-Signed (all the people who wish to piggyback onto this terrible situation for the sake of publicity)"

Maybe some big powerful person should be talking to the people that caused this situation, rather than promising the world to the victim? Misunderstandings like this are going to keep happening until way after the worlds' elite run out of personal stock for their recommendation letters.

Now Zuck and even the President invite him to visit for the same reasons (because he is a muslim who created a clock and brought it to school) and everyone is excited about this.

In my opinion both acts are seemingly being done for the wrong reasons. It's sad really, because now the boy will never know if he is being invited out because he created a cool clock, or because helping minorities is good PR. It's also disappointing because of all the other kids out there who are working hard on making things that will never get attention because they are not being discriminated against.

Zuckerberg, Obama, Clinton, Dash, and others are overcorrecting for this in order to ensure that the kid doesn't get dejected and discouraged from being a maker.

There's already far too much ostracizing of nerds and geeks in school to add powerful adult actors like school principals and police into the mix. I don't see any room for 'mixed feelings' here.

We just have to hope that the kid comes out of this as happy or happier and as or more successful than he'd otherwise have been.

While you, I, or anyone else might debate the novelty or inventiveness of what the kid made, I'm sure he genuinely thought it was cool, and was excited about it.

Then, after asking if he could bring it in and show it off, he was wronged.

I want to believe they're inviting him because they don't want to stifle his spirit, and that not only is it good PR, it's also a message to kids who are interested in technology that they should absolutely pursue it, and to not get discouraged.

Wait....what? You think they're inviting him to visit because he's a Muslim student who made a clock? Do you really think he's the only Muslim student who's made a clock? I'm pretty sure it's because he was a student whose school reacted to his inventiveness by having him arrested (and of course because Obama/Zuckerberg heard about it). Even aside from the racism side of things, it's a fairly explicit symbol of the endemic squashing of children's creativity that makes the American school system such a (relative) disaster.

Does having something happen to you instantly qualify you to receive insightful recommendation letters from strangers though?

The Internet has developed an overly powerful hero amplification beam it shines down when things happen to someone, but does it necessarily reflect the person themselves? Sudden unrelenting Internet-powred fame (either as the receiver or the giver of fame) can drive some people a bit mad after the fact too.

I like Obama 'n all, but in today's world of technology(this is about a student building a clock, unprompted)... I believe the opinion of Facebook's CEO tech-geek outweights Obama's.