Slimy Tongues

By now, I am certain that everyone has read or heard the rumors that have been circulating about Gov. Sarah Palin, rumors of her (in)competencies and knowledge that are supposedly coming from the McCain camp. I really don’t want to go into details of these because frankly, I cannot trust a rumor, nor do I wish to elevate it to a degree of acceptability and valid discussion. However, I would like to mention some aspects of such behavior and where it might lead.

Rumors and gossip are some of the worst of human behaviors. Once the gossip starts, it doesn’t seem to have an end. And it gets worse and worse, culminating in a bizarre idea, which attempts to turn itself into a valid and weighty fact. I don’t like what gossip does to our minds and hearts. It attempts to divide us, not only among our peers but also within ourselves. Gossip attempts to break ontological structure of humanity, taking away any dignity that we might have.

Gossip and rumors are not good for anybody. They are not helpful for those that are targeted: stripping a person’s core down and trying to portray them in a negative light may bring bouts of sadness and aloneness for them, even if it is for few moments. I would argue that those that are starting and perpetuating gossip are affected more by it because every time they let their tongues become slimy, they are allowing themselves to become internally divided, in other words separate from God. Of course, it is a question of a game of power—they might feel better about themselves for a few moments but as gossip has no substance or grace, the attempt to elevate oneself miserably fails.

The best cure for being a gossip is to transcend oneself, one’s selfish desires and understand that God has given charisms or gifts, which we should use towards not only individual but also collective good. I highly doubt that one of our purposes on this Earth is to gossip about others and feel good about someone else’s failures. The subject of our work ought not to be a participation in destroying someone’s spirit (by the way, no human being can truly, fully destroy other’s spirit). The subject of our work ought to be a participation in “dialogic imagination” (to borrow the phrase from Bakhtin), where existence transcends narcissistic tendencies, and where we are able to truly recognize the dignity of another.