am
    
    Re: Re:
    Well, yeah, except we taze them first, and then arrest them.
    
    Because a grown adult _should_ be scared of them. You can't be too careful around those 4 year olds.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Ninja (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 10:51am
  
  Re:
  Just beware of pop tarts.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Vic, 21 Mar 2016 @ 9:14am

Oh, dear God! I only hope that they had enough time to evacuate the nursery before that bomb went "Poof!"
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John85851 (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 10:11am

Proving two principles
This proves two principles:
1) When all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail. In this case, everything must be watched in case anyone is a terrorist. This means innocent drawings and toddler-speak are now terrorist acts in the making.
2) Occam's Razor: how did the authorities twist, warp, and bend the information to make it fit their story of a terrorist in training? Yet the simplest answer is correct: a toddler makes a poor drawing and then doesn't have the vocabulary to explain it. If he can't pronounce "cucumber", why does anyone think he can pronounce "terrorism"?
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Isma'il, 21 Mar 2016 @ 10:17am

Brits are just "subjects"
This incident, amongst others, serves to underscore what I told a so-called British citizen with whom I worked about 10 years go here in the US:

There is only one British citizen: The Queen; the rest of you are just subjects of the Crown.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 10:51am

Oh look the dial is turned well past 11.
Once upon a time if a teacher didn't understand what a child said, they would try to work out what was said instead of hearing the worst possible thing they imagine and run sprinting away to seek authorities. One can fault the teacher some, but we must also hold society at fault for making teachers first responders to anything bad.

If you see something say something!!! Do not consider if it is just your imagination reading much more into it, it has to be bad.
Brown man with a camera taking pictures - terrorist scouting next target.
Brown man on a plane speaking all foriegn - terrorists plotting to down the plane.
Brown man buying cooking utensils - terrorist bomb maker.

It is up to you to keep everyone safe. The media will crucify you if this turns out to be a dirty bomb & not just a child with a teddy bear. You citizen have to be vigilant for the motherland, else it will be all your fault.

If you can imagine it must be terrorism, it has to be treated as terrorism. We have the ability to imagine worst case scenarios, and operate from those things being absolutely possible.
It wasn't powered sugar from a doughnut on the counter, someone (probably that brown guy) was mixing up anthrax in the kitchenette.
It wasn't spending time with his visiting family, it was evil plots from people who aren't native english speakers (those dirty bastard should learn our language if they want to be here!!).

We fear things that are different, because we demand everyone be just like us. We can not imagine things happening to people that aren't like how we experience them. If they are different, they must be bad. These other people who look like them did bad things, so all of them do bad things.

Perhaps passing laws demanding that people stop thinking & report things isn't the right way to do things. If the teacher had taken the time to work out the child was trying to say cucumber, but an assistant was still sure it was cooker bomb & reported it all hell would break loose on the teacher. To protect ourselves we have to throw others under the bus, else the media breathlessly report US as being terrorist sympathizers destroying our lives.

But hey at least we are safer. We've not taught a 4 yr old to not speak up or imagine. We've taught a community of our neighbors to be afraid of offending someone. We've taught them that we don't trust them, not for anything THEY have done but because we see the easily identified checkboxes - not the people.

Contrast that with how we don't fear and report every white HS student, despite the terror caused by school shooters. We don't suspect every church going person despite those religious zealots who bomb clinics & assassinate doctors.
But we manage to do it to those who don't look like us.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 11:01am

I bet the adults were afraid the cucumber was their "cucumber" and didn't like the thought of being emasculated like the law has currently done to them there.
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Loki, 21 Mar 2016 @ 11:28am

I forget, are we currently at war with the Eurasians or the East Asians? Didn't we already get Osama Bin Goldstein?
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 10:01pm
  
  Re:
  now we are at war with Assad. But never fear wen have ISIS to fight against Assad. What are the odds that by supplying the more "moderate terrorists" them with weapons, training and money they will choose to attack us instead of who our government tells them to attack.
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Loki, 21 Mar 2016 @ 11:28am

