Rumor has it…(pt 1)

Gossip: noun-a person who habitually talks about the private details of other people’s lives. verb-to engage in casual/unconstrained conversations or reports about other people typically involving details which are unconfirmed as true.

While almost everyone engages in this distasteful habit from time-time, I believe this is actually predominantly an affliction of females. It seems to be like a ‘delicacy’ served wherever there is a cluster of females.

This affliction is worse than an addiction. Addicts recognize and try to resist their habits. Gossips do neither. Why then do people gossip? Here are a few of my hypotheses:

I believe that some people gossip to deflect attention from their personal situation. They focus instead on what’s right or wrong with other people’s lives. However momentary, it helps them forget their own problems. It is fun for them to sit down together and analyze other people’s lives or actions while theirs take a break. Talk about using paracetamol for someone else’s headaches.

Some people just like to know what’s going on in everybody’s lives. They thrive on having the latest information on everyone’s lives…they just seem to know everything. As if they have an invisible satellite monitoring everyone’s activities. Talk about talent wasted. These are people who would have done well as private investigators.

I often believe that people addicted to gossiping either have a void in their lives and they gossip out of boredom, or they are just really ‘committed’ to this habit in which case they create time out of their busy schedules to keep up.

It’s also a little hard to believe that anyone would spend so much time researching/talking about someone that neither fascinates nor intrigues them.

Certain groups of people seem to just always gossip. It’s like an addiction ring in which members are bound by their common love of hearsays. It’s the premise on which their friendship is built and they are enablers. Without the stories, the friendship would wither and die.

I believe gossiping should be avoided as much as possible. Tattletales often get into trouble because they say things they shouldn’t have and they lose the trust of people as a result. They are frequently caught in the web of who-said-what and who-didn’t-say-what. I also doubt that a genuinely nice person would talk about others behind their backs all the time.

To sum up, gossiping is an ugly trait which we mostly just pick up and stick with. You can simply decide to do less of it for a start. I don’t think talking about other people’s lives detracts from your problems (if you have any), or adds to your life (if it’s already perfect). Except if you get paid for it, I doubt there’s anything to gain.

Have a gossip-free weekend!!!