A Nation of Gossips

Isn't there a good book somewhere that condemns gossiping?

We've become a nation of rumor mongers, gossip hounds and leakers. Everywhere you turn, somebody's telling somebody something about somebody else.

In addition to those who spill the beans about their own lives, there's an entire army of self-appointed gossip correspondents who flood the Internet and the e-boxes of the celebrity magazines if they come within 10 yards of a scandal-rific pop culture figure.

Link.

On the bright side: According to one source, black barbers keep their conversations quiet. Link. Excerpts:

From slavery days through emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights movement and after, barbers have been the keepers of community secrets, guideposts to freedom, enforcers of dignity, overcomers of injustice, social arbiters, history teachers and all-round great gossips.

"Barbershops have always been social gathering places," says Marberry. "One reason, after slavery [Southern] barbershops were among the few places blacks could legally congregate."