But if the woman who once simulated masturbation on a world tour can’t understand the impetus for a provocative notion from a notoriously impetuous pop star, then it was clear the outside world was going to have a collective meltdown. And, of course, M.I.A. was effectively flipping off America, but not everyone in America—just what is perceived as America’s middlestream, the football-watching populace that traverses gender, race, class, age, and sexual orientation.

It’s telling that one of the main critiques of M.I.A.’s finger-flip this week had to do with the fact that she is “not even American,” as Republican Dana Perino groused, which is true (she holds British and Sri Lankan citizenship), but is also veiled code for “brown.” Let us not forget the role race played in Nipplegate, and how it corresponds—woman of color onstage with white pop star offends the country by will or by accident—and wonder if M.I.A. was white and gave the finger, how commentators would react. While we aren’t inclined to think a middle finger is all that interesting—we view it with something approaching boredom—it is somewhat subversive that a young brown woman rapping about her “uranium hits” did it.