Seeker

It's worried me that one of the most read posts of the last year on this blog is 5 Ways to destroy someone's reputation . Have I encouraged lots of people who wanted to do just that - destroy someone else's reputation? If so, that saddens me, particularly as on-line bullying can be a life-threatening phenomenon. Encouraging verbally destructive behaviour wasn't the point of the post. The point was to say how easy it is to destroy someone's reputation unthinkingly or unintentionally through unfounded rumours or distorted facts. These words from the New Testament never cease to be relevant: "the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest fire is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire!"  James 3: 5 - 6 I intended to follow up '5 ways to destroy someone's reputation' with a further post on 5 ways to build or enhance someone's reputation, but I never did, in spite of receiving a few help...

A post about public reputation on iBenedictine's blog yesterday got me thinking about how easily someone's good name may be destroyed by unfounded rumours or distorted facts.  Here's 5 ways to destroy someone's reputation: Believe what you're told without questioning who's saying it, why and on what evidence. Pass on what you've heard 'in confidence' to a few people. Add a few thoughts from your own ignorance, prejudices, jealousies etc. Use social media to pass on rumours or allegations: tweet, retweet, post on Facebook, blog etc. Do nothing to challenge what others are saying when you know the truth is being distorted. Easy isn't it? It's always been easy, but with today's communication systems the damage can happen quicker and affect more people. Public figures are particularly vulnerable. I am certainly not saying that people in the public eye should not be accountable for their words and actions. They s...