Mainstream media wets its panties at a bored Tsarnaev giving the finger to a video camera, as this totally shows how Hideously Evil he is and clearly he must be the first inmate ever in the history of U.S. prisons to do such a thing. Oh, wait, he wasn’t actually giving the finger to anyone, just amusing himself. Sadly, uncritical lapdog rubbish is what we’ve come to expect from amusement companies / propaganda cheerleaders like CNN,who long ago (with scattered exceptions now and then) stopped being journalists. Happily, The Intercept still is, and doesn’t mindlessly regurgitate the latest manufactured outrage. Tsarnaev is deservedly going to prison for decades regardless, so why all the blather about him giving the finger to a security camera?
Rather than some sort of calculated, sustained display of evil scorn for America and his victims — CNN’s “defiant salute” — the actual video shows a 19-year-old prisoner bored from sitting alone for hours in a jail. The middle finger was preceded by other gestures that he maintained longer. He was using the camera as some sort of mirror and appears to be occupying and mildly amusing himself. The still photo was shown by prosecutors rather than the video because the former is menacing and the latter is not. Long-time criminal attorney Jeralyn Merritt noted how banal the actual behavior was.