‘Tsismis’

It’s interesting that the English “gossip” is translated into Filipino as “tsismis,” borrowed from the Spanish.

That should not lead us to conclude that the Spaniards introduced gossiping to the Philippines. In fact, I worry that while we do not seem to have an indigenous word for “gossip,” we do seem to take it lightly, best exemplified by the way we invite friends to gossip by saying, “Huy, kuwento tayo.”

Now, note that kuwento is again from the Spanish—cuento, a story—with a related meaning of recounting events.  As far as I know, cuento is not used to mean gossiping in Spanish but in the Philippines, we do open the possibilities to gossip when we invite people to kuwentuhan.

Then there is still another term from the Spanish language—“intriga,” which refers to a more specific form of gossip, one intended to destroy a person’s reputation or to break up friendships.  No one ever invites someone else to intriga, but certainly there is plotting involved that leads to the more malicious forms of gossip.

Again, the absence of exact equivalents of “gossip” should not lull us into believing that our gossip is mild. As I will explain later, gossip in societies like the Philippines can be extremely vicious and destructive, in part because we do not always see its virulence.

Moral angle

I’m going to set aside linguistic analysis for the moment and go into the way we respond to gossip. We do hear gossip all around us; in fact, in this modern age, we are bombarded with gossip 24/7. It is often explicit and without shame, as in show biz gossip shows and newspaper columns and blogs, as well as in camouflaged forms, sometimes even converted into scholarly “commentaries” and “analyses.” We see so much of that right now with the elections in the United States and in the Philippines.

Precisely because gossip is so pervasive, all societies have ways of urging people to gossip less, or not to gossip at all.  The Old Testament’s Proverbs is full of warnings against gossip in all forms. Let me cite a few:

“Gossip betrays confidence, so avoid anyone who talks too much.” (Proverbs 20:19)

Gossiping and gossipers might be described in different terms, as in Proverbs 22:10: “Drive out the mockers and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.” (“Mockers” are a special category of gossipers—people who have mastered ways to use jokes and side comments for character assassination.)

There are also nonreligious proverbs, and my favorite one about gossip comes in Spanish and Portuguese versions, both warning: “He who gossips about others to you will also gossip about you to others.”

The moral injunctions boil down to looking at gossip as a betrayal of confidence, of spreading news which should be kept confidential, and, worse, of actually fabricating falsehoods to slander. Again from Proverbs 16:28: “A perverse man stirs up dissension; and a gossip separates close friends.”

Hidden transcripts

There is another way of looking at gossip, coming from the political scientist James Scott, who wrote extensively about “hidden transcripts” among peasants. Scott suggests that the disempowered resort to gossip and rumor-mongering. This is not to say that the disempowered do this intentionally to destroy the reputations of the powerful; instead, the rumor-mongering is almost a consequence of the disempowerment. Left without access to the proper forums for bringing out grievances, people resort to, and rely on, stories that circulate, sometimes even gaining some kind of psychic relief from them.

During the martial law era we certainly saw this. With a muzzled press, people had to get their news from the grapevine, sometimes deriving almost perverse pleasure from the news. The day Ninoy Aquino was assassinated at the then Manila International Airport, there was a flurry of rumors, including one about Ferdinand Marcos himself dying on the same day from illness. Marcos had in fact been ill for a long time, and the subject of many rumors.

Another reason gossip thrives—in and out of crisis situations—is this: People listen to what they want to hear.  Gossip draws from expectations that are already existing, as we saw with all the rumors about Marcos’ death during the last years of martial law.

Marcos very well knew the dangers of gossip. When he declared martial law in September 1972, there were dire warnings that “rumor-mongering” would be dealt with severely.  The problem was that people telling the truth could still be accused of rumor-mongering, so what we saw was actually a suppression of free speech.

In an open democracy, leaders should be aware of, and even monitor, the rumor mills. The intensity of rumor-mongering should be a social barometer, warning governments that not all is well.  Moreover, there is always an element of truth in gossip and rumors, and wise leaders should know how to analyze these rumors.

Sun Tzu’s famous “The Art of War” talks, too, about how good military strategists might involve the leaders themselves planting and spreading rumors, through gossip, to deceive enemies.

Idle talk

With elections around the corner, we need to be wiser about gossip.

The Koran offers practical advice here: “If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest you harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what you have done” (Koran 49:6).

All said, the best way to deal with gossip is to look at it as idle talk, and to think of better things to do. Socrates observed centuries ago: “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”

When gossip creates problems, it’s worthwhile to take advice from the Old Testament: “For lack of wood, the fire goes out.  And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.”  (Proverbs 26:30)

Gossip thrives when there are people who want to join the other whisperers.

* * *

[email protected]