Photo response to Rolling Stone

[graywarrior]

Sean Collier was shot in the head during the hunt for the two brothers involved in the Boston Terror attack. It is assumed he was shot by one of them.

[Ghost in the Machine]

1. Ummm.. could you please add some kind of context, back story or *something*, so we know

what this is all about?

Thanks in advance,

Ghost

[handmade34]

3. if I had to guess...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/17/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-boston-marathon-bombing-rolling-stone/2523891/

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Thank you! n/t

[Half-Century Man]

2. Seriously?

A magazine with an article about a suspect of a specific crime can't have a picture of the suspect on the cover? We need the picture of a maybe victim? What about the known victims?

Are we so insecure about something so ironclad as this that we can't even look at a suspects face? How can being able to see a criminal as a human being reduce the humanity of his victims?

[DreamGypsy]

5. Rolling Stone is not just a popular music magazine...

...since many of the great journalists/contributors to the magazine cover a much broader range of topics.

Assuming Tsarnaev's appearance on the cover makes him a "rock star" is incorrect.

An better analogous characterization is this:



From Jezebel, Jahar Tsarnaev Lands Cover of Rolling Stone, Incites Rage and Boycotts:

While this is not the first time Rolling Stone has put a controversial and notorious individual on the cover, it has been a long time: In 1970, the publication won a National Magazine Award for an exclusive prison interview with convicted murderer Charles Manson.

Rolling Stone has always covered current events and politics and has a demo that is mostly male and mostly young, so Tsarnaev is certainly in the sweet spot of the magazine's beat. The story inside includes five revelations abut the teenager's world — his older brother said he felt like "two people" were living inside him; his family disintegrated when both of his parents were living in Russia; he played down the fact that he was a Muslim when he was in school, etc.

Really, the accusation that the magazine is glorifying or glamorizing Tsarnaev stems from the photo, with its sepia tint, heavy-lidded eyes and tousled hair. (The image is one Tsarnaev himself had once posted online; it appeared on the front page of the The New York Times in May.)

Neither is Sean Collier a rock star (imho). Sean is a hero, one of the unnecessary victims in a series of villainies; his death came while performing his life's work; he and his family deserve our thanks, our sympathy, and our respect. Perhaps an insightful journalist will produce an analysis of Sean's life, ideals, and tragic killing that will appear as a cover story. If so, the deeds of the man will be what should be remembered, not the photo on a magazine cover or blog.