Gossip Is Good

Can you believe it? A university of California study has just revealed that gossip is good for most people. The study even concluded that there is evidence that it plays a critical role in the maintenance of social order. This is all according to study involving several hundred people who were put into four different gossip situations. (I swear this is true and not just my gossiping to you).

They found that gossip can be therapeutic. Study participants' heart rates rose when they saw someone behaving badly, but the increase was moderated when they were able to tell others about what they had witnessed. Spreading information about the person whom they had seen behave badly tended to make people feel better, quieting the frustration that drove their gossip So let the gossip begin....just don't gossip about me!

I'm not a scientist and don't have studies to verify my opinion about gossip, but I have some observations...err..gossip about the subject to rant about. In the bible it says in Proverbs 11:13 – “A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.” have you found any trustworthy people lately? Our whole communication devices and usage are gossip oriented, from Yu tube postings of people caught off guard, to malicious postings on line about enemies, to rumors spread in the established media in order to increase sales. It used to be that people spread gossip and rumors, mostly harmless, because their own lives needed spice and better to provide excitement at others' expensive. I think men and women gossip equally, but probably about different topics. We expect gossip in our daily lives simply because it gives us something to talk about.

But now mainstream mediums use gossip/rumor as their staple for communicating their "news". How many times have you read a gossip story in a newspaper that gives as its source "undisclosed sources"? Surely, all people gossip, some even spread positive gossip, but when the media functions with gossip as its cue, the gossip undermines informing us of truth. The "news" becomes gossip, people are confused or can be convinced that the gossip is the truth and react wrongly because of it. I am not sure if people today can as easily distinguish gossip from news. It's because our gossip is emanated so often from what is purported to be "news" mediums. As communication has moved from simple face to face talk to complex and assorted electronic devices the truth more and more often gets lost amidst the gossip.

Anyway, I hope I have given you some information which you can use to gossip today.............................