also turned off by the stencil-sprayed projection imagery of grenades, tanks, and so forth (redolent of the Clash with their strife-torn Belfast stage backdrops and Sandinista cred by association)" while the "99 percent white audience punched the air", admonishing what he perceived as a "lack of local character" to her debut album. Critic Robert Christgau described Reynolds' argument as "cheap tack" in another article written in the publication, stating M.I.A's experiences connected her to world poverty in a way "few Western whites can grasp". He questioned why M.I.A.'s 2001 Alternative Turner Prize nominated images of pastel-washed tigers, soldiers, guns, armoured vehicles, and fleeing civilians that bedeck M.I.A.'s albums and videos were not assumed or analysed as being incendiary propaganda, suggesting that unlike art buyers, rock and roll fans were "assumed to be stupid". Reynolds later argued that M.I.A. was the "Artist of the Decade" in a 2009 issue of The Guardian. Social causes Activism M.I.A.'s commentary on the oppression of Sri Lankan Tamils has drawn praise and criticism. The United States has restricted her access into and out of the country during her career since the release of her debut album. M.I.A. notes that the voicelessness she felt as a child dictated her role as a refugee advocate and voice lender to civilians in war during her career. M.I.A. attributes much of her success to the "homeless, rootlessness" of her early life. Due to her and her family being displaced from Sri Lanka because of the Civil War, M.I.A. has become a refugee icon. The EMP Museum's 2008 Pop Conference featured paper submissions and discussions on M.I.A. presented on the theme of "Shake, Rattle: Music, Conflict, and Change." She has used networking sites such as Twitter and MySpace to discuss and highlight the human rights abuses and war crimes that Sri Lanka is accused of perpetrating against Tamils, citing news articles, human rights group reports, government reports, her own experiences as a child and on her return to the island in 2001 to support calls for a ceasefire. M.I.A. has also used a great deal of tiger print and imagery, a symbol for the Tamil Tigers in both album artwork and music videos, such as seen in "Galang". Being the only Tamil widely known in Western media, M.I.A. has discussed how she feels a responsibility to represent the Tamil minority. M.I.A. has spoken of discussions with witnesses during and after