Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 18: Privacy, Secrets, and the Sliding Scale
Posted By Randy on October 18, 2014
If there is one very dark pit modern society is hell bent on careening headlong into, it’s the dangerous, dangerous, and I emphasize really fucking dangerous idea that demanding privacy is somehow suspicious, and tantamount to an open admission that you – indeed anyone who wishes to have it – must have “something to hide”.
We routinely hear this articulated in defense of intrusions into personal privacy, however outrageous, by those who speak some iteration of the mantra, “If you don’t have anything to hide, why should you care?”
This troubles me, and if it doesn’t trouble you then I strongly advise you to start being so. You see, buying into this equates it’s none of your fucking business with having something morally wrong to hide. It equates having an affair with your secretary with not wanting it widely known that you’ve just been diagnosed with cancer. Finding buried treasure with a stash of child porn. It grants others the “right” to stand in judgement of everything you do and makes you responsible for explaining your every thought, word, and deed. I piss on that from a great height..
You see, privacy has always been the default setting of adult life. Nothing gets out unless you choose to release it, and not the other way around. You may recall resenting the intrusions, real and imagined, that you felt as an adolescent just testing the waters of adulthood while still living with your parents. This Truth of Nature is what spawned the age old inevitability of gossips, snoops, busybodies and rumour mills. These have always sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, not because people were keeping secrets, but because they understood the importance of shutters, curtains, closed doors, and speaking in civilized tones that wouldn’t penetrate walls; and it drove nosy people nuts. Some of those nosy people found their way into positions of authority, but that changed nothing but the amount of power they had to interfere with others. You may have noticed this pattern continues today.
We spoke yesterday of poison, and I direct you specifically to this bit of verse:
A plant may sicken, kill, or cure
When measured thoughtfully.
T’is a question of intention
And a matter of degree.
I direct you to this to illustrate another Truth – everyone, and everything, has enemies. Because in any environment there are only so many resources available, and for any organism to survive necessitates competition with others. The most successful organisms don’t want to merely survive however – they want to thrive.
The Bee that returns to its hive to do the dance that tells its kindred where a new trove of nectar is to be found doesn’t do the same dance in other hives out of a spirit of transparency. The Fisherman doesn’t publish the coordinates of his favourite fishing hole.
There is a saying in Martial Arts that has always stuck to my mind – “Keep your jewels hidden.” It means that one acquires the skills of mind, body, and spirit for reasons that belong to you alone, and the powers they convey in permitting you to live your own interpretation of a successful life is nobody’s business but yours. People can make up their minds about your measure by observing how you live, and conduct themselves around you based on nothing more than how you conduct yourself towards them, if you even deign to bother. No explanations are owed. This sentiment was summed up in the words of Ned Stark in an episode of Game of Thrones:
Exactly. But this isn’t about fighting in the generally held understanding of the term, although in the extreme that can be part of it. It’s about striving in pursuit of your own interests, and that brings me back to that verse of mine about poison. Particularly, “T’is a question of intention, And a matter of degree.” That’s what I’m talking about when I use the term “enemy”. You see, like many things in life, “enemy” doesn’t speak to definition so much as it does a sliding scale defined by, you guessed it, intention and degree. We’re back to competition for resources, be they fundamental things like food and clean water, or more complex goals like a valuable contract or a job promotion. Your rival may be seeking the attention of a woman you fancy. This drives you to be better than the rest, and if you can’t be faster or stronger, you can still find ways to be better. There’s the lesson, and showing your hand to the table isn’t a part of that equation.
Keep your jewels hidden.
FWIW – the earliest documented use of the phrase, "Oh, if you have nothing to hide, you won't object!" was used by Nazis at inspection points when they started with 'Papieren, bitte!" and then could empty out the person's luggage, their pockets, and if the person objected, the soldier would say, "You have something to hide?" Sadly I have heard supposedly normal people say things like, "I don't care of the NSA reads me email I have nothing to hide". Sheeple who have been brainwashed into being submissive wimps. BTW – until Master At Arms Keating told me, i did not know you rescued! I admire you. Three of my four are rescues. – he thinks a lot of you, and that is one of the highest commendations I know of. He is an awesome human being!
Thank you Jay. There is indeed a sad history to that little turn of phrase, no doubt going back into antiquity. I'd lay money there's a Roman version; it's just so common now that nobody remembers the Latin anymore. Brainwashed indeed.
Indeed we rescue, and our five are all rescues, most of whom were on death row. Milo, the black Dog on my masthead, is our best tracker, and came to us with a level of food aggression that had him on the fast track to the bone yard. Happy and stable, he's now among the finest Dogs I've ever known.
You might enjoy a few of my articles relating to this. If you haven't already read them, try http://randy.whynacht.ca/archives/1522 as well as http://randy.whynacht.ca/archives/1654 , http://randy.whynacht.ca/archives/6838 and http://blog.gmds.ca/archives/7 (this last from our Golden Mountain Dog Solutions blog).
You and I are of a mind where the Good Master Keating is concerned!
When I was staff on a US military psych ward. one patient indicated a reluctance to participate in group therapy. I said “I understand your reluctance, but (something it helps something something beneficial in the end something)” ( only remember the first few words, because I was chewed out later by senior staff members. “Don’t tell the patients that! You’re rewarding his withdrawal and encouraging a refusal to participate!”
Oh really? I couldn’t even tell a patient that I thought a reluctance to share every thought, every emotion with strangers was understandable? I was even very careful not to say that it was normal. After that chewing out, I accepted that such reluctance **was** normal, and now saw some therapy, at least, as a serious personal violation. I’ve wondered since if the benefits of some therapy works better for sheep than for goats.
We humans have domesticated ourselves, as we have domesticated wolves into dogs, and aurochs into cows. This superficial behavior is necessary for a civilization of multiple tribes within tribes. But it is not necessary to be submissive and instinctively conformist, although it is likely that this is the easiest adaptation to living in a crowd. We can also be tame wild animals, rather than domesticated. We can be circumspect, and self-controlled, and make our own decision on how to act under particular circumstances.
People generally do not fear evil behavior nearly as much as they fear simple strength. Perhaps if they bully by proxy (i.e. the government) they do not feel so helpless – even if they themselves are then victims of the day-to-day prying and spying.
I hear you Kermit! And you said a mouthful in your reference to the fear of simple strength. Even firm and decisive, though professionally uttered statements can do the trick.
I see this demonstrated regularly, but never so loudly and clearly, as when dealing with clients that represent government departments or branches of large corporations. Around a meeting table, where they find solace and the comfort of familiarity, they address me as their consultant in security, loss prevention, and life safety matters. It isn’t uncommon for one of the participants to hear my recommendation for a solution of their problem, and then suggest a blatantly inadequate alternative to which my reply is a firm no, with a succinct but non-stinging reminder of my previously spoken explanation of exactly why I’m making the recommendation. In my 32 year career, it’s only been in the past five years or so that I’ve routinely had complaints that I’m “intimidating” people by doing that. Probably a combination of domesticated weaklings floating to the top of the bucket, and me getting less tolerant of them.