xp_logs | Doug and Hope: The Power of Gossip

Hope and Doug talk about the power of rumors as a weapon.

"Take a feather pillow, cut it open and scatter the feathers to the wind. The man thought it was a strange task, but he did it gladly. When he returned to tell the wise man he had completed his task, the wise man said: 'Now, go and gather up the feathers. Because you can no more make amends for the damage your words have caused then you can gather up the feathers." Hope told the tale slowly. "I remember on of our teachers telling that story after an very bad rumor. I think he said it was a Jewish tale? Still, it does show the power of a well-placed rumor, true or not."

"A rumor is a weapon. Death by a thousand little cuts, every time someone passes it along. After a certain point, it doesn't matter how it started, Pandora's Box can't be closed again." Today's lesson with Hope was more of a cerebral exercise, a discussion of how to use rumor and gossip against someone. "So you have to be careful in how you use it."

"Indeed. This is one I have seen in action a lot on a smaller scale... Maybe not always deployed with the amount of thought we might use." Hope fiddled with the hem of a skirt a little. "It's kinda inevitable when you are within a group of girls or women that gossip is passed around or rumors are created. At least in my experience."

Doug chuckled. "How many of you have ever felt personally victimized by Regina George?" Sometimes he couldn't help it, the movie references were just -right there- begging to be made. ~Cons of dating me: I am a meme-loving so-and-so.~ "But yeah, that's the thing. It's very rarely deployed with any real thought. It's always out of rage and 'you hurt me so I'm going to hurt you worse'."

Hope shook her head with a big smile. "Mean Girls... why am I not surprised you can quote it? I am guessing though that something like the Burn Book is a good thing to have when you want to use this weapon."

"Having an actual Burn Book, a list that you keep, can be a two-edged sword. There's always the possibility that someone might find it and turn it against you." Doug shrugged. "Even as good as I am, there's no security that is truly impenetrable if someone is determined enough." He drummed his fingers on his desk. "Better to keep as much as you can within your own head."

"Of course, that is logical." Hope quickly volleyed back. "Especially sensitive things. So what does in your experience make the best kind of rumors?"

Doug held up a hand and ticked off items on his fingers. "The best rumors are the sort that can't be easily disproven. Something that's built around a kernel of truth. And preferably something that can't be easily traced back to you."

"From what I have seen they are also work best when they fit with our idea's about someone, that they confirm our biases. If I remembered the term right from my psychology classes at least." Hope considered thoughtfully. "Yet they still have to be shocking enough that people will want to spread them and for it to do damage. It actually where my whole concept of using vices and virtues to attack someone comes from..."

"Confirmation bias," Doug agreed. "It's very useful, especially because it tends to be stronger for more emotionally charged issues. It also means that sometimes the target will do the work for you - if you present ambiguous information, people are likely to interpret it as supporting their belief." He grinned. "The best lie, if you can pull it off, is to tell the exact truth in such a way that the other person is convinced that you're lying."

Hope raised an eyebrow at him. "Say that again, please?"

Doug grinned. "If you tell the truth, but you say it in a way that the other person -thinks- it's a lie..." He drummed his fingers on his desk. "Then you've tricked them into lying to themselves, and you can point out later that you were telling the truth. All of the result -and- all of the deniability." He shrugged and leaned back. "But it's much more difficult to accomplish."

"And it establishes a certain base of credibility to build from as well." Hope pointed out. "Though I see that means working more in a fresh situation where you do not have established much of a base of anything."

"That helps - people not having a preconceived notion of how truthful or not you are. But you can also play peoples' expectations of you to your advantage," Doug countered. "For instance, say someone is used to you always lying - tell them the truth in the exact same way you normally lie to them, and they'll expect a lie. And conversely, if you have a reputation for the truth, it makes swallowing a lie that much easier."

"You have to know how people view you to do that most effectively though." Hope pointed out. "That is one point that is hard to figure out. And which can radically vary in various groups."

"If it was easy, everyone could do it." Doug's teeth showed, a bit wolfishly.

"They do not call it an art for nothing." Hope returned his grin. "How would you handle a situation where it absolutely could not be known that you were the source of the information?"

Doug drummed his fingers on his desk. "Find a catspaw - someone who just loves gossip for its own sake, and would be willing to pass it along, even if they didn't know precisely where it came from. Give them the information - package it up and make it too good to resist."

"The packaging is the key here though. It both has to be tempting and untraceable to yourself." Hope commented. "Any examples you can tell me you have done this on a larger scale?" She leaned forward a little, curious.

"Plenty of political scandals break that way," Doug told her. "Find a likely reporter, feed them the gossip, and sit back to watch things blow up while you remain hidden behind 'sources reveal that' or 'this reporter has learned'."

"And trust on the fact that the reporter will want to protect their sources... Still it feels quite risky in some cases..." Hope's eyes twinkled a bit as she asked: "Ever had the whole tactic backfire on you? And how did you solve that?"

"Reporters want to keep their access. So keeping their source private is important. Well, as long as you find a reporter who feels that way." Doug flipped a hand back and forth. "At the end of the day, everything's a gamble to some extent. You can't know everything for sure." Much as he might like to sometimes. "Never really had to do this on that scale before, so no."

"Too bad. That would have been a tale I would have been interested in hearing." Hope grinned at him. "So which practical exercise did you come up with today, oh teacher of mine?"

Doug's eyes twinkled. "What sort of rumor would you use to attack me?" he asked with an amused note in his voice.

"It depends entirely on what my goal would be, to be honest. If I am attempting to discredit you on a professional basis I would use a different rumor then when I would be aiming for the social field." Hope smiled mischievously. "Professionally, I might try to undermine you trustworthiness by spreading rumors of illegal activities..." A fact which she knew to be true.

Doug chuckled. "A good starting point. Though people expect a bit of questionably legal tactics from the IT hacker, sometimes." He raised an eyebrow as if to ask 'what else do you have?'

"Your rather unique relationship structure would also make for some damaging fodder in certain circles. It might not hurt in the structure in the Club you have told me about, but if I had used that rumor back in Michigan, you would cut of pretty fast. Though it might be worse for the women then the man." Hope commented with a bit of a grin.

Doug raised a finger, as if a fencer acknowledging a touch. "You're coming along well, young padawan," he told her with a grin in reply.