I think that it was once feasible to keep a secret, as long as its possessor was discrete. The dissemination of information was such that secrets spread very slowly, if at all. If the existence of a secret even became known, someone wishing to learn it faced both a long march and long odds, no matter the vigor with which they pursued it. If they actually did find it out, it was not easily passed on. It's been the media which has done it. Beginning with print, it has progressed to radio, television, and now on to the modern internet.
Maybe I'm wrong about how it used to be, given Ben Franklin's saying, "Three can keep a secret if two are dead". The point is how it is now. In all realms of human achievement, there are pieces of information being withheld at any given time. If no one wants to know, then there's no issue. Once there's any interest in finding out the truth, a worldwide human machine springs into action. It seems to me that once upon a time, there were only professional journalists of some minimum level of reputability who had to prioritize what they devoted their time to. I guess they also consented to look the other way on some things. Not so today.
A prime example of this is the ferreting out of the congressman whose outburst drew such attention on the floor of the House yesterday. When I went to bed, the person's identity remained unknown save that it seemed to be someone with a Southern accent seated with the Texas delegation. For all of that, the secret seemed to be protected by an ideological wall of silence. In spite of a dead end seemingly having been reached, I drifted off to sleep asserting, "It'll come out". By the time I got online and started catching up on the news, it had. It always does, whether it's a small matter or one of paramount importance. The only secrets left are those no one cares about.
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The interesting thing about secrets is that if they are maintained they exist in a microscopic part of the universe, known to only one or two people.
When I ripped a sink off the wall in high school when I learned I had been excluded from the annual state wrestling tournament because I had been ill and did not wrestle enug matches to invited, despite winning when I was there, this was a secret known by me and the sink. Perhaps, the sink told the flood of water which subsequently appeared, that I was the perpetrator, but other than that , its porcelain lips were sealed.
When the entire school was gathered into the auditorium, and told the school administration was going to "get to the bottom" of hte sink incident (why is it the bottom that is sought?) I knew I possessed a secret. When the head master of the private boarding school I had been shuffled off to attend, announced the entire school was to remain in the auditorium until the person who damaged the sink came forward, I knew we were in for a long day.
During the next two hours, the students were berated, threatened, cajoled and the story of the "sink' was retold, letting me know it was the belief of the headmaster the event had transpired at 11:00 am, when i was securely ensconced in my french class with scads of witnesses.
It was a very long day, and I guess no one cared, because it remained secret..
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