Would we have sympathy if he didn't look like a rockstar?

I recently read the controversial Rolling Stones' 18-page article on the Boston Bomber (BB).  If this were a movie script, readers would have felt nothing but love and sympathy towards this young charmer and nothing but hatred towards his older brother.  But the reality of the destruction caused on that fateful day in April, kept us all feeling on the fence with mixed emotions.

Loved by all his friends and professors, BB was expected to become someone who would stand out in society - someone whose peers and mentors would proudly say "I knew he would become someone", he sure stood out in society but sadly he will forever be plagued by his actions, keeping all who knew him flabbergasted.

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that BB was greatly influenced by his older brother.  According to this article, in the Chechen culture, like many other cultures, an older brother is considered to be the head of the household, the voice of reason, the voice of authority and to young BB, he was the only voice to look up to and follow.   Other articles mirrored the same justification by repeatedly stating that he was young and "probably" too scared to speak up or question his brother.  A boy with a bright future will later become the monster who changed the lives of many, killing innocent people in his own hometown.  Everyone wants to know why? articles are being published on the daily, and documentaries are attempting to go "inside the mind of the killer" and all fingers are being pointed at the evil older brother.

A cop out and disgrace to the families affected!  Values and morals are instilled in us at a very young age - society molds us, experiences change us but at the end of the day, we are all individuals with our own free will.   We adapt to become who we are expected to be. Actions have consequences and every move affects us and those around us - that's just simply Human Behavior 101.

While we always seem so interested to learn about the persona of the "monster" mostly out of curiosity but also to watch for patterns and to learn how we can better avoid such catastrophes in the future, I can't help but feel disappointed that we live in a society where none of these articles would have highlighted "the charmer" and "bright person" that BB was, had he looked a little more like Zawahiri or one of his men in Guantanamo and a little less like a rockstar with great hair and a baby face.  I know Rolling Stones wouldn't have run the story and if so, they certainly wouldn't have put him on the cover page!