Is there any defense of/for gossip? I’m not sure there is because by definition gossip is, according to Webster: someone who chatters idly about others. However I’m inclined to think the definition needs expanding. Gossip is a person but it is also the words. Gossip’s content, by its nature, is malevolent – it typically is negative words spread about someone. The ‘information’ can be true or it can be unsubstantiated. The latter is the worst because it’s so difficult to counter.
There’s a quote in one of Anne Perry’s books, ” … But one does not repeat what a friend says in a moment of candor, or on an occasion which is held in trust.” This would be a good standard by which to judge our words. Actually, talking about a friend or repeating something they said in confidence, to me, is betrayal, with nothing to justify it.
Many times it seems like words just… slip out. But if they are negative about another person, especially unsubstantiated comments/conjecture, what’s the justification of saying them at all? What does it impart to the person you are telling? Remember while it does relay information about the person you are talking about, it also relays information about the kind of person you are. I remember someone saying that if a person is relaying information about another person you can expect that they are also relaying information about you.
I’ve heard some people justify what they say with the words that it is fact they are speaking. And…. ? Unless the person you are talking to has need of your ‘facts’ what is your point? And facts rarely are only ‘idle words’.
