Gossip is a crime

[Peter]

Colombian Town Makes Gossip a Crime

By MARGARITA MARTINEZ

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Malicious gossip often results in tears and anger, but in Colombia it had lead to murder - and officials say they've heard enough.

Fed up with people targeted by false rumors turning up dead or wrongfully arrested, the mayor of a small Colombian town has made gossip a crime punishable by up to four years in prison.

``Human beings must be aware and recognize that having a tongue and using it to do bad is the same as having dynamite in their mouths,'' says an official municipal decree issued last year in Icononzo, 40 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota.

While some residents may denounce the decree as ridiculous, Mayor Jesus Ignacio Jimenez insists that in a country as violent as Colombia, gossiping can have serious consequences.

``It's a tradition for gossip to spread through small towns and it's a part of life, but what is worrying is that people are going to jail or being murdered due to gossip,'' Jimenez said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Monday.

Jimenez recalled a case when a man was killed because somebody claimed he belonged to a leftist insurgent group. Others have been thrown in jail based on similar allegations.

Sometimes, many of the town's 11,500 residents will leave work or school early and lock themselves inside their homes simply because an unfounded rumor had spread that members of an illegal armed group were on their way, said Milton Patarroyo, the town's human rights official.

Icononzo resident Edelmira Giron said the decree, which also calls for fines of up to $150,000 for spreading false rumors, has had an impact since it went into effect six months ago by making people ``think twice'' about what they say.

So far nobody has been arrested on gossiping charges, Jimenez said, while insisting that sooner or later it will happen.

[Peter]

What do you think of this article?

A criminal act for spreading a false report of others?

[Guest]

Yeah...signs of the end time....

One can leave a large burrito on the cafeteria floor....then start a rumor that you saw a pipe bomb and they will clear the school..

Once can say that a copy of the Koran got flushed down a toilet and several people die..

A preacher can say that you can be saved by just accepting Jesus as your personal savior and thousands die.

[Nicodema]

I think it's awesome. It's about time people started taking seriously the levels of damage that can be done with gossip. I've seen entire communities destroyed by one selfish, smarmy little wagging tongue. I've seen perfectly good friendships ruined, associations and relationships destroyed, because some nosybody went around flapping their gums about utter nonsense.

More power to ya, Bogota!

[Neil D]

In a violent community where gossip can kill a fellow community neighbor, this is good legislation for the short term, say 5 years...It can slow that rumor mill ....

So yeah, in the short term, in a violent community, this is good legislation....

[Ron Lambert]

Gossip is the most common way that we violate the ninth commandment--bearing false witness against our neighbor. This is the single sin that is doing the most damage to the most churches.

[Naomi]

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Gossip is the most common way that we violate the ninth commandment--bearing false witness against our neighbor. This is the single sin that is doing the most damage to the most churches.

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Right on!

[Nicodema]

Amen to that.

[Dr. Shane]

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Gossip is the most common way that we violate the ninth commandment--bearing false witness against our neighbor.

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Gossip is defined as idle talk about others. It doesn't have to be false in order to be gossip. One can tell the truth about another and still be gossipping. The key word is "idle". I understand that to mean that which does no good. If I am repeating damaging information about another and by repeating it I will not accomplish any good, I am gossipping regardless if what I am repeating is true or not.

[Peter]

Here is the dictionary term.

gossip

n 1: light informal conversation for social occasions [syn: chitchat, small talk, gab, gabfest, tittle-tattle, chin-wag, chin-wagging, causerie] 2: a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people; "the divorce caused much gossip" [syn: comment, scuttlebutt] 3: a person given to gossiping and divulging personal information about others [syn: gossiper, gossipmonger, rumormonger, rumourmonger, newsmonger] v 1: wag one's tongue; speak about others and reveal secrets or intimacies; "She won't dish the dirt" [syn: dish the dirt] 2: talk socially without exchanging too much information; "the men were sitting in the cafe and shooting the breeze" [syn: chew the fat, shoot the breeze, chat, confabulate, confab, chitchat, chatter, chaffer, natter, jaw, claver, visit]

[Neil D]

Peter,

I like your definition of gossip...It seems a bit clearer..

Sorry, Shane...but your definition tends to leave far more information exchanged labeled as 'gossip' when it is merely chit chat...

[Dr. Shane]

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: a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people; "the divorce caused much gossip" [syn: comment, scuttlebutt] 3: a person given to gossiping and divulging personal information about others

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That's it. And it doesn't have to be a lie.

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Sorry, Shane...but your definition tends to leave far more information exchanged labeled as 'gossip' when it is merely chit chat...

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Read it again, Brother Neil. Read it again.