Is gossip useful and powerful?

The other day I was thinking about ‘gossip’. And just realized that almost everything conversation that is not part of a boardroom meeting, classroom discussion or an occupational interaction is actually gossip!

And yes, I did check the definition of the term. A few of them are as follows:

1. idle talk or rumor, esp. about the personal or private affairs of others
   
2. light, familiar talk or writing
   
3. Rumor or talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature
   

It appears to me from the definition of gossip that this thing can and has made and unmade governments and yet it is looked down upon.

Bill Clinton’s Monica ‘mouth’ Lewinsky issue brought him to the verge of impeachment. And the ‘discussions’, the ‘debates’ that took place about it on television and otherwise necessarily dealt with ‘personal’ and ‘private’ life of a person, which means all those who talked about Clinton’s Lewinsky ‘engagement’ actually gossiped!

By being the President Mr. Clinton did not in any way undermine his right to have a private life. But then the private life of a President can be legitimately called into question if his conduct lowers the dignity of his office.

So, the question here is: Is gossip essentially bad?

Think about it. We’ll come to it again.

Publishing through MS WORD

The last post that I published here was published directly using the new MS WORD 2007. And it was indeed a good experience. Quite effortless. So, I thought of sharing it with my non-existent readers.

The unread blog and absolute freedom!

It has been a very long time since I last wrote. I have never used this blog to push a point or even make one. It is simply a comfortable place for me where I mostly talk to myself, where I drive word after word just for the pleasure of stringing together sentence after sentence.

For doing that one needs time and leisure and something – or even nothing – to talk about. For a couple of months I have not found enough time to write this blog. This blog is also a comfortable place because I have no pressure to write or talk because I have so far read absolutely no comment on it. So, I can safely conclude that nearly nobody is reading what I write and even if I have a few of the passerby glance at it, they simply pass by without paying a serious attention. And this is freedom! Real freedom!!

Freedom to think without having to justify your thoughts, freedom to write without anyone to judge your words, freedom to speak without having to say, freedom to throw words without being accountable for them. If there could be any absolute freedom, this is what it would feel like to have it. What more could I ask of a blog. A blog unread gave me more than a well read blog could because when people read, they expect. And there is no burden heavier than the burden of expectation.