Two months later and it seems like all the fuss was for nothing, as life for Rolling Stone magazine goes on unharmed. For those who don’t know, this summer Rolling Stone put out the new edition of their infamous magazine with a surprising face on the cover. Dzhokar Tsarnaev, one of the bombers who played a key role in the bombings during the recent Boston Marathon, caused a nationwide debate over whether putting him on the cover should be considered offensive or not.
Many believe that putting Tsarnaev on the cover could be considered glorifying him for what he did. And considering his recent crimes, glorifying him is exactly the opposite of what they had intended. SHS junior Joseph Downing said, “I wasn’t offended by it, but I could see why people would be.” This cover stirred up boycotts and protests against the company and will most likely affect the company’s success in the future.
Though it seems issues like this have come up a lot recently. Similar to the how people felt about the Sandy Hook shootings, and the not so recent Columbine shootings; people don’t want the killers to be talked about more than the victims. It seems with media today, people become interested with the criminal when they should be thinking about the victims.
Even though it was predicted that Rolling Stone might not recover from this situation, it may surprise you to know that it’s not their first time handling such a controversial topic. Nearly 40 years ago, the Rolling Stone found themselves in a similar position when they put a picture of serial killer Charles Manson on the cover. This cover controversy seems nearly identical to our current situation, a killer being put over his victims on a large scale. We all know the name Charles Manson, or that the Beatles wrote a song based off his actions. And we all know about the Boston Bomber, even if most can’t pronounce his name, we still know his face and his actions. But while you think about these killers, ask yourself ‘Who did they kill?’
I personally don’t know any of their victim’s names. And this is the same with many people, partly why people are so offended by the way media glorifies these criminals. We look at the killers with disgust, but don’t look at the victims at all.