It’s a no-brainer – doing ‘marites’ or gossiping is bad, and deep down we know it is.
It is speaking about someone in a way that defames, dishonors, or otherwise hurts or “assassinates” their character. As distinguished from flattery, an anonymous source wrote: “Gossip is what you’d never say to someone’s face, and flattery is what you’d never say behind their back.”
Celebrated author Karen Salmansohn once wrote:“Gossips are worse than thieves because they steal another person’s dignity, honest reputation and credibility, which are challenging to restore. Remember: When your feet slip, you can always recover your balance. But when your tongue slips, you cannot recover your words.”
Sometimes gossip can be subtle, like grumbling about someone. Other times it is loud, like ranting about them. Furthermore, sometimes the content of what is said is accurate or true. In other words, gossip may not be limited to false statements – it can be spreading true information.
However, be that as it may, false or true information, gossip is almost always negative and not helpful – in a sense that the one hearing does not need to know the information, and neither the one who is gossiped about nor the one hearing benefits from it.
Gossips are both irreversible (they cannot be taken back or revoked) and indelible (they cannot be erased or undone). They leave a lasting and unforgettable scar on others – even if they are forgiven.
Then, gossips are sinful or evil too.
No less but Pope Francis once exclaimed, and to quote: “Gossip is a plague worse than COVID, and the devil is the biggest gossiper. Let’s make a big effort: no gossiping.” He made this statement in September of 2020.
On another occasion, Pope Francis also remarked: “Gossip destroys the Holy Spirit’s gift of peace. Gossip is not a work of the Holy Spirit, it is not a work of the unity of the Church. Gossip destroys the work of God.”
In the theological perspective, gossip – and its cousins as slander, deceit, maliciousness, divisive speech or verbal assassination – are roundly rebuked by the Scriptures.
In Romans 1:29, gossip is equated with deceit, maliciousness, or slander: “And so they are full of injustice, perversity, greed, evil; they are full of jealousy, murder, strife, deceit, bad will and gossip.”
Paul says the same thing classifying gossip along with slander in 2 Corinthians 12:20 – “I might see rivalries, envy, grudges, disputes, slanders, gossip, conceit, disorder.”
Also, in Timothy 5:13, gossip is associated with idlers and busy bodies: “Besides they form the habit of being idle, going from house to house. And it is not just idleness! They become gossips and busy bodies, saying what they should not.”
Thus, in Psalm 101:5, God detests slander (or gossip): “He who slanders others, I will silence. He who talks and acts arrogantly, I will not endure.”
In sum, therefore, gossips harm at least three people: the one speaking (because the act itself is loathsome or evil); the one hearing (as it does not benefit him or her); the one who is gossiped about (leaving a lasting and indelible scar).
Verily, Proverbs 18:21 rightly says: “The tongue has power over life and death; those who like speaking will eat its fruit.”
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