Gossip and rumour

[Badger]

There are two types of gossip in the world, there are thoise that
simply delight in spreading rumours about people, often with no regard
as to the truth because they find it exciting. This is morally
bankrupt.

The other kind use it as a tool to manipulate others. This is far
worse.

As a phenominon gossipers have some fatal flaws, the one that most
often brungs them undone is their inability to control themselves.
Gossip often begions with the sords " do not tell......" these words
are often ignored and this in fact is oftenm relied upon by those who
ise this as a manipulative tool. The other flaw is that those who
gossip are inevitably gullible. They will hear something along the
lines of "A said......" when A in fact said nothing of the sort, and
they will beleive it and repeat it.

Evidence or fact are unimportant to people who are driven to do this,
it is enough to have heard "from a reliable source". The source may
even belei ve what they have said but rarely have they checked the
facts and most often the more outrageoius the statement the more it is
repeated.

How do we combat this? It is not in fact hard.
- A statement that begins with "Do not tell ....." is usually untrue
and they do not want you to tell the person(s) because the lie will be
uncovered.

- when someone refers to what another has said, check with that
person before repeating it.

- The most successful liars and this also applies to gossipos will
include small amounts of truth in the lies, this does not change the
fact that the whole statment is a lie.

- Be cautious of anyone who forbids contact with a third person.
They have something to hide.

- Acting on gossip is as bad as spreading it. Base your actions on
facts not on rumour.


It almost goes without saying but obviously if someone reads this and
is offended the only explanation can be that they are guilty of this
sort of behaviour.


Walk in the Light

Badger