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Back to Other Thoughts |
| OF GOSSIP AND GRUNGE, Posted On - 4/29/2007 6:28:18 AM |
The world has bigger
problems.. euthanasia, global warming and nuclear war issues. But the moral
dilemma that gossiping poses, cannot be ignored.
Humanists, social scientists,
psychologists and even historians study gossip and its effects.. in a bid to
decipher the power this seemingly trivial practice wields.
Tempted to talk
So, someone just told you
something ‘in the strictest confidence’. Do you scuttle over to the phone to
make sure your inner circle is ‘clued in’?
We indulge in gossip for
diverse reasons. It’s the best and most informal way to keep track of
information. You can raise your social standing, besides slandering someone
else, through gossip. It also provides mental stimulation, in a way mundane
information can’t.
Rumors and gossip aren’t too
different from each other. Historical heir head Marie Antoinette, in the
face of a famine was told that the subjects had no bread.
She is rumored to have
retorted, “Give them cake”. Guess what? Just a rumor.
I’m sure all of us received the
maligning e-mail in which Oprah Winfrey reportedly threw Tommy
Hilfiger out of her sets for making racists comments. Again.. all a bunch of
phooey.
Gossip strikes back
Fair enough, gossip, true and
false, can ruin people’s lives. But there’s also the theory that workplace
gossip is the large refuge of the powerless.
The hoi polloi needs a platform
to voice its malicious thoughts and desires. But this can backfire in a major
way. Multinationals have tried, unsuccessfully, to launch anonymous forums where
employees can vent their emotions.
What resulted was a legal
backlash and managements didn’t realize what hit them. Shilpa Sharvani, a
student, feels gossip should be differentiated from bitching.
“About 80 per cent of what
everyone talks is gossip. It’s just idle banter.. not a vicious character
assassination agenda. The latter is bitching.”
Breath of scandal
Set aside those fictitious
doubts.. admit it. We all love to gossip. Whether it’s about the boss, the
amorous disposition of a friend or about the celebrity we all love to pan.
Carriers in showbiz survive...
Thanks to gossip. There’s nothing like good news or bad news, any publicity is
good.
Just ask Madonna..
whether you label her mock crucifixion at the 2006 confessions tour, sensational
or an act of bigotry. She got the gossip going and it only helped her tour rake
in the millions.
Provided you don’t act with the
clumsiness of an elephant in china shop, gossiping can be a lot of fun
fulfilling even. Just make sure you don’t cross any lines… or border on the
slanderous.
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