Idol Gossip

In Chapter Two of Convergence Culture Jenkins dedicates a section to "How gossip fuels convergence" in his goal of critiquing "How we are being sold on reality television." Most interestingly Jenkins cites the new wave of understanding by the feminist front on the topic of gossip. Gossip has been reanalyzed and "reappraised." Gossip is not just idle talk anymore, but can be understood in a different light of appreciation and value. Jenkins refers to a writing on the topic by Deborah Jones in 1980. Gossip has always been, for women, a natural coping device, a normality-reinforcing part of life. Jenkins concludes that gossip is "A way of talking about yourself through critiquing the actions and values of others." People innately share information and deliberate with each other. The bigger the pond, the bigger the fish. Cyberspace takes the social circles of gossip to their max potential. In Chapter two of Critical Foundations of Rhetoric, we learn that rhetorical imperatives are determined by the socieity and its values: "Social and cultural values and traditions also must be understood as they pertain to a speaking situation." Language is culture, so a "cultural convergence" is a language convergence, we are just analyzing the different forms that language is able to adopt and lead our lives. This blog, my Facebook account, my friends' email and myspace, they are all gossip portals.