Gossip is good for the individual, but bad for society
Summary
A straphanger who just spent three years writing a novel about gossip drops a provocative take: gossiping feels good but it's terrible for you and society. She's a psychologist by training and argues that while research shows gossip releases dopamine and forges bonds, those benefits are hollow. Pleasure from talking about other people? That makes you an asshole at best, a sociopath at worst. Kareem is intrigued. The conversation veers into Freud's rehabilitation, how neuroscientists now validate talk therapy by showing it creates new neural pathways, and the fact that Oedipal theory was never meant to be literal. It's about pheromones, apparently. The rider admits her novel is based on real people. Friends, family, ex-lovers. Kareem calls her out: she's a gossip herself. Guilty as charged. One final nugget: don't have a vendetta unless you're Italian, or it's cultural appropriation.
Full Transcript
So what's your take? Gossip is good for the individual but bad for society? 100%. Well, let me think about it. Good. Can I extrapolate? Yes. So I just spent three years writing a whole novel about this—about gossip. So psychologist, I'm also a psychologist by training. They found benefits of gossiping for individuals.
Oh, literally? Yeah, they've done science. Like Freud, they've done—re boys, go! Let's go. So gossiping releases dopamine, which is the pleasure. That's bad. So does Instagram, right? So my take is, pleasure—if you're getting pleasure from talking about other people, you're at best an—and at worst a sociopath.
Yes, that's a clinical assessment. They say it also forges bonds. Yeah, because it's like, "Oh, I got to tell you a secret about—" Exactly. They bond over denigrating other people, right? But it's bad for society. It's an unhealthy habit. It's an unhealthy habit. It's not good for them. It's actually bad for them. It's like going on TikTok and scrolling for 500 hours. In terms of getting people off, yes. But you're just saying it feels good.
Feels good. But it's not good socially. It's not good. I think a psychologist are foolish, other than Freud.
Well, so sorry I didn't mean to offend you. No, no, no. I'm not offended at all. So in fact, Freud, who's been like denigrated for like a century, is now getting like a second win because neuroscientists are finding that talk therapy actually creates new neural pathways. So therapy's good.
Therapy's good. Talk—saying Freud is bad. Who was saying Freud is bad? Oh, everybody. For the longest time, pop culture was like really getting off on—because the whole that's like, "Oh, you, you want to your mom," which is also not literal.
It wasn't literal. You don't actually want— No, never literally. But you kind of want to—someone like your mom. You are attracted to somebody who admits similar pheromones.
How hard was it to write a book? Actually, it was easy because I wrote about friends and family and ex-lovers, so it came naturally. This, so everyone's based on real people.
Y—my boy. My boy is gossiping. My boy is a gossip. Guilty. Guilty. Damn.
You got anything else to say? You shouldn't have a vendetta unless you're Italian because it's cultural appropriation.