I hate politics. There’s just something about so much legal jargon and a million loopholes through loopholes that just irritates the crap out of me. At a certain point, you really have to wonder if the order it makes is worth the chaos it generates.
Gossip is a lot like politics. When it doesn’t apply or fuck with your life you love it, even revel in it…and when it doesn’t swing your way, you find yourself wanting to chuck a Molotov cocktail at it. Like just about everyone out there, I’ve been on all sides of the gossip game, the source, the receiver, the subject, and the audience. Needless to say, being the subject is probably the worst side to be on, good or bad, since no matter how it started, it’s bound to get twisted in some way or another. And it twists, and twists and then screwballs its way through all the adjacent social circles of your life, wreaking some level of havoc while it streaks your name in its wake. Suffice to say, it gets exponentially more hurtful the closer the source is to you. Coming from an incredibly tight community, I know firsthand how badly gossip and shit-talking can end (read: 5-year feud).
After a certain point, gossip stops being just gossip and turns into an all out he-said-they-said-she-said-we-said war. It’s really entertaining for, like, the first week of it because there’s always a new tidbit to gush and laugh over. But in the weeks after that, it gets kind of annoying because it’s all that ever seems to be floating around and, like too many songs from Disney teeny-boppers, you get sick of it really fast. Part of what makes the gossip so irritating is that, even though in the back of your mind you’re aware that most of what’s floating in the air is likely crap, it makes you wonder and question things like, “Is that true? Are they for real? Would this person really do something like that?”
And you say “No” because you don’t have all the facts and you know it’s dumb to jump to conclusions without any real evidence, but the more people talk, the more you wonder, and the more you think of the possibility until you make it possible in your head that you apply it to reality. It’s a slippery slope that can really only be countered by self-confidence and/or trust in the people around you. Unfortunately, sometimes the people around you fall short of being believed in.
Trust is one of those equally touchy subjects like faith and hope, ones that are defined by what you can’t really grasp. It’s all about believing despite what you’ve already seen…or haven’t seen. It’s staying strong and true when every logical bone in your body calls you an idiot for doing so. And when you trust trusting, you feel bad, because you’ve betrayed that same trust by questioning and doubting in the first place. It’s a stupid little circle that, once again, can be completely bypassed with a fair amount of confidence in your partners and friends. But it doesn’t always work out so well when too much shit-talking floats around.
So, yeah. Politics and gossip suck.
In other news, it’s my mother’s birthday today. She’s sick and walking around looking like a red little chipmunk, but she’s still one year more adorable (and snippy) than the last. Cheers madre~
