gossip

it's interesting how we seem to be getting more and more obsessed with gossip, as a culture! you know what i mean? it struck me last night while christina and i were 'gossiping' (or talking as the case may be...is there a difference?) about our friends and the people in our lives, that i started thinking; wow, i wonder if people talk about ME like this?

i mean, my friends and i discuss 'eachother' and our present situations more often than not! 90% of the time in a positive, discussion type of way! the other 10% of the time in a not-so positive, somewhat demeaning, kinda negative/shitty kind of way!

but this is to be expected, right? i mean, you can't put a bunch of people together, with completely different attitudes and opinions, present them with conflicts (let's call that 'life') and not expect them to gossip about it!

gossip stems back to the first sign of the written word. yes kids, the bible!! i mean it's really all gossip, isn't it? i mean look at the psalms; you have matthew who's saying this, and then you have luke saying 'no, this is what i heard'...and it wasn't until someone actually decided to write it down, that we had "religion". and from then on, we've been telling stories. now i hope some don't think i'm being blasphemous by calling religion "gossip", but you have to agree that the idea's got merit! because what is the bible, but a collection of stories? right?

so gossip has been around since the dawn of time! we as a human race, enjoy telling stories. like i said, we've been doing it forever! today gossip has it's own fuckin' industry! next time you stroll down the grocery store check-out line, look around...we've been supporting the gossip industry whether directly or indirectly for years! i for one, am a HUGE fan! i gobble up STAR and US magazine like they're going out of style! it's MY bible!! and it's funny, cause the more i look at these magazines, the more i realize that everyone else IS right: THEY ARE SMUT!! you've got IN TOUCH, one of the newest ones on the market...full of pretty pictures, and interesting stories, at only $2.99 a pop!! but as you'll see when you flip through the many back-issues of it i keep in my bathroom, they're all just stories!! NOT ONE CONCRETE FACT EXISTS AMONG THESE PAGES!! no interviews, nothing!! it's just someone's opinion!! at least PEOPLE and US have actual interviews with these celebs first hand!

but why am i complaining? i LOVE it!!!! i must, i keep buying them every week! (and yes, they are published every week...i mean, paris can do a lot of damage in a week so they've gotta keep on top of everything!) what i'm trying to say, is that we adore gossip! some of us actually base our lives around it! why are we so enthralled by juice? you know what i mean? we love dishing dirt on our friends; we love spreading shit on the person we saw on the bus last week from highschool who got really fat, or the girl who got engaged from first year university who we all thought was anorexic!

most of the time we can't get enough! and most of the time we love to dish on the people we know NOTHING about!! strangers! how judgemental is that? where do we get off thinking we can publicly insult and judge someone we've never even met!!! at least when it's someone we know, most of the time we've got enough concrete facts to back up the gossip! and most of the time we have an actual motive, besides pure unadulterated hatred that we hold for certain blonde celebrity socialites...ahem...

we all have opinions, and isn't that the other side of gossip? some of them are strong and others are weaker, but whenever we voice these opinions aren't we gossiping?? whenever we express an emotional response to a topic, we make the risk of harming someone. and to me, that's gossiping! not always a bad thing, but it's still gossip!

so there you have it! story telling and having opinions! that's the bulk of gossip, and there's proof that we all partake! so what's the moral of the story? if it's something we all participate in, what's the lesser of the evil? is it possible to gossip nobly? and if EVERYONE does something, does that make it ok? hmmmm, well no not really...but it all depends on what we gossip about, right? if we do it with the whole purpose of causing harm to someone, then i'd recommend stopping...but if we do it constructively, with the aim of doing good...no worries!

what's the wiccan saying? what we send out, comes back times three...

keep that in mind the next time you dish on the brit!