The gossip.

People are very down to Earth, low brow creatures. In most cases – pathetic, mediocre and lazy. What’s even worse, they’re scared to live their lives, so they live other people’s lives. Through the means of spending hours watching moronic TV shows that make intelligent people want to vomit, or living vicariously through the lives of their neighbours, friends or celebrities. The more stupid and insecure the nation is, the more they like to look into other people’s bedrooms, pockets, bathrooms, fridges and pants. To be fair, there’s nothing strange about it. These people’s lives are so boring and devoid of any sort of colourfulness that they would most likely just die of boredom. If this is the ‘audience’, then there’s no surprise in the fact that all that’s empty, shallow, idiotic and shitty gets the most recognition.

What do a village church and a corporation have in common?

Out in the village people normally focus on gossiping about their neighbours. That’s the main reason for why they go to church. No, not to listen to the priest – absolutely not – the most important thing is what people were wearing and what kind of a car they left in the church parking lot. They can also telly you exactly who didn’t make it to church that day. But if you ask them what the priest talked about during the sermon or if they’d gone to the confession, their jaws drop in astonishment. Against what it may seem, this issue doesn’t only apply to old ladies in mohair hats or gentlemen who just can’t get it up anymore and that’s all they’re left with in their lives. It applies to literary the entire scope of the society. That’s what the community life looks like in small towns too, if not even worse.

When it comes to bigger cities, people are currently focused on providing broad commentary on the lives of their friends – especially those who stand out from the crowd – and celebrities. The real cesspit of this are corporations, in which the company mail is mainly used for exchanging information about who, with whom and why. And you should know that if you fart on one end of the building, then in no time you’ll find out that in reality you’ve shat yourself in the middle of the main square. What came to me a s a real shock was a situation in which my corpofriend’s coworkers started to inquire with a lot of concern why in the world he’s going to see a doctor. In normal life it’s unthinkable that someone could shove their long nose into your personal business. But that’s corpolife.

The same applies to my friend who works for an airline. No one is focused on their work, the main focus is on talking shit about people behind their backs. What’s more, gossip also constitutes an effective tool to manipulate idiots. All you have to do is take a completely made up piece of information and sell it to a person who can’t keep their mouth shut. You can also add that it’s a secret and there you go, you gain an effective tool to cause disinformation, thanks to which others will do as you please! Thanks to their sick imagination they will add the second, equally made up, half and you have a recipe for a total chaos.

Media? Not for the naïve!

I’ll never understand why most people buy everything they hear just like that. Without a shadow of reflexion and even considering that it may be a hoax, an intentional disinformation, just a joke or a false lead. Perhaps your friend who shares a valuable piece of information with you is just checking whether you can keep your mouth shut? Another thing I don’t get is how you can watch television, especially the news (full of cheap thrills and manipulated bullshit, regardless of who the governing party is) and TV shows (in which actors without any skills hit each other with dialogue written without any consideration). It’s more than a medium used to manipulate and fool the society on the basis of ‘bread and circuses’. Unfortunately, the same applies to the press. Nowadays the journalistic environment is more politically infiltrated than ever before – or at least thanks to the speed of information sharing, this situation is particularly impactful. Which is why one should read the press from all available sources to creates one’s own personal opinion, or – when lacking relevant knowledge – it’s better to not bother with this subject at all. Take into consideration, my dear reader, that someone may just as well be pulling your leg. Historia magistra vitae est. Everyone with even the slightest orientation in the field of history will know how huge and far-reaching consequences a skilfully put together rumour can have. Like the one that cause panic in the financial markets and as a consequence led to the Great Depression.

Gossip: because something has to be happening!

I remember my high school well. Three situations have especially been stuck in my head. Throughout high school I had problems with maths. I had a tutor from another school. She was quite short, not more than 5ft tall. Moreover, she had some hearing problems. She told me about an interesting situation. One day she was talking to the PE teacher about one of her students. Because of her height and hearing disability she had to keep looking up. Later that same day the entire faculty was stirred with the rumour that they’re having an affair – because she was looking into his eyes passionately.

Another situation: my German teacher, a young girl, was severely anaemic. She fainted one day. No one inquired what the reason was – it was obvious to everyone that she was pregnant.

And finally my own case. When I was around 15 I gained a lot of weight, stress eating my parents’ divorce. Obviously I heard I was pregnant too (nothing like an immaculate conception!). And when I managed to lose the extra 20 kilograms, the rumour had it that I’d had an abortion. Unfortunately, I have to disappoint all the gossip girls: I’ve never been pregnant. I have too much control and I’ve always felt a lot of responsibility when it comes to bringing someone out to this cruel world and multiplying all the suffering this way. Not to mention the fact that if I ever decide to have children, I will want to be certain that my and the father’s genes will be fully compatible. And that I will be able to provide my children with a good life.

Turn on thinking, step out from the crowd

We should respect other people’s privacy. Stop feeding ourselves with rumours, filter information, be careful when judging others. Let’s not waste time on watching TV. Let’s invest it into our family, learning new things or multiplying our wealth. We should source the knowledge on the current situation from varied and trustworthy sources. We never know if we won’t fall a victim to a hurtful rumour, trick or skilled social engineering that would aim to ruin our life or worsen its standard. Let’s not be afraid to think – let’s draw conclusions based on evidence, not leads and deception. Let’s not be a rowdy and thoughtless crowd. Let’s become a group of conscious and thinking individuals who are living their own life and focus on self-development. Let’s make ‘my life here and now’ count, not the life of others and the sick, perverse excitement that accompanies scrutinizing what it is that makes them different from us. Let’s remember that no one will live our life for us just like we won’t live anyone else’s life for them. The more time you spend on other people’s lives, the lest time you’ve got for our own one.