Gossip dies when it hits a wise person’s ears.

Gossip dies when it hits a wise person’s ears.

I have never met a person who has not gossiped at a moment in their life, starting with me.

In my case, it took the fact that I did so, to come back around to me and cause me a significant loss professionally, for me to learn the much bigger lesson.

There is something addictive about gossip. It is a semisecret knowledge about someone, something or some entity, that is palpable, that gives us cause or reason to share with another. 

We do it because we, as a species, find it enjoyable, curious, prurient, and exciting to discover these secrets and, once discovered, we are rewarded by others’ reactions when we share it with them. In all truth, there is true fun and enjoyment in the experience.

Until….

It is you, or your loved ones, or your friends, or your company, or your organization that are the subject matter. Then, gossip looks like a contagion that is rampantly spreading uncontrollably and you are headed for dire consequences that will arise as a direct result of this information, whether true or not, spreading faster than Covid.

From the time we were little, the tabloids were teaching us about how far to an extreme, a gossip story can travel. As we waited patiently to pay for our food in the supermarket, there were giant headlines screaming some story, waiting to bait us into reading. These gave way to tabloid programs, which even further exacerbated the situation with more visuals, more salient subject matter, more reasons to share subjects that are truly none of our business.

And then came social media. Pouring nitro glycerine atop a bonfire, social media proved once and for all that a lie can travel all the way around the world faster than truth can tie its shoelaces. Social media became a haven for these experiences, and less educated people became even more susceptible to these forms of faux information. 

Conspiracy theories, once the domain of remote crackpots, went mainstream, finally finding an amplifier from which to spread their useless tripe. People were capable of acting like a news broadcaster and were spawned by real world, high level broadcasters, pretending to deliver the news, and learned quickly how to manipulate an ignorant mind, such that they will buy into the conspiracies. 

And now comes deep fakes, in which a talented person can put words into another’s mouth in convincing style, such that a majority of people will not be able to discern the difference. 

This, of course, has found its way into the American political landscape, such that hundreds of these mongrels are running for office and could well be elected in the next 60 days.

Gossip can spread truth or lies. It can be some of the most damaging variables any person, company or country can weather. It is a manipulative variable that requires one single component to defeat it. And that is wisdom. Only wisdom can quell the wave of information that is being spread unfairly. Only intelligence can discern the difference and ensure that gossip of any kind, or any form may be squelched, immediately. 

The next time someone shares something of this nature with you, small or large, consequential or incidental, ask yourself, were this to destroy you or someone you love, would you want it spread or do you want to stop it dead in its tracks upon your hearing it?

Happy Monday!

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