Accusations of media sympathy for the terrorists…
With one of the much sought-after Boston Marathon bombers dead and the other in custody, at least one major news publication has published a report that many consider sympathetic toward the attackers
[View slideshow: A tale of two 19-year-olds]
The American Thinker via Google News has noted that the New York Times pulled a journalistic switch-a-roo by initially publishing an article on the Russian Federation-born Tsarnaev brothers, Dzhokhar, 19, and the now deceased Tamerlan, 26, under the headline, ” Far From War-Torn Homeland, Trying to Fit In.”
The newspaper of record also made a point of referring to the younger Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar, as a “very photogenic kid” and a person with a “heart of gold.” Numerous other left-leaning commentators have referred to the terrorist brothers as “boys” and just “a couple of kids.”
But news reports of Dzhokhar’s actions in the days following the Patriot Day bombing suggest a less pure heart. The Daily Mail notes that the evening after the attack, the “very photogenic kid” was out partying with friends. How much remorse did he have for killing three, including an 8-year-old, and seriously injuring 176 more? A message that he tweeted — I’m a stress free kind of guy — hints at an answer.
The same Dzhokhar who is also the only living suspect in the murder of 26-year-old MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, also tweeted,
Ain’t no love in the heart of the city, stay safe people.
A Very Different 19-Year-Old…
Another Russian-born teen that has never received the same coverage as the younger Tsarnaev is that of Yevgeny Rodionov, formerly a private in the Russian Army, since canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Yevgeny of Chechnya.
The American-based website Orthodox Heritage has translated the Russian-language PravoSlavie’s biography of St. Yevgeny, which notes that Rodionov was captured by Chechen terrorists and “died a martyr’s death in service of his country, and in defense of his Orthodox Christian faith.”
During his three and a half months of captivity, the teen was tortured for refusing to “remove the cross that he wore around his neck, deny his Christian faith, and agree to become a Muslim.”
Finally, on his 19th birthday, May 23rd, 1996, Rodionov’s Chechen captors “sawed off his head.” The youth’s mother claims she was told by Chechen rebel leader Rusland Haihoroev, who had ordered his execution, “Your son had a choice to stay alive.”
St. Yevgeny was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage by the Russian Army.
Aleksandr Makeyev, a paratroop officer who heads a foundation to assist soldiers, said he’s seen soldiers kneeling in prayer before an image of Yevgeny:
The kids in Chechnya feel they’ve been abandoned by the state and abandoned by their commanders.
Using St. Yevgeny’s nickname, the Special Forces officer also said:
They don’t know who to appeal to for help, but they understand that Zhenya is one of them.
You can say he is the first soldier-saint of our days.
