I heard about this on the radio.
Apparently The New York Times has already used this photo and there hasn't been any outcry. Furthermore, magazines like Rolling Stone and Time have shown pictures of Stalin, Hitler, and Saddam Hussein on their covers before, and they were frankly much worse than Dzhokar.
Also, I think it is a good reminder that not every monster necessarily has to look like one.
The point is,
Rolling Stone is not
Time. Additionally, Stalin, Hitler and Saddam are nothing like him. This is akin to when
Time and
Newsweek plastered the Columbine killers everywhere. It sends a message to the world that if you want to be famous, you don't need hard work, or anything like that. No, if you want to be famous, if you want to rise above everyone you think oppresses you and go down in history, kill people. Be more shocking than the last one. Blow minds, literally and figuratively. It tells people that bombers and rock stars are interchangeable. Finally,
Rolling Stone is a pop culture magazine, not a hard-hitting, fact filled magazine. When they put an image like that on the cover, it's of a rock star. And now, they've done the same rock star glam shot for a murderer. That just further cements the message. You wanna be somebody? You wanna stop being a nobody? Kill people. That's what it says.