Gossip and Big Stories

Michael Kahn, Reuters, has released an article about a recent study that shows people are more likely to believe gossip even when facts to the contrary are present. According to Kahn, "Gossip is more powerful than truth, a study showed on Monday, suggesting people believe what they hear through the grapevine even if they have evidence to the contrary. Researchers, testing students using a computer game, also found gossip played an important role when people make decisions, said Ralf Sommerfeld, an evolutionary biologist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, who led the study. 'We show that gossip has a strong influence... even when participants have access to the original information as well as gossip about the same information,' the researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

This will not surprise anyone who has ever been the victim of a false rumor that has gotten a foothold in a social network. Once unleashed it is almost impossible to quash it. Tabloids thrive on this human character flaw. We love gossip, and misinformation being passed on by someone we know and trust as truth is almost instantly absolute.

For me, this raises some interesting questions about the big stories (metanarratives)we have grown up with. Baby Boomers who grew up with the TV Westerns of the 1950's, for example, just knew that the cowboys and cavalry were the good guys and the Indians were the bad guys. Many still have a hard time believing such may have not always been the case even though the facts actually point to the United States' westward expansion as one of insensitive colonialism that plundered boundaries and villages of the First Nations People sometimes with genocidal intent. There are many similar examples of mainstream thinking that are based more on gossip than actual fact. Anyone who still believes Republicans are the more fiscally conservative party is totally ignoring the facts. Or, that the Democrats are less thirsty for oil money. Pure gossip on both counts.

As a theologian of sorts, it also raises questions about orthodoxy. Given the fact that "orthodoxy" has gone through numerous revisions and evolutionary turns over the course of history in all religions, including Christianity, we have to wonder how much of it was founded upon relationally networked misinformation--gossip. So-and-so said to so-and-so who passed it along to so-and-so and before long it became mainstream "correct" thinking on the matter in public opinion. The more convincing and charismatic a purveyor of information can be, the more likely the rest of us will readily buy into whatever they are offering--facts or no facts. Before long it becomes a big story we all assume is correct.

Dan Simmons, penned these words: "I been thinkin' outside the box, out beyond the orthodox..." (Its a stanza from a song he wrote which you can listen to online at http://www.soundclick.com/pro/view/02/default.cfm?andID=661040&content=song&songID=5329199. It would be good for all of us to do that. Orthodoxy is a fickle business and I'm not as impressed with it as I once was. Just because we no longer believe in Santa or the Tooth Fairy, doesn't mean we've exhausted our list of misinformed beliefs. I think we all have a good bit of gossip to sort through and set aside in favor of more accurate information.

Jesus, Celebrity Endorser

According to a web posting by Deidre Woollard, a winery in Israel has enlisted Jesus as a spokesman. His picture is on the label. “The Grapes of Galilee is a new Israeli wine label aimed at American Christians. The grapes are grown in the region where Jesus Christ is said to have lived, and they are irrigated with water from the Jordan River, where he was baptized.” What a great idea! After all, Jesus’ reputation as a winemaker is next to none. Reports are that his wine exceeds in quality most standard offerings.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Jesus has been enlisted as celebrity endorser. In Jesus’ name, Crusaders invaded the Middle East and sacked Moslem villages, often with genocidal intent. In Jesus’ name King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella tortured and ethnically cleansed Spain’s Jews, Protestants, Moslems and anyone else they felt didn’t toe the mark. Christian Reformers Zwingli and John Calvin both had people executed on behalf of Jesus. Calvin liked to have them burned at the stake with green wood so the slow burning fire would torture them longer. Jesus’ endorsement was claimed by both sides in the American Civil War. Jesus endorsed the construction of the now defunct City of Faith with 60 foot praying hands out front by telling Oral Roberts he would die if he didn’t raise 12 million dollars. And throughout history Jesus has been put forward as the spokesperson for every new denomination and sect. Jesus even endorsed George Bush, some have claimed.

There is, however, a big difference between his Grapes of Galilee endorsement and these others I’ve just mentioned. Grapes of Galilee is a wine. The beverage of choice in these other matters was Kool Aid.