Transparency and Truth: Towards a Cult of Confession

Today, a person who reveals nothing about himself may be suspected of having something to hide. In our culture of revelation, secrets tend to be avoided. In today’s transparent society, it has become imperative to tell all, show all and know all. The author would like to reflect on the sometimes-dramatic effects of this contemporary obligation to eradicate all that is unclear, as well as to try and identify the dangers of this ideological shift and its consequences for our attitude to “truth”. The use of the metaphorical figure of the veil therefore takes on its full meaning of the inevitability of truth’s slipping away, in a world where we can expect nothing but a constant back-and-forth movement between clarity and obscurity.