1. Who is Mohamed Ahmed?

2. What is AverageMohamed .com - what is the aim of the website?

3. Why did Mr. Ahmed launch this website?

4. How is Mr. Ahmed countering the terrorist ideology of ISIS and other Islamist terrorist groups?

5. Why does he think his videos are effective?

6. Mr. Ahmed shows his videos at community centers and mosques and wants to make creating anti-terrorism videos his life's work. He said: “One thing I know is that an [Islamic] extremist is not made. They are not born that way. Somebody trained them to become an extremist," he said. "And somebody has to train people to become non-extremists. And that is my job. That is officially my job now."
What was your initial reaction to Ahmed Mohamed’s idea for countering terrorist recruiting videos? (surprise, disbelief, skepticism…) Explain your answer.

7. Watch the video under “Resources” and/or visit the website to watch the others.

a) How effective do you think Mr. Mohamed’s efforts will be?

b) USA Today reported that Mr. Ahmed has thus far used his own money to create the videos, that “Ahmed has already poured thousands of dollars of his own money over the last six months into producing a series of animated cartoon messages to rebut the extremist group's messaging.” Each video costs up to $4,000 to make. He he hopes to get funding from a government agency to allow him to produce many more videos in the next two years. He'd also like to hire a social media expert to spread the messages rather than relying on word of mouth.

Do you think the government should fund Mr. Ahmed’s project? Explain your answer.