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Daring to use the wrong photo

The forthcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine in America has been widely condemned for its front cover image of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The photograph is contentious in that it does not appear to castigate Tsarnaev for his crimes (which he has yet to be convicted of) - as if 'evil' must only be depicted in an unequivocal way. But clearly, for a moment at least, Tsarnaev had what conforms to what we would read as an almost angelic face, seemingly peaceful, well-adjusted and sensitive - not at all the idea of a future fundamentalist zealot who would (allegedly) react with an act of pyschopathic violence in response to America's fucked up pro-Israeli foreign policy. Deconstruction of a photograph's meaning and usage has suddenly become a national pastime and a simple snapshot can be enough to enrage a nation.