The End of the Open Secret

Safe cigarettes and risk-free investments are laughable verbal constructs used to lure the hapless, foolhardy, and unwary into buying hazardous products and parting with precious dollars at the cost of healthy caution. It’s time now for the term “open secret” to join that same list of gimmicky, nonsensical phrases. There were open secrets in the past about the bad habits and peccadilloes of the rich and powerful. What they did may have been known or strongly suspected by a few. But they were discrete and left no records or proof to convincingly prove rumors about their conduct. There were rare instances where a congressman might be caught frolicking in a public fountain with a woman not his wife – but such stories, backed up by irrefutable evidence, were as rare as a catastrophic flood in Atlanta (which, by the way, just happened).

Now, there are no “open secrets” – evidence trials built of e-mails, voice mails, text messages, and cell phone photos and videos can convincingly prove that what may have been thought unbelievable in fact happened. News organizations and tabloids that have been reluctant to post stories without hard proof, fearing expensive and potentially devastating damage suits, are finding opportunities cropping up daily based on facts that are based on irrefutable evidence. Think of Tiger Woods, Steve Phillips, and David Letterman, to name just a few recent examples.

Next up will be business leaders and other high-profile big shots whose commercial, “professional,” and personal conduct will soon receive similar treatment. The lesson for this decade in light of all the ways to capture evidence and quickly and safely publish it for notoriety and gain is this: If it’s provable, it can’t and won’t remain a secret. “Guard words and actions” continues to be the best advice. Without outrageous conduct, there is no need for secrets and no reason to worry about open secrets becoming public knowledge.