Does Tsarnaev look too much like us?

Does Tsarnaev look too much like us?

I listen as controversy brews over Rolling Stone’s cover of suspected bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. I have not yet read the article, but the press seems to revolve more around the photo.

When pictures of James Holmes (Aurora, Colo.), Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook) and Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech) made magazine covers and newspaper front pages, I did not hear such outrage.

Is this because these three young men were members of the wild-eyed crazy boys club? Was there no reason for outrage because just looking at them tells us evil lurked inside?

Is the problem with Rolling Stone’s cover of Tsarnaev how normal he looks? He is not the visual monster we have come to associate with this type of horrific crime. He could be our son, or son’s best friend or teammate. He could be the boy who took our daughter to the prom.

Is what really bothers us about Tsarnaev how “normal” he appears? How we could not pick him out of a crowd as a monster?

Is the real fear that the face of evil can be handsome and disarming, a face like yours or mine, like our sons’?

DEBRA WALLER
SALEM

McAullife’s dealings have a bad odor

I am not sure I understand Terry McAuliffe’s history. He invested in Global Crossing and made a huge profit. Several years later, the company went bankrupt. He was on the board of directors of Telergy. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2001. He creates a GreenTech green-energy car company, but this company hires a bare minimum of workers and hardly builds a car: It exists largely on paper.

Am I the only one who thinks this guy seems like a complete fraud?

This New Yorker moves to Virginia so that he can be a power broker in Washington, D.C. Now he wants to run the state? It’s almost surreal.

I will definitely be supporting Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, not McAuliffe, in the election for governor.

At least we know Cuccinelli was educated in Virginia, is raising his kids here and seems invested in the state beyond simply wanting power — plus he hasn’t abused political connections to enrich himself.

JOHN W. KUNTZ
PULASKI

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