M.I.A. accuses Anderson Cooper of calling her “a terrorist,” Cooper scratches head

Followers of bird-flipping quasi-rapper M.I.A.’s Twitter feed know that she usually talks about two things: government propaganda and seizure-inducing fashion prints. Last night, M.I.A. chose the wrong silver fox to tangle with when she picked a fight on Twitter with Anderson Cooper. The entirety of the argument went something like this: M.I.A. accused Cooper of calling her “a terrorist” and lambasts him for getting the situation in Sri Lanka wrong. Cooper responded with a well-reasoned “What are you talking about?” He then followed up with the equally rational “I can understand your frustration if someone wrote untrue things about you, and I’m glad you were able to respond.” All in all, the exchange reads like a calm parent talking with a frustrated teenager. Later, M.I.A. filed a correction on one of Cooper’s stories on the AC360 blog, which was all fairly civilized. So let it be known: If you’re looking to make trouble on a micro-blogging service, Anderson Cooper is the wrong journalist to mess with.