“Rolling Stone” caused a national uproar this week when Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was on the front cover. “Rolling Stones” usually has rock stars or other well known musician’s on their cover, but this time they opted for something else. Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan are suspected to be the masterminds of the bombings that occurred at marathon on April 15.
The cover featured a selfie of Tsarnaev looking calm, collected and even attractive. The caption reads “The Bomber – How a Popular, Promising Student Was Failed by His Family, Fell Into Radical Islam, and Became a Monster.”
“Rolling Stone” faced criticism for glorifying the terrorist instead of the victims that were killed and the ones injured. The magazine issued a statement that explained why they chose Tsarnaev as the front cover. They said Tsarnaev is in the same age group as many of the readers, and it’s important for them to examine the complexities of the issue and understand how a tragedy like that happens.
Drugstores like CVS and Walgreen’s have said they will not be selling the issue in their stores once it’s released. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino disapproved the cover and said Tsarnaev is a terrorist who isn’t wanted in any neighborhoods, magazines or anywhere else.
To understand the capacity of how offensive the cover is, a Twitter user replaced Tsarnaev’s photo with Mohammad Atta, who is one of the Sept 11 plane hijackers. The caption was labeled as “The Hijacker.”
Just following the “Rolling Stone” cover, there have been newly released photographs of Tsarnaev the night he was arrested. The images show a very battered and bloodied Tsarnaev. The laser glow from the policemen’s snipers can be seen on his forehead and other pictures show Tsarnaev slumped over the boat he was hiding in. The released images are a large contrast from the handsome, confident looking young man on the cover that caused such a backlash.
