Sheila Lennon has been following the release of Michael Moore’s Sicko on the internet, including the defiant postings on conservative weblogs.
Hard to say where the film came from, and normally, I imagine that Moore would be happy about a wide distribution of this incredibly important film. However, there is a down side to all of this, which is most likely why the accessibility of this film online is being touted on the conservative weblogs: if the conservative (read that ‘corporate’) think tank controlled weblogs can adversely impact on the box office for this film, this undermines Moore’s ability to continue providing movies such as this. In addition, it undermines the message of the movie. Not doing well in the box office could be interpreted as people not being concerned about this issue, which could lead our current crop of weak willed elected officials to believe they can safely accept that HMO’s campaign money, as they sweep universal health care under the carpet.
I do like seeing the discussion about health care, at Metafilter and so on. It does virally add to the noise about this film. But it needs to happen in such a way that the discussion leaves the discussion boards, and the computers and hits the street, and in particular, the voting booth. That’s why this movie needs a killer opening night. If people download to watch and go to see it in the theater, cool. But the former without the latter is not going to generate the noise we really need to make.