The Controversy over Rolling Stone's Front Cover: Whether the Photo Is Right

If the outcry on social networking sites is anything to go by, many of you found Rolling Stone’s decision to put Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect who was accused along with his brother of committing the bomb attack in Boston, on the cover of its latest issue absolutely indefensible.

Some feel that the magazine is making a rock star out of a terrorist, which will encourage other young people to commit murderous acts. Two chain stores are refusing to sell the August issue bearing the disgraceful photograph “out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones.” The governor of Massachusetts and the mayor of Boston have denounced the editorial choice, qualifying it as “bad taste and a glorification of evil acts.”*

Once again, we are accusing the media and refusing to face up to reality, as the front cover of Rolling Stone completely supports the words of the article inside the magazine: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev does not look like a murderer. He looks more like the boy next door, barely even an adult.

The artistic director used a personal and untouched photo of Tsarnaev, which was taken from his Facebook page and which other media outlets have also published. And yes, here the devil has the face of an angel — the look of Jim Morrison, not a jihadi with a turban and a black, disheveled beard.

The Devil within Us

Yet this photo represents the perception that everyone had of Jahar — his Americanized name — before last April’s terrorist attacks. Journalist Janet Reitman held enquiries over two months and interrogated many of his friends, neighbors, parents and teachers. No one had any idea of the evil eating away at his soul.

By showing us the close-up image of a young, charismatic man, all the while labelling him in the headlines as a “monster” and “bomber,” Rolling Stone shows that the devil is among us all — like the other Islamist student from the University of Sherbrooke, accused of wanting to plant a bomb in a Via Rail train. And this devil is much more troubling than the ogres we are used to seeing in the headlines — it makes us question ourselves.

The Radical Rift

Before we judge, we should of course read the article. The author is, rightly, trying to comprehend the incomprehensible: Where did this flaw, this rift, which caused an 18-year-old young man to radicalize himself to the point of insanity come from? A student, well-liked by his friends, who ended the lives of innocent people in the name of an ideology, a religion. In his case, the influence of his older brother explains his conversion to radical Islam, but it is not the only cause — Jahar did not share much affinity with his brother. There’s the isolation, inner emptiness, the breakup of his family, the suffering and exclusion that may explain it — in part.

Instead of condemning Rolling Stone, the American public should perhaps ask itself this question: How could two young men so easily acquire an arsenal of weapons and explosives without ever arousing the least suspicion? Americans should also ask themselves why in a country founded on immigration, a “melting pot” of people and religious tolerance, an increasingly important part of the population feels unable to access the great American dream or are stigmatized for believing in another god.

Above all, they must remember one thing. Although the media may sometimes resort to sensationalism, the front cover of a magazine sold in a kiosk will never kill anyone. What will kill is the blindness and foolishness of people who believe that their cause is more important than the life of others.

* Editor’s Note: The original quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.