Trials by Gossip
We now have trials by gossip and that’s threatening to our well-being. The legal system passes judgement on people and hands out punishments based on definitions of unacceptable behaviors, it specifies the punishments that fit the crime, it does so by having both sides present evidence about what happened and how that fits with the law, and it reaches judgements using unbiased parties (or at least it does these things so that most of us believe that the legal system is by and large just). Trials by gossip do none of these things.
While gossiping might be entertaining like watching soap operas, it leaves us judging and sentencing people without truth and justice. It is also a time-consuming waste of time that hurts productivity. Because this preoccupation with gossip that determines peoples’ fates rewards the purveyors of it, the process is self-reinforcing. News is rarely news rather than hyped gossip about high profile people in government and on other big stages. They're our soap opera stars whose stories unfold like a Netflix series. We can't distinguish which books are fiction and which are non-fiction, and we seem not to care. While there are of course important instances in which the media shines light on bad behaviors, which can be a force for good, if we as consumers don't hold ourselves and the purveyors of gossip to higher standards of truth and justice, I fear for where we are headed. I wonder, do you share my concerns?
Commercial & Employment Mediator | Conflict Resolution for Executives & Companies | Trial & Dispute Resolution Strategist | Certified PMP | NJ Court Roster Mediator
7 年I share your concerns, and I’d like to add that the more dependent we are on impulse-driven selling, reading, and buying patterns, the further we activate a system of media that is so diluted by half-truths that news that is mostly real/truthful will be indistinguishable from gossip, and news that is deeply flawed will permeate as dogma, so long as some popular parts are true. But therein lies the rub with most forms of communication, whether it is personal or public. Maybe we should create an independent truthfulness and believability index for the news media. Perhaps there is already one out there. Thank you for sharing.
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson at COMPASS
7 年Your words are so justified from many aspects. If people would think first before assuming, responding or spreading what they don't know to be fact it would be such a benefit to all. To much time is wasted on trivialities and those we glorify aren't necessarily those that have found or are the ones we should emulate. I too concerned at what direction we are headed in. TY for this post. On a lighter note I bought your book ‘Principles’ will start reading soon.
Product Management Leader | Author of ‘A Toolkit for Product Managers’
7 年Gossiping can be a form of cowardice and/or insecurity where the gossiper may not have the guts to confront the person(s) in question about notional informational that may or may not be true. In our fast moving world for healthy environments we should encourage real time feedback so that there is no room for gossip to grow and turn into a monster in of itself. Time is of the essence to have real time conversations to lay things out on the table. That's the healthy approach and I agree with you that otherwise gossip is a big waste of time and productivity. Like Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”