When Gossip Is Good

Is all this gossip about Tiger Woods just useless prattle, one tree hill dvd box setor worse? Friday, he said he's taking an "indefinite break" from golf and spending his time "being that 70s show 1-8 dvda better husband, father and person," but don't we have anything better to do with our time? Or is there boston legal dvd box setsomething about all the sordid chatter that has a redeeming purpose?
Gossip has a bad reputation, friends dvd box setand deservedly so. Despite its guilty pleasures, gossip is often meant to hurt people. It can be used to exclude, dexter dvd slander, or attack others—in a devious and underhanded way.
Gossip can also help people. Mash dvd box set Telling a new co-worker about the boss's negative idiosyncrasies, for example, can help her avoid later unpleasantness. the office dvd Such warnings are motivated by pro-social concerns. Your mother cautions you about associating too closely Golden Girls dvd with Lucy because she heard that Lucy does recreational drugs. Now, poor Lucy may well be drug-free, disney 100 years of magic dvd box set but Mom's gossip is still an expression of her love and concern. In cases like this, gossip can be not only well-intentioned, but a moral duty.
Gossip can be more than just a Grey’s anatomy dvd warning device: It also can serve as moral instruction. Some of what we learn about right and wrong Cold Case dvdcomes from our guardians and teachers in the form of codes and principles. Some comes from our consumption Gilmore Girls dvdof media in the form of stories and narratives. Yet much more powerful are the rules that apply most to us in situ, House md dvdthat is, in our particular situation. These are communicated informally, or tacitly, through our local network Scrubs dvd box setof friends and acquaintances. Gossip informs us about how to act properly in a given social context.
Consider the most mundane of Desperate Housewives dvd box set gossip topics: what our fellow co-workers wear to the office. "Did you see what Cheri was Criminal Minds dvd box set wearing—or should I say, wasn't wearing—today?" Standards of modesty and notions of what is Gossip Girl 1-2 dvdappropriate are regularly communicated via gossip in exquisitely precise detail.
Gossip also creates a certain empathy Grey’s anatomy dvd box setwith the victim, regulating our own behavior through the desire to avoid social punishment. Wanting to avoid disney 100 years of magic dvd box set granting others the opportunity to gossip about us may serve as an effective deterrent to engaging in socially unacceptable acts. ("What would people say?") Golden Girls dvd box set Hearing gossipy disapproval about Tiger's moral failings may make one think twice about embarking on a similar path.