Why I just hate rumours!
What’s a rumour? It’s a piece of news of origin unknown, often negative or derogative about someone, and of no practical use for anyone in general. So why do rumours begin so easily and spread so fast? If they are irrelevant, mean and often false why do we spend so much time listening to and talking about them?
In my view, rumours are the mirror of everything that’s petty, mean and low in human nature. Rumours, specially when they are about the rich, the famous or the talented, are something that makes us feel good, because it makes those we consider lucky appear bad. Rumours flatter our vanity and raise our self esteem because they put others down. Rumours make us feel special because they give us a sense of power: we know something about someone that shows how human and flawed that person is, and we like to exercise that power by spreading the rumour around.
Rumours are a social tool, because they facilitate contact. In some situations rumours compensate for the lack of subject between people, or their lack of talent to stand out in a group. If one begins to speak about something he/she has heard, they are sure to get everybody’s attention in a flash.
But what do rumours do? Nothing good and a lot of bad. They stain people’s lives, they nettle and disturb, and they confuse and offend. In the best of chances they simply hurt, and in the worst they can destroy lives. Rumours are insidious, they are poisonous and they are coward. If someone tells us something offensive or untrue we can react, we can confront the offender and straighten out the truth. But with a rumour we cannot do that. Rumours have no face and no name, but they do have thousands of voices. Being victim of a rumour is like being slapped repeatedly in the dark. You are hit again and again and there’s nothing you can do to stop it because you don’t know who’s hitting you or why. You just stand there helpless and take the blows.
And the worst thing about a rumour is that it is spread by people who have no intention of creating any harm. They just can’t loose the opportunity of passing around that juicy little piece of gossip they just heard, with no idea of the damage they might be creating. The majority of us don’t steal and don’t kill, but almost all of us have passed a rumour around. You might think that comparing rumours to robberies or killings is going too far, but that is only because most of us don’t have an idea of the harm a rumour can create until we experience it in the flesh or see it affecting the life of someone we love. And then we understand why someone once felt it was just as important to say “Thou shall not bear false witness”, as to say “though shall not kill” and “though shall not steal”!
A.C., December the 5th, 2005
What’s a rumour? It’s a piece of news of origin unknown, often negative or derogative about someone, and of no practical use for anyone in general. So why do rumours begin so easily and spread so fast? If they are irrelevant, mean and often false why do we spend so much time listening to and talking about them?
In my view, rumours are the mirror of everything that’s petty, mean and low in human nature. Rumours, specially when they are about the rich, the famous or the talented, are something that makes us feel good, because it makes those we consider lucky appear bad. Rumours flatter our vanity and raise our self esteem because they put others down. Rumours make us feel special because they give us a sense of power: we know something about someone that shows how human and flawed that person is, and we like to exercise that power by spreading the rumour around.
Rumours are a social tool, because they facilitate contact. In some situations rumours compensate for the lack of subject between people, or their lack of talent to stand out in a group. If one begins to speak about something he/she has heard, they are sure to get everybody’s attention in a flash.
But what do rumours do? Nothing good and a lot of bad. They stain people’s lives, they nettle and disturb, and they confuse and offend. In the best of chances they simply hurt, and in the worst they can destroy lives. Rumours are insidious, they are poisonous and they are coward. If someone tells us something offensive or untrue we can react, we can confront the offender and straighten out the truth. But with a rumour we cannot do that. Rumours have no face and no name, but they do have thousands of voices. Being victim of a rumour is like being slapped repeatedly in the dark. You are hit again and again and there’s nothing you can do to stop it because you don’t know who’s hitting you or why. You just stand there helpless and take the blows.
And the worst thing about a rumour is that it is spread by people who have no intention of creating any harm. They just can’t loose the opportunity of passing around that juicy little piece of gossip they just heard, with no idea of the damage they might be creating. The majority of us don’t steal and don’t kill, but almost all of us have passed a rumour around. You might think that comparing rumours to robberies or killings is going too far, but that is only because most of us don’t have an idea of the harm a rumour can create until we experience it in the flesh or see it affecting the life of someone we love. And then we understand why someone once felt it was just as important to say “Thou shall not bear false witness”, as to say “though shall not kill” and “though shall not steal”!
A.C., December the 5th, 2005
posted by Alya_C at
5:46 AM
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