Gossip

Why do we care?

By Fay Sakr

Do you want to hear the juiciest gossip I've heard lately? It was told to me by one of my friends who heard it on the radio. Apparently a letter was found that Princess Diana had written just hours before her death. The letter was addressed to her lover Dodi and read that Prince Charles was planning to have her killed in a car accident so that he can marry his long time lover Carmella. The same friend told me that Brad Pitt was still in love with Jennifer Aniston and Angelina was spewing! I don't think Angelina likes the friendship going on between Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Who can blame her? I wouldn't want my husband to befriend a proud bachelor who can have any girl he wants anytime he wants. Angelina's losing a lot of weight. She's not the goddess she used to be. So there you have it: some pretty peachy pieces of gossip from a practically unimpeachable source.

I recall being very interested at the time and considered the tittle-tattle relevant. These stories are aesthetically pleasing because they have all the ingredients of gossip at its most delectable: they have sex, scandal, celebrity, lots of steamy matters for the imagination to work upon, and, finally, they cannot be confirmed nor denied. Now, although these pieces of gossip did not come anywhere near making my day, I must admit I was pleased to come into possession of these stories - it made me feel like an insider, a woman in the know. More over, I was thrilled that my friend thought I was worthy enough to share this news with. And, of course, without realising, I myself succumbed to the gossip monger within, and passed these 'rumours' on to a number of people.

Gossiping is much less like a game of Chinese whispers, only that it has far more destructive potential and long term harmful effects. What is perhaps more dangerous is gossips potential to draw you in. I never