Let's face it, we all love gossip.
Short of being an utterly antisocial hermit huddled on a mountaintop alone, humans are basically social creatures who love each other's company - and once we gather, we tend to talk trash about each other as well. Probably ever since the first grunting cavemen returned to brag about the monstrous mastodon they all escaped from earlier.
Thankfully these days though, we tend to focus less on man-eating predators and more on what's happening in our lives; usually from the more mundane information such as progress at work and possible promotions thereafter to the more salacious details of someone's broken marriage and the reasons thereof.
Cue the trash talk from the ever-fertile rumour mill.
Though some of my more innocent friends usually cry foul to claim that it isn't always true.
Paul : So you know of her but you don't actually know her.
Barbara : Yes, people have been talking about her.
Paul : Ah, so what terrible news have you heard?
Barbara : Nothing!
Paul : Stories about her reached you but there's nothing to tell.
Barbara : Nothing bad at least.
Paul : They spoke good things about her?
Barbara : Yes.
Paul : Do I look that gullible to you?
Really? Schoolmates spread favourable news about someone around town.
Let's not kid ourselves.
Perhaps if we all lived in a perfect utopia. Undoubtedly tales of selfless heroism and wonderful good deeds do make it onto the front page sometimes but believe the sad cynic here when I say, people rarely gather around the hearth to gossip about that. Virtuous saints do plenty of good that's hardly mentioned but it's their one little known inconsequential failing that gets everyone talking.
After all there's always that little touch of malice in the third retelling.
So despite what our sweetly optimistic Barbara wants to believe, gossip's rarely good.
Fear not though. Though rumours would persistently circulate so long as humans are around, we also have to remember to take what's whispered around about people objectively since generally there are parts that would be wildly fallacious. Like Chinese Whispers, any scandalously juicy bit gets a little added spice as the tale gets spread around so there's usually a veritable feast of scrumptious ignominy at the very end.
Maybe take it with a little pinch of salt.
Short of being an utterly antisocial hermit huddled on a mountaintop alone, humans are basically social creatures who love each other's company - and once we gather, we tend to talk trash about each other as well. Probably ever since the first grunting cavemen returned to brag about the monstrous mastodon they all escaped from earlier.
Thankfully these days though, we tend to focus less on man-eating predators and more on what's happening in our lives; usually from the more mundane information such as progress at work and possible promotions thereafter to the more salacious details of someone's broken marriage and the reasons thereof.
Cue the trash talk from the ever-fertile rumour mill.
Though some of my more innocent friends usually cry foul to claim that it isn't always true.
Paul : So you know of her but you don't actually know her.
Barbara : Yes, people have been talking about her.
Paul : Ah, so what terrible news have you heard?
Barbara : Nothing!
Paul : Stories about her reached you but there's nothing to tell.
Barbara : Nothing bad at least.
Paul : They spoke good things about her?
Barbara : Yes.
Paul : Do I look that gullible to you?
Really? Schoolmates spread favourable news about someone around town.
 |
| Girl : Have I got some news for you! Paul : Ooh pray tell. |
Let's not kid ourselves.
Perhaps if we all lived in a perfect utopia. Undoubtedly tales of selfless heroism and wonderful good deeds do make it onto the front page sometimes but believe the sad cynic here when I say, people rarely gather around the hearth to gossip about that. Virtuous saints do plenty of good that's hardly mentioned but it's their one little known inconsequential failing that gets everyone talking.
After all there's always that little touch of malice in the third retelling.
So despite what our sweetly optimistic Barbara wants to believe, gossip's rarely good.
Fear not though. Though rumours would persistently circulate so long as humans are around, we also have to remember to take what's whispered around about people objectively since generally there are parts that would be wildly fallacious. Like Chinese Whispers, any scandalously juicy bit gets a little added spice as the tale gets spread around so there's usually a veritable feast of scrumptious ignominy at the very end.
Maybe take it with a little pinch of salt.
No comments:
Post a Comment