Theme of this Zoom meeting: Gossip
©2020 by Richard E. Gordon Duplication prohibited without author’s permission.
Last updated 7/20 /2020
Gossip reminds me of a dagger. It’s a weapon made for back stabbing. And even from the back, it can reach the victim’s heart. The attacker is a sneak. Often his hand slips on the knife’s handle, and he ends up wounding himself.
Questions
1. Without referring to the dictionary, what is your own definition of a person who is gossip (gossiper)?
2. In the following dictionary definition of gossip, letters have been left out of key words. Full in the missing letters: a conversation involving malic____ chatter or rum___ about other people.
3. Shut your eyes for ten seconds. Try to picture a gossip. Is the image in your mind a male or a female? Why was your image of a male? your image of a female?
4. Take a guess: Do you think most of us at our zoom meeting tonight would have reported a male or a female image? Why might the answer to this question tell us something important about English words that in themselves are not identifiable as either male or female? A word like doctor? thief? bully? teacher? therapist? pharmacist?
5. Now back to gossip. Without identifying a specific person, tell us about someone you’ve known or heard about who was damaged by gossip.
6. What might motivate someone to be a gossip? Can there ever be a good excuse for gossip?
7. How has the internet affected the power of gossip?
8. If a scandalous statement is made about a political candidate a few days before an election involving that candidate, how might such a statement affect the election?
9. If you were to view on the internet what appears may be gossip about a popular person, how might you check out whether the statement is more fiction that fact? Under what circumstances would you go to the effort to do this checking?
10. How are teachers more likely today than fifty years ago to become the victim of gossip?
11. If you were a parent of an elementary school child, what advice would you give your child about gossip? Why do you think it’s important to give such advice?
12. How might the relationship of family members be fractured by gossip within the family?
13. Without identifying a specific organization, tell how gossip might harm a church, a synagogue or other religious congregation? What can the leaders of such a congregation do to make gossip less likely to damage the congregation’s atmosphere of togetherness, of family, of common purpose?
14. What is one new idea about gossip that you got from our discussion? How, if at all, has our discussion broadened your view of gossip?
Quotes
Feel free to comment on these quotes. To view the
source, just click on the underlined link in the beginning of each quote.
1. “Anyone who will gossip to you, will gossip about you.” Source unknown
2. “It is easier to dam a river than to stop gossip.” Moro (Filipino)
3. “What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth.” Jewish Proverb
4. “Gossip is saying behind their back what you would not say to their face. Flattery is saying to their face what you would not say behind their back.” Unknown
5. “If it's very painful for you to criticize your friends, you're safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that's the time to hold your tongue.” Alice Duer Miller
6. “How would your life be different if…You walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day…You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same.” Steve Maraboli
7. “Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?” Sean Covey
8. Insecure people only eclipse your sun because they’re jealous of your daylight and tired of their dark, starless nights.” Shannon L. Alder
“Never judge someone's character based on the words of another. Instead, study the motives behind the words of the person casting the bad judgment.”
10. “History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true.” Gore Vidal
11. Gossip needn’t be false to be evil – there’s a lot of truth that shouldn’t be passed around.” Frank A. Clark
12. “Gossip is a very dangerous tool. We should be more wary of the gossiper, and not the gossip they’re trying to relay to you.” John Lydon
13. “Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” Will Rogers
14. “Gossip is when you hear something you like about someone you don’t.” Earl Wilson
15.
“Show
me someone who never gossips, and I'll
show you someone who isn't interested in people.”
Barbara Walters.