PostSecret

I was spending my unemployment time wisely this week by surfing around the blog-o-sphere. I am not very good at following link after link just to see what was out there, but since I have the time I figured I could give it a whirl.

Yesterday I ended up on PostSecret. This site is nothing new and is based on an art installation from 2004 (see wikipedia for the whole history, including some annoying references to inconsistencies in when secrets are posted etc.) There are now a number of books out with the secrets in print.

The original concept was an interesting one... where people sent in their secrets to an address in Germantown, MD on homemade postcards divulging a secret they had never told anyone. The post cards were used for an art installation. Shortly thereafter a website was begun where around 20 secrets are posted each week.

What I find a little disturbing are posts like this one which implies that people are now posting in hopes of being found out or as a method of conversation. It seems that the point was to allow people an anonymous forum for airing secrets which are of some weight to their soul, but as so many things do, has become a place to witness the failings of others (and thereby making ourselves feel better?). How many people cruise PostSecret weekly in hopes of seeing something they recognize, someone they know they can then use that secret against?

This post in particular makes me wince: This is a very real feeling for a very real mother, by writing it down, it gives it some credence that it is a real problem. But by posting it and letting other judge, it just feels like so much voyeurism.

So, now that I know what PostSecret is, and I admit I even spent a few minutes considering what I would send in as a deep dark secret of mine, I think I will unsubscribe in my Reader.