YouTube & Video

Watch Contoversial M.I.A “Born Free” Video

The controversial M.I.A. video "Born Free" depicts the military rounding up red headed children and executing them. Some media outlets reported that YouTube had removed the violent video, but instead they put it in an age restricted section. The net result is that it's almost impossible the find the video unless you know the YouTube internal URL. 

Perhaps parental discretion is warranted. Perhaps not. The video is disturbing and contains violence and nudity, but it also deserves to be seen.

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10 Comments

  1. OMG That is sick, and not in the ‘street talk’ sense of the word. I really hope that that is not a reflection on what happens in the real world, but I have a sad feeling that somewhere in the world there are actions that carry out such horrific scenes. I’m not sure what the video is trying to do, whether it’s trying to open our eyes to the horrors of the world, or what, but I certainly feel sickened and maddened by the viewing of it.

  2. Deserves to be seen? Really? It’s completely heavy handed, gratuitous, and pandering.

  3. I am pretty shocked that you guys posted this. Why does this deserve to be seen? It has no value in it all. None.

  4. So MIA shocked me …. big deal… I´m being shocked a dozen times a day by images that cost a lot less to produce. What’s the point? To make MIA the Lady Gaga of the hip crowd??
    Music? An afterthought.
    The result for me? To decide that MIA is another promising artist that goes down the drain , thanks to the need of the industry for instant worldwide attention.

  5. Cool video. Shame the music wasn’t as imaginative. After a couple of minutes I turned the sound down and watched the rest in silence.

  6. Can we not appreciate the fact that it is different? Better then the same old bullshit nonsense i see now that really i learn nothing from or take anything away. Give her credit for stepping outside whats comfortable. Finally artists bein artists.

  7. To me it really illustrates the absurdity of genocidal violence at a time when many governments/news outlets have blocked the reporting of genocide in places such as Sri Lanka. The fact that people find it so shocking really goes to show how little is reported of similar atrocities in Darfur/Srilanka etc, as this violence pales in comparison to what really goes on.

  8. Here’s a link Bruce to my new video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jurMaUXSC3M. The most shocking thing about it is that it’s not shocking. The most interesting thing about it is that it just took 24 hours to film, cut and upload. A true independent project with the base line values; performance, simplicity and craft. MIA’s video cost considerably more and took a lot longer to finish. The director is good I admit, but it totally misses the mark. I agree that the plight of the people in Sri Lanka is horrific but substituting red haired people for the Tamil Tigers subverts the message to absurdity and trivialises the issue. Less is more.

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