AM I A GOSSIP?

Gossip is one major character exhibited by a lot of us unknowingly because most of the time we did not intend to gossip but we find ourselves like involuntary actions doing it. Gossip operates in every sphere of life but most common is the gossip within the workplace or the business arena. Unlike some measurable attitude problems, gossip cannot be measured because nobody would agree that he or she is a gossip, therefore finding out the actual statistics of the population that gossips is quiet difficult. Gossip in recent times has been attributed to the women because of their verbal power, they said “Men think and Women gossip” but that is not the case now because we have also discovered that men also gossip even from the pictrue below. So what would you say about that? Now we begin to understand that gossip is not the resultant effect of verbal power but an attitude problem that has the capacity to influence anyone regardless gender.

Gossip is groundless, baseless idle talks and rumors or it can be an unguarded, uncontrolled talk about a person, the government, an organization or social incidents. It can be a secrete gossip or it can be an open confrontational gossip. Since the 21^st century, gossip has taken to another level and it’s seen as part of our everyday lives with the inception of the Social Media, the spread of gossip and the ability for people to engage in this attitude has increased since the social media tool gives everyone the platform to say anything without any penalty. Now with the revolution of blogging where one has the ability to write without retrains, the spread of gossip and rumors has increased daily with people posting news and photos of unrealistic events or blowing out of proportion a given event. It has been discovered that most of this rumors on social media are centered on the government or a group of individuals who are highly placed in the society. I believe it is good to give information on social media, to educate people using these tools, but to spread rumors with this medium is wrong. I have read posts and blog describing certain people as dead but they are still alive, also I read blogs describing the divorce of certain individuals but they are still married and other rumors and idle post on blogs even concerning churches and other religious organization; most of this information are misleading and can stir up controversies. I know that every blogger or writer or news agency needs traffic on their blog or website but to employ the use of rumors and baseless information to attract these traffics will wear out your readers and they may never return to your website or blog by the time they discover that you only post rumors.

Aside from gossip and rumors on the internet we have gossip among us in the real life. It’s with us in the workplace, in the market place, among the politicians and even in the church. It is no longer news that employee tends to gossip with their employers, junior employees tend to gossip higher employees and vise-visa; so also members gossip pastors and pastors gossip members, market traders also gossip about one another in the market place, and companies or organizations tend to gossip their competitors; some go as far as spreading rumors against their competitors. Depending on where you find yourself, there is a kind of gossip that operates in that location. While some in the office environment may refer to gossip as some sort of classical information due to the manner in which it is presented but the fact remains that when that information is groundless, baseless, idle, uncontrolled and unguarded and it is concerning an individual or an organization, it is gossip.

There are several names the bible called gossip although you can never find it as gossip in the KJV but these names were used in the bible to describe gossip as we call it in modern day English:

SLANDER: A false or malicious report about someone or an organization.

TALEBEARER: A person who reveals secretes or breaks confidence.

SCORNERS: Those who make a mockery of something secretly or openly.

BACKBITING: Those who backstab others.

Looking at these four descriptions you will understand the effect of gossip. Some of you might have been the victim and some of you might have been the perpetrator but however we must note that:

• The devil plants the seed of gossip
• Anybody can be a gossip regardless of your gender.
• There is no organization you cannot find gossip.
• Those who talk too much have a higher tendency to gossip.
• A gossip hears wrongly and speaks quickly.
• A gossip perceives wrongly about anything.

What causes gossip among us is hatred for one another, envy, rivalry, fault finding, and unhealthy competitions among ourselves and even in the workplace; here managers and employers should be careful not to start unhealthy competition among employees in a bid to meet set goals or targets.

If someone is a gossip around you anywhere, here are 3 tips on how to deal with them:

• Rebuke the person openly
• Avoid the person and make the person understand that you are avoiding him or her.
• Never say anything with such a person without a witness.

You may have been a victim of a gossip or a slander; you can share your experience in the comment box.