The Curse of a Malignant Tongue

“What is the cruel pleasure which carries sorrow and bitterness to the heart of your brother? . . . Whence comes it that your sarcasms are always pointed to . . . recalling his faults . . . ? Where is the innocency of an amusement whose source springs from . . . [that] which ought to inspire you with compassion and grief?”

In other words, what moves men to find pleasure in the weaknesses and faults and inadequacies of others? These searching questions come from some lines of Massillon, and he continues: “May it not proceed from . . . jealousy? Would Saul have so often repeated with such pleasure that David was only the son of Jesse, had he not considered him a rival? . . .Is it not your wish to render yourself agreeable, by turning your brother into an object of contempt and ridicule? ‘Edify each other,’ says St. Paul, ‘by words of peace and charity . . . ‘”

Whatever the motive, who is really responsible for spreading gossip or rumor or unkind comment? Who is responsible for wrong impressions, for false reports?

First, there are those who start them⎯frequently by saying that “they say so,” without identifying the source. Second, there are those who pass them on; these must share the responsibility, since every link in any chain plays its part. To use a figure from another field: first someone makes the product; secondly, someone distributes it; and third, others receive or accept it. Production, distribution, consumption: in gossip, in rumor, in false report it is essentially that simple, as suggested by these lines from Alexander Pope:

The flying rumors gather’d as they roll’d,

Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;

And all who told it added something new

And all who heard it made enlargements too.

In some degree this comes under the category of bearing false witness. Thus before we relay rumor, gossip, or irresponsible reports we should consider not only the source but also the probable effect⎯remembering that we cannot recall them, and remembering also that we are responsible not only for facts but for the effect of any part we play in making things seem other than they are.

Whatsoever we pass on, we ourselves are responsible for our part of the performance⎯and we cannot shift responsibility altogether by declaring our innocent intention.