What Are Rumors And How Can They Be Dangerous?

What are rumors? We have all heard some and we have most likely helped to spread ill-chosen words. In some more traditional and conservative contexts, they shook entire families. Today, they circulate differently because the ways we share information have changed.

In fact, rumors have a huge potential to get things going, whether socially or personally. We do not like to be the subject of one, because they usually do not have good intentions. They are in a way disguised messages.

What are rumors?

Usually,  rumors are verbal messages. The paradox is that even though there is no evidence to back up a rumor, it seems more and more true the more people share it. They follow the law that the more you repeat something, the more people will believe it.

The source of the rumor is usually not easy to identify,  especially since the message changes the more it is spread. The whispering game causes the rumor to turn into something that has little in common with the original message.

At first, it is usually not a concise message, but more a suspicion or a doubt in a person. “I heard they’ll start firing people,” “Anna did not come to work and she has been sad all week. I think she’s depressed.

A rumor pattern

However, your brain prefers certainty over hypotheses. So what was initially a hypothesis eventually turns into almost a dogma. To complete the description of the rumors, we would like to say that they follow certain clear patterns:

• Secret: The source is unknown. It is also a proven phenomenon that people usually forget the source before they forget the content of the message.

• Security:  We do not question rumors because of the mental effort it takes. Nor does anyone like to question a person who assures that the information they present is true.
• Curiosity: The  rumor triggers our curiosity, either because it is about us in some way or because it is a scandalous subject.
• Speed:  Its ability to spread and multiply is unstoppable.
• Proximity:  It is transmitted through conditions.
• Change: The  rumor works like a tree. New rumors branch out to fill in the gaps of the original rumor.

Another characteristic of rumors is that  they have a tendency to go viral. Each recipient is at the same time a possible communicator of the information. The recipient often adds his own opinion. Their manner and tone of voice when they convey the rumor changes it further.

How can we stop rumors?

The answer is as simple as it is impossible: to prevent people from communicating. A more realistic answer is just as difficult, even if it is easier than the first, and that is  that we must be critical of the information we receive.

We must ask ourselves whether the source is reliable. Ask (if possible) the person you heard from if he or she also trusts the information or the mediator of it. We should also ask ourselves whether someone is profiting from a rumor, and furthermore whether it is precisely this person who started the rumor.

One rumor that one should be especially careful about is that minorities or groups are in principle incapable of defending themselves. That is why it is said that “History is always told by the winners”. The first penalty is for the defeated to accept the winner’s version of the story. Think of the dictatorships that devastated Europe during the first half of the 20th century.

We do not have to make a trip with a time machine. Even today, we can see that  many stereotypes about marginalized groups are systematically reinforced by rumors. Rumors of the highest degree of prejudice and discrimination.