The past two days have been full of all these self righteous do-gooders criticizing Rolling stone magazine for their cover photo of the guy who was involved with the tragedy in Boston. They say it is disrespecting the victims of his crime to put his photo on the cover. That say that being on the cover of Rolling Stone glorifies that person and makes him a rock star. I say: ridiculous.
The photo used by Rolling Stone is the exact same photo that was used by the New York Times on their front page, above the fold. There was no outcry against the New York Time and that was a blatant attempt by the NYT to sensationalize the story.
The photo shows what looks like a normal college kid. That is the magazine’s target demographic. The point of the story is that something wrong happened somewhere along the way in this kid’s life. It examines his childhood and what is known about his experiences as a teenager and college kid. It asks the question, what went wrong and what we can do about it?
This is an important dialogue that our country should be undertaking. Comeing to an understanding of what happened to turn this kid from normal to killer is how we can take steps to make sure it does not happen to other kids.
The story is not making this kid a rock star. It points out that our society has issues that need to be addressed and resolved, more than seeking vengeance on this guy through the convoluted court system. This guy is never going to get out of jail and walk our streets again. We all know that. But what about the other kids who are just like him who are?
I don’t have a problem with the cover. I think that what happened in Boston was a horrible thing and the killers do not deserve to live. But that is the courts to decide, not the readers of Rolling Stone Magazine.