Whispers

                                                     Rumors. Gossip. Juice. Whatever term you use, the sport of talking about someone else's personal business has been around forever. I'm sure somebody thought that Jesus was sippin' on Mary Magdalene's juice back in the day too. But i'm not sure if the rumor mill has EVER been this ragged, negative, or baseless. I remember what my Grandmama use to say about rumors, "they're usually true". I used to believe that, but truth be told i think that nowadays it's just plain wrong. Many of us have been victims of this, but yet in still when a juicy piece of gossip, or a rumor starts swirling, we just HAVE to listen, don't we? My girl Jerae came to work talking about a "Rumor Has It" segment on the radio last week. She said that the lady BROADCAST on the radio how Will Smith and Trey Songz were having a sexual affair(and yes i'm aware of how relating this part to you, that i'm spreading a rumor so don't bother pointing that out. anyway it's TECHNICALLY hearsay). I mean, SHE SAID IT SO THAT MILLIONS could hear it! And what is she basing this on? That they're good looking and have nice hair?! I mean, the Will Smith is gay rumors have been floating around barber shops, beauty salons, basketball courts, and spade tables for years. How come EVERY time you hear a big rumor or piece of gossip. You're always hearing it 5th hand? "My cousin's, hair-dresser's, sisters', brother in law was at a party where he saw Jim Jones and Cam'Ron kissing!"  But what brought them about? Where do they come from? And how does a rumor become SO POWERFUL, that it's widely accepted as fact? The whole Tommy Hilfiger doesn't want black people to wear his clothing issue, that he supposedly said on Oprah Winfrey. Or was it Ellen? Or did he say it in a magazine? SEE? The Will Smith and Jada Pinkett are swingers rumors. The Eddie Murphy, Johnny Gill, Tevin Campbell sex triad. How Jamie Lee Curtis is a hermaphrodite. How Richard Gere had a gerbil stuck up his ass. That Tom Cruise is gay. That Suge Knight had Tupac murdered. That Suge Knight Had Notorious B.I.G. murdered. That Suge Knight is gonna have ME murdered after he reads this. The questions stay unanswered. Who started these rumors? Where did they come from? Why do people believe them so readily?
                                             Think about how many times someone has told you a rumor about someone you knew. What was the first thing that popped into your mind after hearing this piece of information? I bet it was either, "NO, that can't be true." Or, "REALLY?!" The point being is that our natural response to this kind of info is to give it immediate validity. WHY? Why is something like that so readily believable? Lady X and Mr. Y are phucking. She only got that promotion because she blew the boss. He got his sister in law pregnant, and then forced her to have an abortion. These are all rumors i've heard about people i know in the last year. But why if we've all been victims of the gossip mongers, and the rumors weren't true about us(most of the time), why is it so easily believable when you hear the same info about somebody else? Wouldn't the rumor lose some power? But it doesn't, does it? Celebrities are even worse off. We could start a rumor RIGHT NOW. RIGHT HERE IN THIS BLOG. If enough people were to run with it, it'd have a life of it's own within minutes. Case in point, the Will/Jada are splitting rumors that just won't die. The fact that they have to come out and acknowledge them, is absurd. But when you have gossip rags like the National Inquirer, TMZ, and Juanita 'Nem, you HAVE to acknowledge them or they take on a life of their own. Rumors are like a small fire. And our constant talking about them quickly turn them into blazes. In the movie "Doubt", Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays a priest who's accused of being a pedophile by a nun played by the always incredible Meryl Streep. You COULD make the argument that she's the greatest actor of her generation. Better than Pacino, Deniro, Washington, Hackman, OR Nicholson, but that's a for different blog. ANYWAY, she accuses the priest of this by the way that the boy reacted when he touched him. I've added this little bit of the movie to make a point. It's very good sermon about gossip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq4qlOCIdQc. Maybe the Timex Social Club had it right all along, that we just need some time...some time to get away from, all. These. Rumors.