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April 07, 2005
Gossip
Andy mentioned gossip in an email. That made me wonder.
Is gossip a way of building community? Gossip is, "Notorious for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information thus transmitted." (Source: Wikipedia) But it certainly binds people together. My wife's interrupting me with some right now...
Posted by Mark at April 7, 2005 08:35 PM
Comments
I have a very narrow definition of gossiping: it's the exchange of pernicious [that which does harm by undermining] information with the intent to do harm, and the perverted benefit the teller gets from doing so. So to me it is a behavior, an intent, more than just an activity.
However, I also use the word gossip as a hyperbole to mean any talk about third parties, even if it's just catching up on public news.
So by my definition, gossip destroys community. However, I would say that catching up on news about people, genuine interest and innocent curiosity builds community. And a lot of blogs are like that, just not really about people but about intersting and curious events or objects in the wider world around us. And being aware of the world builds community too, albeit a larger one.
Just my 2 cents.
Posted by: Andy at April 8, 2005 06:21 AM