Editor:
If you’ve ever been hurt by malicious gossip, you know the gut-punch Anna Zane experienced after being targeted by a nasty email campaign for wanting to bring her extensive experience and consensus-building skills to Aspen’s school board. When the email chain hit my inbox, its easy-to-refute and vicious fabrications about my friend stunned me.
I replied to the emailers, refuting their ludicrous claims, asking why they cast Anna as villainous. I urged them to contemplate this parable: “Seeking redemption, a gossiper asked his rabbi how he could make amends. Told to scatter in the wind and then retrieve all a pillow’s feathers, the gossiper exclaimed, ‘impossible!’ The rabbi responded, ‘Precisely, just as it is to repair the damage caused by your words.’”
To the credit of one offender, I received a response acknowledging — and later apologizing for — the error in not asking Anna questions before sharing.
In fact, all isn’t fair in love and war … and elections. Thomas Jefferson said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” Spreading lies undermines trust, eroding community relations, social solidarity and friendships.
In his “Real Time” monologue, Bill Maher mentioned a taxi driver from Sarajevo’s “war-torn hellscape” who told him that what’s happening here is “what I saw in Bosnia — next-door neighbors who despise each other.” Maher concluded, “Hate on this level can only be sustained for so long before becoming actual war.”
America is history’s greatest human experiment as the only multiracial democracy that hasn’t yet descended into tribal chaos. How can we keep it while addressing society’s biggest problems?
Let’s start by listening to our nature’s better angels — don’t spread malicious gossip!
Melanie Sturm
Aspen
"gossip" - Google News
October 25, 2021 at 06:00PM
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Gossip bad for community | Opinion | aspendailynews.com - Aspen Daily News
"gossip" - Google News
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