"The thing" you are trying to keep private is either private or it is not, too. Maybe you're saying that some information is more sensitive than others, which

"The thing" you are trying to keep private is either private or it is not, too. Maybe you're saying that some information is more sensitive than others, which is true, but some security failures are worse than others (e.g. denial of service vs. remote code execution, or ability to forge messages vs. ability to decrypt messages).