In the Country of M.I.A. (updated)

Here's that long piece from the NYT about M.I.A., the Sri Lankan rapper whom author Lynn Hirschberg clearly considers politically naive, shallow, and maybe a little stupid. I'm not going to argue that M.I.A. has a clearly worked out position on ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka; if she does it doesn't come through here. Yet I'm much more charmed by M.I.A.'s sincere if weird gesture of having photos for her new album shot by a working-class Sri Lankan photographer while wearing enough Givenchy jewelry that a bodyguard had to be present than I am by most of what Lady Gaga has ever done. Hirschberg slams M.I.A. for her violent "Born Free" video but lets Gaga and Beyonce of the hook for their homicidal "Telephone" mini-movie. In comparison to Gaga's masters-thesis self-presentation M.I.A. seems a sort of cultural sponge, aiming for the pop omniscience of Madonna while keeping one foot (a confused foot perhaps) in the struggles of her country.

UPDATE - Since reading the article and posting yesterday it has come to my attention that M.I.A. tweeted Lynn Hirschberg's phone number in a fit of displeasure. I don't approve. My opinion of the article itself as a hit piece is unchanged; Hirschberg even portrays M.I.A.'s choice of husband and childbirth method as a betrayal of her professed political sympathies.