Okay, hear me all the way through on this. I am confused that people are upset about the picture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Rolling Stone. They were not upset about the article. The contents of which I cannot comment on as I cannot get the magazine anywhere. Oh wait, it is online, let me go read it. Back. Very good article. Take the time to read it. It makes my point, or the point I am going to make.
No one was upset when Charles Manson was on the cover. Why? He made the cover of Rolling Stone just like a rock 
star. They are upset because Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is good looking. They want terrorists to look scary. Charles Manson had and has the scariest eyes I ever saw. Even with him an old man and if he was chained to a wall, I would be afraid to be in the same room with him. The Editors of RS prefaced the article with 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
Important point. Young. Like the readers. Indulge me and read two more passages before I make my point:
- …Brian Glyn Williams, a professor of Islamic studies at UMass Dartmouth and an expert on terrorism and the politics of Chechnya, believes that Tamerlan’s journey – which he calls “jihadification” – was less a young man’s quest to join Al Qaeda than to discover his own identity. “To me, this is classic diasporic reconstruction of identity: ‘I’m a Chechen, and we’re fighting for jihad, and what am I doing? Nothing.’ It’s not unlike the way some Irish-Americans used to link Ireland and the IRA – they’d never been to Northern Ireland in their lives, but you’d go to certain parts of Southie in Boston, and all you see are donation cans for the IRA.”
- Wick Sloane, an education advocate and a local community-college professor, sees this as a widespread condition among many young immigrants who pass through his classrooms. “All of these kids are grateful to be in the United States. But it’s the usual thing: Is this the land of opportunity or isn’t it? When I look at what they’ve been through, and how they are screwed by federal policies from the moment they turn around, I don’t understand why all of them aren’t angrier. I’m actually kind of surprised it’s taken so long for one of these kids to set off a bomb.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a young handsome man from another country. He came to America. He excelled. But gradually his life started to unravel. My son is a young handsome man from another country. He came to America. He excelled. But gradually his life started to unravel. Two big differences. 1) My son may wear his “IRA UNDEFEATED ARMY” t-shirt and know his Sinn Fein history but we Irish are currently in a mostly peaceful stage so he wouldn’t find too many like himself. 2) My son’s mother (me) didn’t a) leave him as a teenager in America and go back to Ireland or b) fill him full of religion instead of counseling for his anger. I am not saying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev doesn’t deserve to be in jail for the rest of his life, no matter what he went through you have to take responsibility at some point for your own life and future, but I do think his mother should be with him. She fed the monster. I put a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of mothers.
Sean Murphy may have had good intentions when he released the bloody pictures of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev but he was wrong. Sorry, 
but even bloodied he is a good looking young man. And now he looks exhausted and victimized to all those foolish young girls with a crush. Even the prosecutor is screaming this hurts her case and makes him look like a victim.
This is why it is IMPORTANT that RS used the picture they used. A terrorist does not look scary. You need to know that. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev IS the face of terrorism. We all need to understand that.
His coach said it best in the article: “I knew this kid, and he was a good kid,” Payack says, sadly. “And, apparently, he’s also a monster.”
Kate Eileen Shannon 
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