Story of Your Inconsequence

if it is not published it doesn't show up in places like 'categories' (which we aren't really using much right now) or the 'latest articles page' (it'll only show up on the latest comments page if commented upon)

Publish allows it to show up on the front pages of certain areas if it is supposed to, and basically promotes it site-wide as we enable certain pages. It isn't a security feature at all, merely an indication that you want everyone to know it's supposed to be read. 

At some point in the future, if the coders give me my wish, unpublished will probably be less visible to the membership as a whole. But as of right now, it is merely an indication that it is actually intended to be available for reading.