secrets

I would like others to suggest what type of secrets are secret?
In the entertainment field of Magic (secrets),it covers many forms, ie, a production ,a vanish, a transposition,transportation, a levitation,a colour change, esp, all illusions etc, this is entertainment and when cleverly done attracts much admiration,now we all know that magicians do not have super powers, the good ones create an allusion, we belong to magic societies and promote the art.and once the secrets are revealed the illusion is shattered.
Then there is black/white magic which is closely associated with religions, or cults.
Then there are secrets in government, business, the arts and science.
Have i missed anything out?
One thing i know for sure is that a holder of secrets do feel superior, (i know something you don,t know attitude) it makes one feel more important and so privelidged, but also for security reasons.
Having secrets is basically having special knowledge not widely available to the majority, bearing in mind that a secret once told is not a secret, and the more people that know, the weaker the weakest link is.
So lets have your views.

In my opinion many things are mistakenly called "secret" when in fact a better word is "private." As language evolves, words often take on new meanings unintended by those who came before.

One striking example of the importance of this phenomena is the US Constitution. This was a very carefully written document, which clearly limited the powers of the Federal Government and as clearly stated that all ofther powers were reserved to the People and the States. As such, the vast moajority of the things our government does today are blatantly unconstitutional -- without understanding what certain words meant to the average man at the time the document was written, we cannot know what said words mean at all.

The end result is that a near majority of Americans think they have a constitutional right to health care, that FEMA is obliged to protect them from hurricanes -- the list is almost endless. To anyone who has given even cursory study of the Constitution, and the writings of the men who wrote it (equally necessary to understanding) the current regime in this country is ridiculous and abhorrent in the extreme.

The same phenomena happens to Masons -- our ceremonies have carefully preserved the language of the early 18th century, and thus seem strange to some of the more suspiciously-minded uninitiated. Does this mean we should change them? I don't think so, but that's just my opinion.

As to your question, a secret is by definition anything that is known to a small group and understood by said group to be "not for public consumption." The list of possibilities there are endless, and largely non-threatening -- I have no desire to know the details of my neighbor's sex lives (for example) and certainly no right either.

I personally think it's important that we "take back the language" -- "secrets" and "private things" are not necessarily the same thing.

DD

I agree with a lot of what you say. In uk for a new bill to be passed, the house of commons puts forward a document, the house of Lords go over it with a fine tooth comb and makes adjustments,this document goes backward and forward until it is agreed on both sides. Not long ago a bill was put forward by the majority of the people to stop fox hunting with dogs,the upper classes tried their hardest to stop this going through,the house of lords agreed the bill after changing some of the words, the result was a loophole which allowed them to continue fox hunting.ie, they were allowed to exercise their dogs on their land and if a dog happened to get to a fox before the owners,they were allowed to shoot the fox even if its dead to make sure there is no suffering to the fox.
Accurate words and spaces or commas are important ,for example you could say, whats that on the road ahead, or , ,, whats that on the road a , head, another ,the pen is mightier than the sword,or , the penis mightier than the sword,so accurate interpretation is important.

[edit on 3-12-2005 by stmichael]

[edit on 3-12-2005 by stmichael]