Mind and Rumors

Rumors are dark, hurtful, mischievous things that are spread to cause destruction. Rumors have been around since the beginning of time, and are stronger now more than ever. Rumors are whispered, as if to indicate that they will not spread. Rumors are shouted, printed, posted, and broadcasted. Rumors are lies and those whom associate with rumors are bad people, or are they? Rumors are not always bad, and they don’t always turn out to be lies. There are many unknown things about rumors, like how and why are they really created? DiFonzo defines a rumor as “…unverified information statements that circulate about topics that people perceive as important; arise in situations of ambiguity, threat, or potential threat; and are used by people attempting to make sense or to manage risk” (375). A rumor starts out as an important thought in one persons mind. A thought that is kept to oneself merely stays a thought and never develops into a rumor. But, a thought that is just important enough to share with someone else morphs into a rumor. Rumors are not always intentional lies. They do however start out as unverified information. If a rumor is verified it is no longer a rumor, it then becomes factual information. The information that is passed from one person to many people is thought to be of importance. Whether the rumor pertains to something local, nationwide, global, social, political, public, or private it contains information that is substantial and has the possibility to be life changing. A rumor is targeted to a certain group of people. The spread of the rumor depends on the number of people who perceive the information as important. The group can range from a few people to the majority of the world. A rumor of “Bob cheated on Mary with Susan” would certainly be very important to a small number of people and could devastate their lives. On the other side of the spectrum a rumor that “An asteroid five times the size of Saturn is headed toward earth and total death

Cited: DiFonzo, Nicholas. “How Rumors Help Us Make Sense Of An Uncertain World.” Writing And Reading Across The Curriculum. 12th ed. Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston: Pearson, 2008. 375-386. Print. Knapp, Robert H. “A Psychology Of Rumor.” Writing And Reading Across The Curriculum. 12th ed. Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston: Pearson, 2008. 360-362. Print. Sunstein, Cass R. “Rumor Cascades And Group Polarization.” Writing And Reading Across The Curriculum. 12th ed. Ed. Laurence Behrens/Leonard J. Rosen. New Jersey: Pearson, 2008. 388-396. Print.