I admit I do not understand what the issue is with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev being on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine.
Boston's mayor Thomas Menino wrote to the publisher of "Rolling Stone," saying its cover "rewards a terrorist with celebrity treatment." Various retailers have said they will not display or sell the magazine.
Again, I do not understand.
It seems to me that people should be smart enough--and should be given the chance--to pass their own judgments of Tsarnaev. Yet we live in a time where we prefer censorship and ostracism to openness and freedom.
I believe Tsarnaev did a terrible thing, would have done more terrible things, and is a terrible person. He should suffer the worst we can mete out--if and when he is tried and convicted.
But where is the evil, the lack of taste and sensitivity in showing his picture?
The "Esquire" cover of Lt. William Calley was controversial when it appeared. I'm sure people were outraged by it.
He was charged in 1969 with the premeditated murder of 104 Vietnamese civilians during a Calley-led rampage that killed as many as 500 Vietnamese villagers.
Yet George Lois and "Esquire" put him on Esquire's cover--looking happy if not beatific, surrounded by affectionate Vietnamese children.
What has happened in our world that we eschew diversity of thought. That we cannot tolerate point of view and controversy?
I've also posted a cover of "Time" magazine who had Hitler on their covers more than once. He was even their "Man of the Year" in 1938. (In '39, Time lightened up a bit, naming Stalin their "MoTY.")
