EVERYONE loves to gossip. Gossip as an activity crosses gender lines and age groups. It affects everyone. If it is supposedly a big secret, it will be a big hit. If it concerns some dark, hidden secret, it shines like a torch in a dark tunnel.
Gossip is also one of man's most deplorable activities. It makes and breaks careers, relationships and families. What is spoken frequently, though often not substantiated, takes on a life of its own.
When repeated by a hundred mouths, rumour becomes truth and later "truth" becomes fact. The victims of a malicious gossip is usually the last to know because everyone avoids telling him or her.
Now, the $64 question: who is the bigger gossiper - man or woman? There are no statistics to proven it either way but the natural inclination is to blame it on women because women are allegedly always chatting away in the corridor, in the hallway, in your dining hall and by the roadside.
Apparently, men do the same thing except the subject matter is different. Men's favourite subjects are drinking, games (golf, football,etc), women, affairs. Not necessarily in that order.
Women have been known to accuse men of being the worst gossipers and vice versa. The jury is still out on that - who are the biggest gossipers. All we know at this juncture is all the blabblers are out in full force.
It has been said when men gossiped, they don't go on and on about it. All conversational gossip ends at the table where they are sitting. That means when they leave for home, they leave the gossip behind.
Women on the other hand carry the gossip wherever they go and pass it on. In time, the whole neighbourhood knows. That's the women's touch, as they say.
By now, you probably realise I am a man and I am bias. This gossip of a subject is transparent. I am not taking sides but I personally believe women feel that they are merely exchanging information when they indulge in gossip whether it be malicious or innocent.
But as we all know, no gossip in its essence is innocent. It is always at someone's expense, otherwise it won't be gossip.
What makes gossip such an addictive activity is the psychological thrill it creates and provides for participants. Those who partake in gossip get into a zone where they extract delight in other people's minor transgressions.
On a so-called higher level, big-time social faus pax elevates gossip to a level where its movement from mouth to ear gathers speed according to its fallout effect. Human beings are suckers for a good gossip if we can actually label it as such.
In the world of communication, a good gossip topic can travel at light speed. With Internet, it can go around the world several times over before the day is over. Even newspapers fall prey to this kind of activity.
There have been occasions in the past when newspapers of the lower order succumb to rumours and gossip in their attempts to ferret out good stories. When a newspaper is found guilty of spreading gossip, it loses it credibility.
The media is punished severely by the public if they are ever caught with their pants down on this matter. Gossip therefore should be left to languish in the land of idle minds and uninspiring individuals.
Truthfully, of course all of us love a good gossip but becoming obsess with this activity is detrimental to our development. Reason must always be the master. Gossip even though it is tasty, much like sugar floss, is stuff of no importance.
The less we indulge in it, the less contagious it will be. Gossip becomes a virus only when people encourage it. When it is given the "licence" to infect others, it will move at supersonic speed. The way gossip spreads is the embellishments that are add-ons by individuals.
A reasonably innocuous gossip can be a Godzilla-sized monster by the time the fifth person passes it on. Thus, gossip is a human creation of monstrous proportions.
One day, sociologists and mass communication experts will do a thorough study on the subject of gossips and dig deep into the ramifications and repercussions of the subject of gossip.
It is a fascinating topic which should draw the attention of the biggest mouths and the loosiest of all tongues among us.
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