Gossip, when discussed formally with respect to its merits, almost always receives a negative judgment. Given an oportunity to listen to gossip, however, most people will likely take advantage of the opportunity. Further, armed with information or speculation, many individuals who, on an intel lectual level, condemn gossip will themselves become gossipers.
To assess gossip, as a concept, one must know what it is. Gossip is the spreading of bits of information from one person to another in a continuous series of actions. The information may be fact, may be part fact, or may be rumor, or speculation. Gossip is so called behind the scenes information. In other words, it is information which those who it concerns would pre fer not become common knowledge. Additionally, gossip is information which is of an intimate, personal, or sensational nature.
An example of gossip occurred in the presidential primary campaigns in 1988, when a rumor was spread that Gary Hart was having a clandestine sexual affair with a young female model. A Miami newspaper investigated the story, and printed it. The resulting denials and eventual acknowledgement of the truth of the Gossip by Hart caused his public confidence to suffer so badly that he was forced to withdraw from the race for the
Democratic nomination for president. Was gossip bad in this instance? It certainly had negative outcomes for Gary Hart. On the one hand, Hart's sexual activities are hardly the legi timate concern of the general public, and, within that context, this instance of gossip may be considered as an example of harmful gossip. On the other hand, however, the American pub lic was permitted to see first hand how Gary Hart would act under pressure. He demonstraed that he would lie until there was no way out of it, and then he would admit the truth. At that he demonstrated that he was a cut above Ronald Reagan, who persisted in lies even in the face of substantiate...