Rumors: A Necessary Evil

Jane Dutine had been happily married to Stephen Dutinefor fifteen years. With three beautiful daughters and one son, the Dutine family stood out from the crowd as an enviable model family in which virtues such as love, respect trust, and honesty were jealously guarded.

Not all that glitters is gold. No one ever imagined that this seemingly happy couple ever had some hidden skeletons in their cupboard that rumor would one time expose to the public.

Mr. Stephen Dutine was and may probably still is seasoned womanizer who could not (or probably cannot) let any woman cross his way without making any passes at her.

Interestingly, whenever he conducted his clandestine activity, Stephen often made sure that he left no trace for anyone to either suspect or catch him red handed.

Not even his wife Jane ever imagined that the only man in her life would ever betray her trust and matrimonial vows to shamelessly sleep around with other multiple partners until that devastating day when she got him red-handed with another woman in some Hotel room after a tip off by her close friend.

“I trusted Stephen so much that I even brushed off all the rumors that were being spread about his promiscuous activity. I should have listened to the people’s voice,” regrets Jane.

In other words, Jane’s only regret is that she dispelled several rumors that were being leveled against her beloved husband as a deluxe womanizer and pretended that all was well.

After all, according to her, those were simply rumors which could not independently be verified and proved.

But, at what stage should a rumor be taken as gospel truth?

We all know that every rumor stems from an unverified account or explanation of events circulating from person to person pertaining to an object, event, or issue in public concern .Although other schools of thought look at it as a subset of propaganda, another notoriously difficult concept to define.

Whatever the doubts there are ,that have been cast regarding the truth in accepting rumor as one source of accurate and reliable information, the fact of the matter still remains that rumor has been proved as a useful source of clues that can provide very important information

Mr. James Owen, a Police Officer who works with the criminal Investigations Department in North Carolina admits that rumor plays a crucial role in combating certain forms of crime.