Thought Poison: A Negative Conversation About People

Gossip is negative conversation about people, and the victim of thought poison begins to think he enjoys it. Gossiping goes something like this: I just heard that Benjamin Franklin's personal life had no bearing on the discussion at hand. Talk about people? Yes, but stay on the positive side. Not all conversation is gossip. Some conversation is healthy. It makes you feel like you're taking a walk in the warm sunshine of a spring day. But other conversation is more like walking through a poisonous radioactive cloud. It chokes you. It turns you into a loser.