12.30.2010 09:36 AM

Lily’s story

Lily Shang is a young friend of mine.  We met through Liberal stuff, and I saw right away that she is a very impressive person.  She’s a talented musician, an award-winning student, and a committed political activist.  I last saw her before she left for New York City to start a new life.  We talked about her career and the political future.

Last night, a Star reporter got in touch with me to ask if I knew Lily.  I asked why.  The reporter told me that “her husband was being pretty hard on her.”  When I Googled Lily’s name, I saw why.  And, this morning, I saw the resulting story. There are others, told in a gossipy, adolescent tone.

I’m biased, because I like Lily, like many Liberals do.  But, on the heels of that story about the Harpers – and given that my family is going through something similar, with my divorce pleadings being swapped like hockey cards by two newspapers and OLO operatives in Ottawa and Toronto – I think a truism bears repeating.  Here it is:

This is nobody else’s business.  Leave her (and them, and us) alone.

7 Comments

  1. Shaun says:

    Did the Star learn nothing from what the G&M did last week?

  2. Loraine Lamontagne says:

    Fine words. However, the reality is quite different. There is a whole industry based on gossip, from Today to the National Enquirer, dozens of British rags, and it’s very popular. They’ll publish a photo of, say Princess Beatrice in a bikini and then criticize her for being fat, for no reason other than she has notoriety. I don’t intend to offend here, but the anglo sphere loves gossip. A president of France could have a child out of wedlock, numerous mistresses, cancer and the press would refuse to cover the news out of respect for his privacy. They have refused to publish photographs of their President in the nude on the balcony of his hotel on the Côte d’Azur where he was vacationing. Meanwhile, the president of the US can’t swim in private.

    I note that the gossip over the PM and his wife has yet to make it into the French press while it’s been hinted at for a couple of years in the English-Canadian press.

    The lesson here is: don’t let anyone take photographs of you in the nude if you don’t want photographs of you in the nude circulated.

  3. The Doctor says:

    Warren, I thought that that blog post of Susan Delacourt’s on Dec 24th (to which you provided a link) was excellent. It summarized the ethical and journalistic issues surrounding this stuff very well.

  4. Mr. Chamberlain says:

    The media is what it is.

    It seems the media may in the end help Lily to protect her privacy. She’s responded to the crisis head-on having engaged the media and the story should eliminate the ex’s power resource over her. Her ex is likely now highly motivated to keep the footage from surfacing, as I imagine his damage control now involves telling folks she was lying about his alleged threat to post the footage. He’s now motivated to prove she is a liar, and the public can see through that.

  5. Lipman says:

    Good on you Warren for sticking up for this woman. It is disgraceful that she is being portrayed in a negative light based on anything she did behind closed doors within the confines of a relationship.

    It is also disgusting that the media comments on her scholastic skills while implying that somehow the inner workings of her relationship deviate from that sound character. Man this stuff pisses me off.

  6. Paul R Martin says:

    Why is the local media even interested? This is a private matter. As far as your personal situation is concerned, I am not interested and have read nothing, just as my own situation a decade ago was of interest only to those directly involved.

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