Power of Rumor

How many of you believed that the world is going to end by 2012? How many thought that 2012 movie is a true story? Are these rumors or are these real stories? Did we land in moon? Did September 2001 an internal act of American intelligence? Dear toastmasters and guests? Have you ever been prey to some or the other rumor? In 2000, popular magazine in Mangalore reported about end of the world and provided all possible logical (it seemed though) reasons for that. However, world remained intact and safe, while the reporter was arrested. This one is a nice story from the album of Jataka Kathaye/ Tales. Once upon a time, in the direction of the rising sun that illuminates the mountain peaks with reddish glow of dawn, there was a wonderful forest. Trees: The forest was very dense with trees like mango, (wood apple), teak, rosewood, jakaranda, tamarind, banians, ficus, bamboo, kapok, sandalwood and various other trees in great many numbers. Flowers: There were myriads of flowers like Jasmine, rose, lilies, orchids and many other kinds. Also, there were many fruit bearing trees like Jack fruit, mangoes, plaintains, areca, coconut and many others. The forest was filled with abundant fruits and emblazoned with flowers. Animals: Deep in the forest lived many wild animals. Wild boar, wild buffalo, bison, bears, tigers, leopards, spotted deer, elephants, wolves, jackals, rabbits, wild cats, monkeys and snakes inhabited the forest. Tigresses and lionesses roamed the forest with their cubs. Birds: Birds like parrots, cuckoos, peacocks, pigeons, wild hens, kites, eagles, vultures, swans, ducks, and geese imparted great beauty to the forest. Water: From these mountain peaks, arose many streams filled with pure water and merged in the holy rivers flowing into the ocean. Amidst the mountains, in the forest, one day, a hare was resting under a banyan tree. Who was resting under a banyan tree? He had an intuition of doom and thought, “What would happen to me, if the earth will break? “. Suddenly, he heard a weird striking sound. He said, “It’s happening, the earth is breaking up”. He jumped up and ran madly without even observing the direction. When he was running through the forest, a hare saw him and asked, “What happened? Where are you going in such a hurry? “. The Hare cried,” The earth is breaking up. You better run too”. The second hare ran so fast that he overtook the first hare. As they were passing the forest, both of them shouted to other hares, “The earth is breaking up. The earth is breaking up”. Very soon, thousands of hares were running through the forest. On seeing hares running through the forest, the other animals too got frightened. The news spread from mouth to mouth and soon, everyone came to know that the earth was breaking up. It didn’t take much time before all the animals joined the race. All creatures whether reptiles or birds, insects or four-footed animals, everyone was trying to escape and their cries of fear created chaos all around. A lion standing on a hill saw all the animals running and thought,” “What is the matter?’’ “. He ran down the hill rapidly and positioned himself in front of the crowd. He shouted at them, “Stop! Stop! ”. The powerful presence of the lion curtailed the rising wave of fright among the animals. A parrot yelled, “The earth is breaking up”, alighting on a rock near him. The Lion asked,” Who said it? “. The parrot replied, “I heard it from the monkeys". When the monkeys were asked, they replied that they had heard it from the tigers. When the tigers were asked, it was found that they were informed by the elephants. The elephants told that the buffaloes formed their source. Finally, when the hares were caught up, they pointed one to another until the one, who started the menace was recognized. The Lion asked the hare, “What made you think that the earth is breaking up?” The hare wavering in fear answered, “Your Majesty, I heard it cracking with my own ears”. The Lion investigated the matter and explored the sound that the hare had heard. Ultimately, he came to know that the sound had been caused by a large coconut falling from a tree. The coconut fell on a pile of rocks causing a minor landslide. The Lion said to all the animals, “Go back to your homes. The earth is absolutely safe. Next time onwards, check a rumor before acting on it”. The animals, which were now looking quite stupid, went back to their homes. Rumors or “word of mouth” can carry positive information or negative. Unfortunately, people seem preconditioned to share negative aspects of their experiences. Scientists have argued that gossip is an important tool for social cohesion and information transmission, allowing us to function more effectively in an ever-larger society. Moreover, it’s an important tool for affective learning: it can give us a sense of who would make a good ally—or who we should avoid—even in the absence of direct contact. But can gossip influence our minds on a more profound level? Recent findings presented that yes, it can. Gossip, it turns out, can influence something as fundamental as visual processing – especially if that gossip is negative. Rumor is good at times, because you get to learn a lot about yourself that you aren’t aware about yourself. An idle tongue is the mother of all conflicts. A rumor is usually a lie that the media can legally profit from. By the way don’t tell anyone I just heard that ______ is going to buy a Harley Davidson.