ecoTrain Question Of The Week Season 5 #1: It's a Secret, But is it good to have secrets?

Big Brother

@eco-alex wrote in the question of the week post:

Although I'm sure big brother will of course have unfettered access.. that’s another story!

Lol, talking about Big Brother. I found out that Big Brother the tv show has relaunched a new season last week in Belgium. And instantly I wondered is this a coincidence, that we are now all watching Big Brother on tv again for our entertainment while we now have social media and know that the world may be under total surveillance in the near future?

I watched the show when it once started but didn't follow the other seasons. I decided to watch episode 1 this time because I was curious about what circumstances these people would live in this time. The house was probably not that different and filled with cameras all over the place.

What was disturbing was the comment that was made in between the lines (as if it was totally normal) stating that there would be secrets revealed and this could go back until they were born. I don't remember the exact words, but this was the context. Soon I found out they had been screened from the moment social media was here. Most of us probably know that there was a time that we all used our full first and last name on social media channels, and some of us were at an age (teenage?) that we could never foresee how this would be on the interwebs forever and may hunt us in the future?

In the first episodes, social media posts with very outspoken opinions on socially sensitive topics were discussed. This may come from people in a totally different phase of their lives, long forgotten that this was to be found somewhere online. It's a dangerous thing.

I decided to keep following the show, not because I'm gonna be brainwashed and hyped, but because I think it might be a good indicator for us to see what's to come. The surveillance thing is now being normalized by people that will be a fan of the show, mark my words, I'm actually quite sure.

Different secrets, different levels

The Fun secrets

It's not a conclusive answer what I can give here, because we can have little secrets for the fun of it, think of someone secretly having a crush on another person. This brings some joy thinking about it, and will probably do nobody any harm holding it a secret.

Or think about the secret buying, packing, and hiding gifts for our children when Christmas is near. That's quite a fun period to have secrets. Last Christmas, my daughter was constantly asking Santa for a magic wand, and I decided to craft one for her. Several evenings I've been crafting this for her, hoping she didn't wake up and needed to go to the toilet lol. It was a lot of fun, especially knowing that all the other expensive gifts would be less important for her than this magic wand.

Link to tutorial

And my boyfriend was right when he said it was going to be the best gift for her. She kept repeating that she loved that one the most. Which made it totally worth keeping a secret.

The unintended secrets

And then we have secrets that are there not really intended, but because there's something you need to share with someone but you can't find the right moment soon enough. Holding the secret longer than you had planned will most likely make it harder and harder to share the secret and before you know it's parked somewhere in another part of your brain. I think often, one day, probably at the most unexpected and worst moment, this secret comes out. And often when this happens through a third person, this causes trouble. People are wondering why you kept something so big a secret, for this long, and arguments may appear. Shitty moments, but I've had a few of them in my life. I know that it gets bigger in my head, making it harder than it's supposed to be, and then life comes in the way, making it less and less of a priority. One can only learn from this, try to avoid this next time.

Secrets kept because of fear

Personally, I can recall several secrets I kept because of fear. I'm not interested to share them here (sorry) because some are still questionably dangerous to share. I'm not taking the risk. But another example here is, when someone is being threatened or maybe abused physically or mentally, often victims are being told to shut up about it or they will come after their family members to harm them. Our nature is often to protect those we love and instantly we place the safety of our loved ones before our own. I've been in a similar situation and remember that I really didn't understand how I could let that person control my actions the way he did. It's a form of mind control, imagine how successful that would be in the future when they read your mind? Very powerful and very dangerous!

Powerful secrets

I heard from a friend of mine that in her home country the lockdown is meant to be for X weeks, but it will be dragged out until April. How did she hear? From a friend of her partner, working for important people. Not including more details, for you probably understand what reasons. These secrets being hold by those that control the country are from another level. While the public is being told A, the actual plan is B. We are being fooled constantly, and most don't even seem to notice or believe it. There is a reason this is being dragged out, and there's no way they could know upfront how long a pandemic will last, is there?
This is info that I let slide once I hear it, but I remembered this writing the post, and this is one secret on a totally different level aiming for total control of the citizens.

Conclusion

Secrets come in many forms and levels, some are harmless, others aren't. I think when it comes to secrets one should ask themselves if I was the one that the secret is being held from, would I rather know or not? If the answer is yes, you should consider sharing it, even if it's hard to do so. Treat others the way you want to be treated is probably a good one to live by.
Do I always live up to this? Probably not, but we live and learn constantly, so do I. :)

What about you? Do you often hold secrets?
Any thoughts you want to share? Consider joining this weeks's question of the week in the ecoTrain community

Have a good weekend!