Posted by:
Cheryl
(
)
Date: February 21, 2011 09:26AM
Yesterday, Nina posted about being assigned as a VTer to look for signs of of coffee, tea and such in a sister's home and was told to report back as it would mean the family might not be receiving help they had requested. The worst part is that RP told Nina to riffle around in the bathroom looking for birth control prescriptions or devices.
This is morgbot tattling at its worst because it's done through official channels and has serious consequences.
Sometimes idle gossip also filters its way into PEC and RS board meetings. It ruins reputations and undermines a family's credibility. But at least it isn't set up officially like the KGB operations Nina and others described in my tattling thread yesterday.
The intent behind tattling is to build esteem in the perpetrator and to "help" the victim learn lessons by causing them grief.
The intent behind gossip is similar because is builds esteem in those who indulge, but it usually isn't as organized or targeted.
Tattling reflects the social develoment of an early elmentary child. Tattlers haven't learned to depend on themselves for validation or to reach out in healthy ways to peers. They're stunted. They blindly depend on parental or authority figures for social acceptance and esteem.
I see obsessive gossipers as a little more mature. They're bonding more with peers than the tattlers but they're doing it at an preteen or teen level.
Anyone else notice the tattletale and gossip patterns in the morg, the only church I know where such things are assigned or are covered as agenda items in official meetings and interviews.