Boston is aghast (as are other cities) at the now-famous Rolling Stone cover depicting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The picture is too kind, too glamorous, and too normal, say critics. The story is online as of yesterday, but the outrage did not wait.
It’s surprising that the outrage has an anti-terrorism bent but that pro-Islamic groups aren’t railing at the implications. Check out the sub-title of the cover:
How a Popular, Promising Student Was Failed by His Family, Fell into Radical Islam and Became a Monster
That’s a pretty loaded statement. The implication is that radical Islam turned an otherwise normal boy into the type who would bring devastation upon the Boston Marathon.
This headline suggests that Tsarnaev did not have evil sewn into his soul; rather, the corrupting influence of the radical Islamic community exploited his loneliness and confusion to brainwash him. Of course the image is wholesome-looking – the thrust of this line of thinking is that this could happen to anyone.
One would think a group like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (which has apparently been silent on the issue) would have as many or more problems with that cover than, say, Hot Air.
Jim Eltringham 