“La-shon ha-ra“ (Hebrew for “evil tongue”) : speech that says something negative about a person or party, is not previously known to the public, is not seriously intended to correct or improve a negative situation, and is true. Statements that fit this description are considered to be lashon hara, regardless of the method of communication that is used, whether it is through face-to-face conversation, a letter, telephone, or email, or even body language.
Lashon hara is considered to be a very serious sin in the Jewish tradition.
–definition of “Lashon hara”; Wikipedia
Gossip gets a bad rap.
That’s just one of many fascinating takeaways from Yuval Noah Harari’s monumental, hugely rewarding “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.”
Guilty Pleasures
According to Harari, not only is gossip not inherently idle or even malicious — it performs a crucial social function that is integral to human survival:
“Human language evolved as a way of gossiping . . . Social cooperation is our key for survival and reproduction. It is not enough for individual men and women to know the whereabouts of lions and bison. It’s much more important for them to know who in their band hates whom, who is sleeping with whom, who is honest, and who is a cheat.”
–“Sapiens”; Yuval Noah Harari (pp. 22. – 23.)
Just remember that the next time someone chides you for reading “People” magazine.
