Privacy and Secrets

I don't know about you, but I can keep a secret or confidence no matter what.

Some people, though, seem to make it their sworn duty with some vile diarrhoea of the mind to blab private stuff to all and sundry. And the worst part is that they don't seem to see the damage done or the wrong in it.

For instance, if you have a problem with money, drink, drugs, health or sexuality, that is your business. Nobody else's. If you tell someone, they may be understanding but can you really trust them not to spread it around? It is my bet they won't keep it to themselves for long, and once done they'll do it again, the excuse being to protect you from people findng out third hand. Bollocks! It's spiteful and malicious. The formula is geometric - the numbers knowing will double with every telling and soon some nasty bigot out there will have it in for you, or some do-gooder with a nose as long as Pinocchio will stick it into your business. Either way, you're screwed.

And we should always respect a person's privacy and secrets anyway, even over normal things, because they (being our own individual knowledge we have to ourselves) are what make us individuals. If someone knows everything about us, or if we are fool enough to tell them, we are not individuals at all, but in their control and power. And the bastards will exercise their weighty boots all over us.

Jack Orchison
June 1, 2014