I forget, are we currently at war with the Eurasians or the East Asians? Didn't we already get Osama Bin Goldstein?
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 11:48am

UK Teachers Sue Techdirt Over Copyright Infringement On Child's Terrorist Drawing
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N1c0 (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 1:37pm

Idiots all around...
I'm glad to see there are idiots across the pond too, not just in the U.S.A.. Although I do believe we here in the U.S.A. still have the monopoly on idiots.
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- That Anonymous Coward (profile), 21 Mar 2016 @ 1:52pm
  
  Re: Idiots all around...
  in the US the school would have started backpeddling and coming up with even more stupid justifications, the cops would have walked up and shot the family dog then arrested the whole family for daring to keep crying after the officer told them to stop, then there would be multiple lawsuits from people claiming they were traumatized by the drawing & that working with the child has given them PTSD.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:04pm

I would not want that teacher anywhere near children. Because the stupid might rub off on them.

But seriously, this is not a teacher's job, to winnow out terrorists. Let's let the teachers teach. That's more than enough of a job.
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 6:48pm
  
  Re:
  Teachers these days are more interested in training kids what to think than teaching them how to think.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2016 @ 10:02pm
    
    Re: Re:
    People who think for themselves and question the official narrative are dangerous radicals that must be stamped out.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2016 @ 6:23am

Pre
Pre-crime is such a slippery slope, before you know it society will be at the bottom with pre-school pre-crime. Wait what, that's insane!
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2016 @ 8:03am

Kids...
My grandson is 3.

They had a puppy for about 3 weeks, and then one day they realized how much work a puppy is, and gave it to a friend who could better care for it.

I asked the grandson what happened to the puppy, and he said that it got trapped under the water heater, his dad yanks it out, then the grandson starts to show a motion that looked like CPR while saying "Then Daddy did 'this'", then the puppy said "arrrwwooo" and died. That was his story.

I took this story to my daughter, who showed me the pictures of the dog being with the friend now very much alive.

Kids...
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AL FUD, 22 Mar 2016 @ 9:52am

Press Release
Using interpretive skills the pre-crime task force assigned to the graduating class of 2029 identified a future terrorist and intervened. When you go to the ballot box check Yes for the tax increase to preemptively combat terrorism. Do it for the cucumbers.
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Coyoty (profile), 22 Mar 2016 @ 5:52pm

In other news, Benedict Cumberbatch was detonated by police after they interviewed a 6-year-old Indian boy...
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AnalogMan, 28 Mar 2016 @ 7:05pm

Hold on ...
Two points:

1. For those who don't have children, when a child learns to talk, he does so by imitating what he hears. Sometimes he gets it wrong. What he says is not always what he means; but mostly he is repeating something he heard (or misheard). So, when a child, particularly a Moslem child, repeatedly says "bomb", a responsible teacher can be forgiven for thinking he heard the word at home. She's guilty of nothing but an abundance of caution.

2. Yes, I made a generalization about Moslems - and I didn't even use the PC "Muslim". And that's the real crime here; you won't even name the problem. Those people don't belong in your country. They're racially, culturally and religiously alien. Fear of terrorism is not paranoid, it's perfectly rational. If you hadn't invited them into your homeland, this would not be happening.

(Yes, of course I'm a racist. That's a person who believes that race is a real, biological phenomenon, and that it has implications for behaviour. No fool, me.)
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Tim, 15 Oct 2016 @ 10:12pm

When people say " bomb" doesn't mean they are making a real atomic bomb. Well, they are try to learn how a atom works to better understanding of the world that is made of atoms. He could be using is brain to make the world a better place then distory it. Don't let fear control you. Control your fear. Everyone is equal , no one is better then anyone else. You can be better on some subject but that stupid person your talking about can be 10 times better then you on any their subject. Stop be little others so you can sleep at night and they can't.
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