The Scottish Referendum On Independence Spurs Shares Of Secret Desire Over Outcome On 'Whisper' App

At the recommendation of its Electoral Commission, the Scottish government distilled a potential watershed moment in its nation’s history into a simple, six-word question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

On Thursday, when the nation turns out to cast its votes in the Scottish referendum on independence, its people will be able to choose between two equally simple answers to the call of history: “Yes” or “No.”

It’s easy – especially for a non-Scot reader – to look at all this simplicity and assume a portrait of cleanliness: Scottish voters neatly perched on either side of this binary outcome, their close network of friends and family standing behind them in solidarity.

But the stories being shared on “Whisper,” an anonymous secret-sharing app that affords its users a private space to share their innermost convictions without fear of reprisal, paint an entirely different picture: one of illustrated tension between Scottish Whisper users’ secret desires for the outcome of the referendum and the tack they have to take openly in order to maintain unity with the people they love.

As the referendum grows closer and the polling outcomes shrink narrower, we’ve collected stories from Scottish citizens whose convictions break formation their most intimate circles of friends and family during a crucial moment in Scotland’s history. One user resents her group of friends for championing Scottish independence. Another, a self-described “closet yes voter,” fears an angry backlash from his family if he votes for independence, but feels he has to vote no to keep the peace in his household. Others have seen their groups of friends corrode and reform along the lines of referendum’s outcome. One even saw her friend’s car vandalized “by No voters because he had a Yes sticker,” leading this user to conclude that “Everyone is as bad as each other.”

The final stories we’ve collected come from people who believe that Scotland’s referendum on independence challenges the very core of what it means to be Scottish.

Take a look:

[Whisper’s team uses a back-end managed certification system to ensure the veracity of these stories. Check the app out here.]