A blog exists in a public space. The contents of a blog are private (for personal blogs). How do we reconcile these two contradictory ideas? To publicize what is essentially one's private thoughts, feelings, and even acts. This is one of the main points of my thesis. The bone of contention, as it were.

Excerpt from my unpublished and unfinished thesis:

In this light, public disclosure may be conjoined with a confessional or revelatory aspect. While not all public disclosures contain secrets, publicizing a personal thought or feeling may be dynamically akin to disclosing a secret. It is important to differentiate privacy from secrecy.

Bok (1989) gives an illuminating thesis on the distinction of what is a secret and what is simply private. Not all private items are secret, nor are all secrets confined to a person’s private life. The line between private life and public life is important to individuals, as human beings are naturally territorial. Along with the construction of physical boundaries in the form of personal space and territory, psychological boundaries are erected. In the external world, persons construct walls that divide public space from private abodes. Likewise, in the internal world, what is perceived as private and “mine” is held apart from a more public space upon which other people can enact influence and power.

The self is contained in the private realm. This contains a person’s thoughts, emotions, fantasies, and associations. This private space is closely protected against encroachment. When one’s psychological territory is threatened, defenses rise in order to repel the perceived invaders and conquerors. Persons naturally guard their privacy because this is where their internalizations and individual peculiarities reside. When one’s privacy is threatened, the anxiety that arises is similar to the feeling of being victimized by thievery. There is a sense of being offended and of being violated.
Secrets on the other hand exist both in private and public spaces.

Defined as “intentional concealment (Bok, 1989, 5),” secrets are hoarded and safeguarded more closely than privacy. When secrets come out, there is a feeling of one’s self being eroded and carried away in a wave of helplessness and despair. To keep a secret is to block information from reaching other people. There is also an air of exclusivity and a resulting euphoria that accompanies successfully keeping a secret. For some, secrets become sacred.

Motives for keeping secrets and maintaining privacy are similar. They are meant to prevent vulnerable feelings from overwhelming the individual. He or she feels more in control, not only of the social situation, but also of him or herself. The last refuge of an individual constantly threatened by conflicts both within and without is inside him or herself. In this private realm, information is saved like precious relics that no one must touch.

However, there are occasions when privacy is willingly ceded and secrets are freed. There must be compelling motives for public disclosure. When a person willingly reveals information to an audience of unknown size, potentially composed of strangers, friendly or hostile, he or she does not do so lightly. Is it an act of embracing vulnerability, of yielding control? Perhaps not.