Rumors at CIRS

Do you agree with me that here, in CIRS, news about people and events spreads like wildfire? Whether in late-night talks or Crossroads walks, we cannot keep gossip to ourselves. We all have the desire to tell someone about that one person or that one ‘kaand’ which we found out about from somewhere. Everyone wants to be the one who knows stuff and the one who reveals it. But imagine this: you tell something about yourself to some of your close friends, and the next day, every single person knows about it. Have you ever experienced this in CIRS?

It is very important to understand the impact these rumors can create on victims of these whispers. Rumors must be handled very carefully because they can either make a failure look like a hero or destroy a person’s hardearned reputation. Can you imagine if something completely fake about you has become a hot topic for the school to gossip about? Can you imagine how that person would be struggling every single day to change everyone’s wrong perception about him?

During the process of spreading news, or what we can call “gossip,” something very interesting happens. This passing of gossip becomes like the game of Chinese Whisper. The first person, who gets the information from the primary source, tells it to the second person. Now, the second person hears something, comprehends it differently, and then passes it on to the third person as something entirely new! When this cycle continues through a long chain of people, the news gets altered and modified so much that it becomes completely different from what it originally was. This is when the ‘news’ becomes a ‘rumor’.

Now the question arises: why do people even spread rumors in the first place? Usually, they make assumptions about a person or an event from the news they hear. Or, they are simply jealous of the other person’s success or achievements and try to pull them down by spreading a rumor. If we are among these people, then we must reflect and ask ourselves some questions- Is spreading rumors or gossiping about people in any way conducive to me? Is it ethical to create a fake black mark on someone’s hard-earned reputation? Am I letting my anger and hatred control my actions? Is it going to benefit the collective society?

When you answer these questions, you will realize whether you should be encouraging gossip or not. If we get some information about someone or some event, then before telling others, we must confirm it with the original source. In fact, why should we entertain gossip? It is a mere waste of time. There are better things to do in life. Remember, today when you gossip and spread rumors about someone; tomorrow it might be your turn.