There are people among us that live from Saturday to Saturday, not because it is a day void of work and open to possibilities, but because it is the day their Us Weekly arrives in the mail. The celeb-obsessed reader eagerly anticipates the latest issue of the glossy magazine, each one teeming with the latest news, rumors and pictures of celebrities. The cover of the magazine only whets the reader’s appetite with its bright-colored headlines that exercise a full range of punctuation: Jessica and John Mayer — Together! Lindsay: Working Too Hard?
But isn’t gossip, well, wrong? Surely, everyone been chided by a (presumably) morally-superior elder not to be a gossip through proverbs that forewarn about the perils of chatter, like “loose lips sink ships.” In accordance with our childhood teachings, a desire for merely keeping up with the latest hearsay often casts the person in a negative light; it is practically undeniable that a businessman reading The New York Times’ business section and a businessman reading The New York Post’s Page Six would be evaluated in a radically different manner. When it comes to gossip, whether you’re sharing the talk of town or just listening attentively, we’ve been taught that those who indulge are less deserving of seriousness and respect. Yet the gap between reporters and gossipers, as well as that between“hard news” and celebrity scoops, is actually not as vast as preached.
Nowadays, everyone seems to want to speculate and discuss the inner workings and personal lives of movie stars and politicians in a variety of venues, from the watercooler to the newspaper. Before writing off all gossipers as morally lax chatters who can’t keep a secret and can’t be taken seriously, perhaps we should first shine a light on those who are spreading the rumors.
Much of the gossip we read about quotes “a source” close to the person of interest. You know, that ambiguously gendered floating voice of a person who goes around and spills information they shouldn’t be sharing, like the explanation for the latest bump on Sean Preston’s head due to Britney Spears’ poor parenting skills. My personal fascination for the Source is due to the sheer number of people the Source could actually be. Maybe it was the milkman who saw Sean Preston’s downward trajectory from his high chair. It’d be even juicier, however, if the Source behind Britney’s baby drama was Kevin Federline, eager to shine as a father amidst the errors of his blundering wife. Similarly, exactly who are those sources from the White House that CNN and NBC are always quoting? A politician with a proclivity to prattling? A chef who dishes out more than five-star meals? Surely, these sources get on all the nerves of notables everywhere: it is the pesky mole in the system that cannot be pinned down. Yet some of the best sources have forgone their anonymity, willingly or otherwise, to become the most notorious gossipers of all times.
Despite their dissimilar topics of conversation, political and entertainment gossip heavyweights are really in the same game. In one corner, we have the ever-chatty celebrity expert, gossip columnist Liz Smith, and in the other, the man formerly known as Deep Throat, former FBI agent W. Mark Felt. Although Deep Throat’s fame comes from leaking break-ins that were occurring in the Nixon administration, and Liz’s notoriety stems from leaking break-ups like Trump and Ivana’s, both have been rewarded for their sleuthing, Felt (indirectly) by being the most speculated-about source in U.S. history, and Smith, officially, with a Pulitzer for reporting in 1995.
Of course, in some situations, silence is golden. Although celebrity columnists might be scorned for broadcasting Peter Cook’s affair, which ended his marriage with Christie Brinkley, political figures have also shared equally damaging information. While the intimate details surrounding Brad and Jennifer’s divorce might be emotionally devastating to the couple, the outing of Valerie Plame as an FBI agent not only ended her career, it also put her life in danger. The best gossipers are not the ones talking about certain topics, but the ones who know what to share and what to withhold.
The rise of the Internet has brought with it a new method to dish and discuss. In this blog-friendly world, everyone can become a source, or at least, a writer’s best friend. Perhaps it is caused by the informal, journal-like format of blogs, but even political blogs from award-winning publications are beginning to sound more like traditional gossip columns. A recent post on Time.com’s blog “Dish of the Day” reads: “Only a decade ago, the Republican senator was very chummy with the macaca-free Council of Conservative Citizens. Uh-oh.” The entry, with its catchy, colloquial style, could easily pass for a post from the ever-popular celebrity news blog “Pink is the New Blog.” The problem with turning up one’s nose at gossipers is that it’s increasingly difficult to draw a line between gossip and news.
Social critics might be all too ready to interpret the rapid growth of celebrity weeklies as a decline of the intellectual level of the United States. After all, respected publications like The New York Times, notorious for its preference of hard news over gossip columns, have literally trimmed down, making room for eye-friendly smaller lifestyle magazines and special sections that are now incorporated in various editions. Although still far from the “We hear…” tidbits prevalent in many publications, The New York Times’ slight shift towards mainstream entertainment and pop-culture news is nevertheless noteworthy, as it might bring forth a larger readership for the paper.
Smith has mentioned the irony of her title of America’s Most Beloved Gossip Columnist: “Isn’t that an oxymoron?” Not really, because we Americans simply love our gossip, even if its means less privacy for ourselves. No matter what the subject matter is, filling our gossip quota keeps us not only up-to-date, but sharing it with others allows us to stay one step ahead of the rest.
And if the proliferation of gossipers and the blurred line between hard news and the rumor mill is indeed an indication of society’s downward spiral, perhaps we should just follow the actions of decadents such as Oscar Wilde and enjoy this degeneration to the utmost. The best way to do so? Embrace the gossip. After all, in the words of the Grand Dame herself, “a lot of today’s gossip just might be tomorrow’s headline.”
Carrie Bodner is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at cjb56@cornell.edu [1]. In My (Kate Spade) Shoes ususally appears alternate Mondays.
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[1] mailto:cjb56@cornell.edu