Sergeant Sean P. Murphy/Mass. State Police via Boston Magazine

I have no doubt that Rolling Stone will defend its Boston bomber coverage on the basis of the First Amendment and I fully agree with that.

But glorifying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the bomber, with a soft focus cover story and a clearly defined effort to create some kind of terrorist chic is a different matter altogether.

What other would-be terrorist out there now figures he can make the cover of Rolling Stone in a glam pose if he can just do something hideous enough?

Sure we should know what drove this punk to kill so many innocent people, but glorify him? No way.

As police photographer Sean Murphy who took dramatic pictures of the terrorist just before his arrest stated; “The truth is that glamorizing the face of terror is not just insulting to the family members of those killed in the line of duty, it also could be an incentive to those who may be unstable to do something to get their face on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Exploring why Tsarnaev and his insane brother Tamerlan had such hatred and their motivations for the brutal bombings is good basic journalism.

But actually glamorizing Dzhokhar’s deeds, especially to the 20 something audience that reads ‘Rolling Stone,’ is a very different matter indeed. There are few more impressionable readers.

How quickly we move on from the horrific images in Boston on marathon day, away from the tragic Richards family who lost a son, a daughter left with only one leg, a mother brain damaged after taking the full brunt of the explosion.

How quickly too, we forget the other horrific injuries that occurred among innocent bystanders and those taking part in a great Boston ritual.

No, we should not be celebrating the deeds of the bombers with rock star like cover stories. We have seen too much death by terrorism in the United States to be in the least impressed with murderous ideology.

Any attempt to glamorize them just feeds an evil propaganda machine that somehow the answer to political problems halfway round the world justifies bombing civilians at the Boston marathon.

Rolling Stone should withdraw its cover.

Here's the Fox News report on the controversy: