Just finished reading 'Savage Life in NG' - actually Papua as we now call it - by Charles Abel published in 1902.

In it he retells a story by a convert called Wadeka of Barabara who earlier in his life was part of a revenge attack on Maivara village where they captured a man and woman.

These unlucky folk were taken onboard the victors' canoe and eventually eaten with great rejoicing. Abel also tells of he and his wife meeting Tamate some time before the missionary James Chalmers had been eaten by people of Goaribari in Gulf.

My wife's grandfather told me of his having eaten a Tigak islander's flesh in after a carefully planned payback.

There were recent reports in the National Press of cannibalism in a remote part of Madang. It echoes the story in UK's Telegraph of 13/07/13: 'Papua New Guinea charges 29 alleged cannibals'.

"Authorities have arrested 29 people accused of being part of a cannibal cult in Papua New Guinea's jungle interior and charged them with the murders of seven suspected witch doctors, police said on Friday."

Paul Oates once wrote of .finding a slim, yellowing, paperback edition titled "Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice" by Garry Hogg Copyright 1980 and published by Coles The Book People - Buffalo - New York.

He quoted: "… when the author came to the island of New Guinea, there was an interesting anecdote from the annals of Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Judicial Officer JHP Murray who in a footnote wrote: '"Certain tribes here like human flesh and do not see why they should not eat it. Indeed, I have never been able to give a convincing answer to a native who says "Why should I not eat human flesh?"

As Chris says a glance around the world and indeed history shows it ain't just a PNG thing. Undoubtedly cannibalism did happen historically in PNG and during WW2 we have reports of Japs eating to survive.

Some years ago I saw a Jap documentary of of a person hunting for the soldier who had allegedly eaten his dead or 'almost dead' comrade. In the documentary it is suggested that there were two types of human meat: 'white pig or black pig and that the latter was harder to get as the natives were too clever for most battle weary and starving japs to catch'.

The white was ambiguously said in one part to be only foreign soldiers but in another part it was hinted that fellow countrymen too were eaten if killed in action and even at end of war any troublemakers would be also selected for killing. At the end of the film we are told that the researching ex-soldier died in prison.

It is not stereotyping to report on historical events and apparently there are many recorded events of cannibalism by 'white on white' in European history.

We all know how exploitative the documentary and movie world is of any event - the more scary, gory and horrific the better.

But then again as several have posted here it's money that drives so much human endeavour that most of the world celebrates the billionaires while ignoring the fact that 62 of the richest multi-billionaires own as much wealth as the poorer half of the world’s population.

If you can't beat them why not eat them, to paraphrase Lt Gov Murray said. I'm putting on a lot of weight too.

Many apologies, the Leonard Cohen line is " Everybody knows the boat is leaking, everybody knows the Captain lied"

"Navigating the River: The Hidden Colonialism of Documentary."

Here is a link to a very interesting article that talks about the strong links (historical and current) between documentary filmmaking and colonialism" - http://www.documentary.org/column/navigating-river-hidden-colonialism-documentary

"The brutal truth is that the history of documentary filmmaking is rooted explicitly in cultural, racial, gender and class-based colonialism.

For decades upon decades, Western filmmakers—almost exclusively white men—traveled to other countries and cultures to extract resources (footage), which they would exploit (edit) for the benefit of their home culture (theaters, film festivals, PBS, etc.).

This flow of power, and along with it the control over these stories, historically traveled in one direction—from those without it to those with it."

Ben Klewaip is guilty of the racial stereotyping of which Caucasian people are so frequently accused.

What is on display in "Cannibal Crusade" is not peculiarly "white" in character: it is all about money.

Those in pursuit of money frequently care nothing for race, culture, colour or creed.

Sensationalism, exaggeration, provocation and offensiveness are just tools of trade for them.

Pandering to the lowest common denominator has always been a lucrative activity.

As the co-founder of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, Phineas T Barnum, famously said, "no-one ever went broke under estimating the intelligence of the public".

So, Ben, it is not Mr Grainger's whiteness that is the issue here. Rather, it his calculating use of the above mentioned tools of trade to exploit the credulousness, ignorance and sheer stupidity of his intended audience to make a quick buck.

He is not the first to do this. I have in my possession a book titled "Cannibal: A Photographic Audacity" by James L Anderson (published by A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1970), in which the author purports to show a first contact patrol amongst the Biami people.

The reference to cannibalism is purely an attention grabbing device, hardly central to the real story, which about the trials and tribulations of patrolling in the remote parts of PNG.

In using this device, Anderson (like Grainger) is following a well trodden path.

I am sure that any collateral damage to the reputation of those labelled cannibals caused no concern whatever to author or film maker alike.

From their point of view, it is just marketing and, after all, the subjects are hardly in a position to complain, much less hire a decent defamation lawyer.

Ben is entitled to take offense but should direct his anger at the real cause of that offense, which is not skin colour but the pursuit of money to the exclusion of all other considerations.

This is not the exclusive preserve of white people as an even cursory glance at what goes on around the world will clearly show.

I spent four years in Lae and have travelled extensively throughout PNG between 2006-2010. In 2011 I returned to Merseyside in the UK for my mother's funeral and felt much more intimidated walking through the streets of the local sink housing estates than strolling through Eriku or Top Town market in Lae.