Firstly, this is a fantastic article and separately I clicked the link and read your article mentioned above (Your Words Can Do More Harm Than You Realize) and I think that is amazing as well.

I am currently reading a book called The Social Leap by William Von Hippel and he posits that gossip is the social currency by which we buy status within our communities. So, to be less abstract, when we act in a way that we are proud of it is because we have added value to our “tribe” or group and as a reward, the group will spread good words about our deeds. On the other hand, when we behave in a shameful or dishonorable way the group will spread gossip as a way of ostracizing us from the rest of the tribe which is very painful for us humans. This serves to enforce the notion that this type of behavior shouldn’t be repeated.

Now, this system works pretty well if everyone follows the rules. But, you and I know that people tend to bend the rules to suit their needs. People will do this when it seems beneficial to blow something out of proportion, twist someone's words, or straight up lie about something a person said or did.

Gossip is the result of humans trying to influence other humans for or against certain other humans. If we could never lie or deceive gossip would serve our communities well, but as we can cheat the system gossip generally ends up causing pain and unnecessary reputation ruining.

I think you’re right in that we need to start holding ourselves and others more accountable for the words we speak and the words we let others speak to us when talking about someone else.