Journal #31

Gossip seems to be everywhere, especially in high school. I personally think that gossips is more popular with girls than guys, but I know it goes both ways, just in different ways. My definition of gossip is saying things and talking about a person in a way that you would not if they were standing right next to you listening. Gossip can be very destructive and it rarely builds people up if at all. Mean Girls is a popular teen movie that pretty much every female on the planet has watched several times or have at least heard of it and its quotes. This movie explains how the girl world works and its influence from gossip. In the movie, the major conflict revolves around the Burn Book. This is a book that the three main "mean girls" Gretchen, Karen, and the leader Regina George have gossiped in for the past few years. They would rip pictures out of their yearbook, glue them in the Burn Book, and then write mean comments under them. Some of these comments are "She made out with a hot dog" or "He's too gay to function". Obviously, very degrading and rude comments that no one was suppose to ever read. When the Burn Book is printed, and every girl in the junior class reads it, the girls go crazy. It turns from the girl world to "animal world". The comments create mass chaos and break out fights between all of the girls and even some of the teachers. This is an extreme case in which gossip was destructive, but even little cases of gossip are still effective. Another thing about gossip is that it is usually not completely true. Most of it is exaggerated and also combined with rumors. These little white lies tied in with personal information can cause more damage than you could imagine. You never know how your words will affect others to use them wisely. If you are not a hundred percent sure it is true information, or if it is not your information to tell, do not share it at all.