GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

Some blogs it seems are just too controversial, too opinionated, too unfit for consumption by right-thinking and decent people. I'm proud FilmFlam's one of them.

This blog - parts of which have featured on the Netribution site since March - was dropped today without any prior warning from the site administrator, Nic Wistreich. Well, that's what happens when you give it away for free. It would never have happened to Julie Burchill.

I didn't think folk could be that touchy, especially over my last piece about toerag Ken Loach. Agree, disagree, whatever - the facts are unarguable - Loach has a monopoly on public subsidy but returns nothing to the collective kitty. But I don't think that's the problem Netribution had with my piece. Sure, the site administrator felt offended by my publicly pointing out the Loach item had been taken down from their front page without telling me - because it was 'vicious'. He even reinstated it after I argued the toss. He needn't have bothered. The grief I got from one particular respondent almost made me feel like I had my very own stalker, a feeling reinforced when the site put up a Loach interview by the same guy. All very Ken Loach fanclub.

My other guess for the hump-and-dump is the class issue. To come out and say 'Get your hands off my class' is provocative, asserting a position that challenges the consensus, like Missy Elliot did when she hijacked the term 'bitch' from her brothers. I wonder if 'Get your hands off my race' would have played just as badly.

So much for open source and the free and frank exchange of views and information. Healthy debate I like, so when I was first asked to contribute to Netribution, I thought, why not? It's a labour of love for its creator and a reliable source of film news. It deserves support. But not any longer when after delivering free content on a regular basis I find I'm shot down in flames because the site thinks I'm being vicious about St Ken. But Loach isn't bulletproof. No filmmaker should be. He robs the Lottery coffers repeatedly and his brand of filmmaking portrays ordinary people in dire circumstances as pitiable objects, as if somehow deserving of our sympathy. Personally I think it's patronising because it accords no respect to either his characters or the audience. In the end though - who cares? Loach will go on doing what he does regardless of what I or anybody else thinks.

As for Netribution, no hard feelings, guys. In a world where film websites are ten a penny, you do an okay job of keeping the site updated and so far you haven't turned it into a starfuck fest like Shooting People with their subscriptions and 'famous' patrons. It's just a great shame Netribution doesn't have the space for considered argument and tough opinion. But I do.