What Does Private Mean Now?

The concept has been parodied brutally and perhaps accurately by South Park’s Sussexes’ “World Wide Privacy Tour”. A quick google search will tell me far more than I need to know, or see, about quite a few famous people, some of whose became famous after their privacy was breached, maybe by themselves.

A number of papers have recently reported on Jacinda Ardern, a former New Zealand prime minister, and her private wedding but ‘private’ might be disputable. The articles describe her dress and name the designer, her shoe maker, her hairdresser and even the story of her daughter’s dress. There were photos to show how well this came together and we all wish her and her family the best.

The current US election is thriving on broken privacy where Donald Trump has been associated with a porn star, an insurrection, business impropriety and the misuse of secret documents, all of which are being examined by various legal authorities. Time will tell which are significant but I would be hiding in the deepest cave if I were facing these accusations. 

Gossip has been a mainstay of many newspapers and hairderessers but we need to think about why we need to know so much about people we will never meet and often don’t like.

Fortunately I am quite boring so no one really wants to know what I am doing or have done. Bliss in anonymity.

Dennis Fitzgerald,

Melbourne, Australia