"It's kind of clear from reading her interviews and listening to her music that she is much more about turning tragedy into fashion than she is about educating people on the nuances of foreign policy"-- that's the words on a MIA supporter on ILM.

Incredibly tenacious aren't they, MIA fans? Yet also evasive, endlessly conceding ground.

They remind me of Palinistas.

Just will not be budged from this initial cathexis they made. Won't hear a bad word, or rather, work hard at making excuses for the bad words said. Such agile apologetics and virtuoso-level casuistry* has rarely been seen.

The line now under development is "of course pop stars talk drivel about politics, of course they're all about empty gestures and sensationalism and pointless provocation. That's what makes it pop, what makes it good pop actually. It's pop music, what did you expect?"

One more time...

"It's kind of clear from reading her interviews and listening to her music that she is much more about turning tragedy into fashion than she is about educating people on the nuances of foreign policy"

That's actually harsher than my original 2005 take. And that's where the fans's, the supporters's, heads are at now.

The music and the video to "Born Free" made me realise she's a sort of Noam Chomsky version of Sigue Sigue Sputnik, riding the ghost of Suicide even more blatantly than Tony James & Co did.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* casuistry expertly dissected here by Seb