05.03.12 The 10th Sign of a Negative-Gossip Conversation

10. Attraction of Wrongdoers

When a conversation goes viral amongst wrongdoers, non-performers, laissez-faire or redundant cadre in the workplace, there is a very high likelihood that the popular gossip is ‘negative’. Such people tend to have an insatiable appetite for negative gossip; as their ears are always itching for destructive or dirty (and commonly false) rumours about victims.

We see that happening on Aaron’s call, the day people wanted to rebel against God in the desert through engaging in idol worship. As elaborated in the ‘feature-stories’ section of this book, and mentioned in several other places, the children of Israel confronted Aaron with a rumour insinuating that Moses may never return. That conversation was so attractive that it enticed Aaron to give-in to the demonic persuasions of the crowd cum wrongdoers in the camp (Exodus 32:1-6).

In the case of JuaLink, we see that Lulu and her gossip-infested prayer partners were a perfect example of how negative gossip could attract wrongdoers, given that the team would be delighted whenever the latest hot and toxic chatter appeared on the horizon. For instance, they were ‘turned on’ by the ‘news’ that Faraja had aborted a chain of unwanted pregnancies with barrenness as a result. Little wonder that when Neema checked Lulu’s crowd out, not only were most members poor performers; but also in their supervisors’ bad books.