Exacerbating the Problem of Gossip

We are continuing our "Taking Sides" series on the problem of gossip. Last week, we looked at people who could be considered proponent of gossip. Today, we think together about things like technology that exacerbate the problem.

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Legal expert Daniel Solove says, “The Internet is transforming the nature and effects of gossip.”¹ The changes are far reaching. “It is making gossip more permanent and widespread, but less discriminating in the appropriateness of the audience.”²

In the offline world, rarely does gossip hit a tipping point. The process of spreading information to new people takes time, and friends often associate in similar circles, so most secrets don’t spread too widely. The Internet takes this phenomenon and puts it on steroids. People can communicate with tens of thousands–even millions–of people almost simultaneously. . . . On the Internet, gossip can more readily jump the boundaries of various social circles, because all it takes is for the gossip to come to the attention of a connector blog, where it can become contagious and spread far and wide throughout cyberspace.³

Solove is concerned about these developments and what they mean for society. His 2007 book The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet analyzes the effects of the rise of blogging and other social media on the concepts of reputation from both social and legal perspectives. With vivid illustrations and clear prose, he discusses shaming, free speech, anonymity, accountability, law, privacy, the abundance of information, and gossip.⁴ Solove also suggests how new laws could be conceived to meet the challenges of the digital age. “I believe that it is imperative that we do something to address the developments inherent in the marriage of traditional gossip to the technology of the Internet.”⁵

Christian theologians are concerned, as well. Pastor Timothy Keller and counselor David Powlison opine together,

One obvious genius of the internet is that it’s “viral.” Information explodes to the whole world. The old neighborhood grapevine and the postal service seem like ox-carts in a speed-of-light universe. (Do twenty-somethings even know what those antiquities once were? In the old days, people had to talk to each other or stick a stamp on an envelope.) Instantaneous transmission produces some wonderfully good things. Truth, like joy, is infectious. A great idea feeds into a million inboxes. But it also produces some disastrous evils. Lies, rumors, and disinformation travel just as far and just as fast.⁶

One does not have to spend much time on Facebook to see what Solove, Keller, and Powlison are talking about. One’s “friends” say all manner of things about all manner of people “behind their backs,” often in ways they would never speak to their friends even face to face!

Technology has always improved the good and exacerbated evil. Cuneiform and stylus, pen and ink, codex and scroll have all been tools of both malicious and virtuous hearts. Without them, we would not have the Bible nor Mein Kampf. The greater the technology, the greater the amplification and complexity. Broadcaster Hugh Hewitt documents the rise of blogging and compares it to the advent of the printing press which facilitated the Protestant Reformation.⁷

Because of the size and speed of the Internet, everything seems to have changed. Businesses are scrambling to adapt. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research have written a long book of strategies for dealing with what they call the Groundswell.⁸ These strategies range from simply understanding the new paradigm to using its strengths against itself.

Christians must adapt, as well. Keller and Powlison conclude their exhortations.

What you should never do is rush to judgment, or withdraw from loving another, or pass on the negative report to others. This is challenge enough when you’re dealing with the local grapevine or slow-moving postal service. In a world of instant world-wide communication of information it’s an even bigger challenge, because you can do bigger damage more quickly. Whether the bad report offers true information, or partial information, or disinformation, or false information—it is even more important that you exercise great discretion, and that you take pains to maximize boots-on-the-ground interpersonal relationships.⁹

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⁹Justin Taylor, Timothy Keller, and David Powlison, “Keller and Powlison: Should You Pass On Bad Reports?” Between Two Worlds Blog, entry posted August 4, 2008, http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2008/08/04/keller-and-powlison-should-you-pass-on/ (accessed June 30, 2011).

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¹Daniel J. Solove, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), 74.

²Ibid.

³Ibid., 62-63.

⁴Solove is no Luddite nor afraid of salty public speech. He blogs himself at www.concurringopinions.com and his ribald illustrations throughout the book make this reader blush.

⁵Daniel J. Solove, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), 75.

⁶Justin Taylor, Timothy Keller, and David Powlison, “Keller and Powlison: Should You Pass On Bad Reports?” Between Two Worlds Blog, entry posted August 4, 2008, http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2008/08/04/keller-and-powlison-should-you-pass-on/ (accessed June 30, 2011).

⁷Hugh Hewitt, Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005).

⁸Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2008).

⁹Justin Taylor, Timothy Keller, and David Powlison, “Keller and Powlison: Should You Pass On Bad Reports?” Between Two Worlds Blog, entry posted August 4, 2008, http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2008/08/04/keller-and-powlison-should-you-pass-on/ (accessed June 30, 2011).