Gossip

[digi]

I'd like to know what your stance is on gossip. Are there good intentions with it? Can it be considered harmless? Or just associated with negativity?
Have you ever been caught out on spreading gossip. How have you dealt with it?

 

[YouWould]

While gossip seems negative, it may not always be. You have to take into account that saying "omg did you hear Bambi fell off a car and broke 16 ribs" is gossip as well.

 

[Iguana]

gossip causes all the problems in my life

too bad it's too juicy to avoid

 

[Ansoro2112]

It depends. Gossiping can become a double edge knife.

In my opinion, I dislike the type of gossip when people have the intention of being malicious and with the objective of harming someone else's reputation. It can either be by making something up (Rumours) or simply spreading secrets about that person that could affect their lives in a negative way.
I've experienced that throughout my life few times. I either just ignore it (I just don't give that person the satisfaction of seeing me caring or worrying about what he/she said. Not worth it) OR, depending on how serious the gossip can be, I just stand for myself. By that I mean that I'll confront that person face to face in a polite but direct way. It's all about handling it in a clever way, without getting into their level.
Let's remember that these type of people are basically cowards (Since their life basically spins around talking crap about others behind their backs) and they have no values whatsoever. I truly do feel sorry for people like that.

Then there's the "Not Harmful" Gossip. Which is basically the one you share with your closest friends or family. You can talk about other people, sharing information that is not necessarily harming anyone or criticizing. Gossiping can promote bonding between people. Lots of people use that as a way to "fit in" or socialize with others.

I think every single one of us like talking/listening about other humans. It's all about how you do it. Being careful about it. Thinking before speaking.

 

[Enderfive]

As Anso said, I dislike the gossip that has bad intentions and I generally try to steer the topic away from it. If I got something to say to someone, then I do it openly and not behind their backs. Just talking about the lives of others without any negative implications, however, is something that I don't have any problems with.

 

[Ltin]

Gossip is gossip, and I don't like it.
The worst kind of gossip is malicious, slandering stuff. But then there's the not so bad, but still bad stuff, like this:

to take into account that saying "omg did you hear Bambi fell off a car and broke 16 ribs"

.

Now I see this as still bad, because it wouldn't exactly give you happy feelings being told this.

But I don't think that gossip arises out of intentional slander as much as we think.
Example progression.
Situation: kid's dad has cancer. Has to go with him when he gets chemo.
If the kid tells one of their friends, words it badly ("I have to go to the chemo place"), it could easily become speculation that the kid has cancer. Somebody who is only distantly connected to the kid is told (or just overhears, which is more likely to spin it the wrong way) and assumes that the speculation is fact.
That was a bad example, but I'm sure you get the point.

 

[Jayfeather]

I'm bad about gossip cuz its bad but the only reason I avoid it online is because I don't want my logs to get linked to other people which means I didn't stop for the right reasons. Offline I crave it because sure as hell I'm not gonna get information any other way.

I do have this one moment where I did gossip and it backfired hard where I actually realized why it would be wrong and sometimes I can recall that and stop but more recently the consequences from it have been less noticeable so I've been more free with my words

 

[Eliguy]

In my opinion, gossip can be both a positive discussion and a negative discussion, but it leans more towards the negative end. From the positive perspective, it can be entertaining for the people discussing as long as the gossip doesn't put a hole in someone's reputation. This could range from an innocent and funny story about someone to talking about an acomplishment a person has achieved. On the bad side gossip can be used as a negative source of energy to put someone down or turn people against him/her by saying something bad about that someone. It also encourages people to lie to one another, something that we were taught not to do. Gossip can even go as far as ruining someone's career and breaking apart strong friendships. That's my opinion on Gossip, a very controversial topic.

 

[Jivvi]

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[paceboys]

Sometimes I gossip about Santa, but I think he's just a rumor.

 

[Pick Yer Poison]

There's always a rumor mill and there's not much you can do about that, but I try to avoid any situation where someone might point to me and say "he's the one who told me [false statement] about [some person]!"

 

[Edgar Harford]

While I understand that gossip tends to be a way to converse with others, strangers and friends alike, most of the time, if not all the time, it's something that requires information to be distorted to become an interesting topic of conversation. Whether that information is positive or negative in what it refers to, it often becomes to distorted in some twisted form of Chinese whispers.

This often tends to lead to some form of character assassination which I'd rather not partake in.