By MAMAMIA ROGUE
This is the latest cover of US Rolling Stone:
That’s Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Yeah. It’s caused a bit of a shitstorm. A lot of stores have refused to sell the issue and many people, particularly in Boston, are voicing major opposition.
The main concern being raised is that Rolling Stone is glorifying Tsarnaev by putting him on a cover space that is normally reserved for cultural icons (the most famous exception being convicted murderer Charles Manson on the cover in 1970).
It didn’t take long for alternative covers like this one – glorifying the victims rather than the killer – to begin popping up on the web (most found at this Facebook page):
Rolling Stone is known for its quality investigative journalism on a variety of topics, and obviously this is a story that needs to be explored. But it appears that many people don’t care about the content – they just want him off the cover.
Things got so bad, Rolling Stone had to release this statement:
Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens. –THE EDITORS
So what do you think? Is this cover glorifying terrorism – or helping us understnd it?
Top Comments
Brilliant move by Rolling Stone. Maybe we need to be reminded that not all terrorists look a certain way
The article is about the phenomenon of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his criminal act. It seeks to comprehend the person behind a seemingly incomprehensible act. The article is not directly about the victims.
Isn't the furore around the Rolling Stones cover a poor indictment on the furious? For, from what I have read, the actual substance of the article does not seek to glorify Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in any way.
So, if people believe the use of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's photo is a glorification of him or his acts, then surely they are guilty of ignorance and superficiality. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but even a monkey can type a thousand words if you put him in front of a keyboard. Read the article.