MYOB - When do we draw the line?

People say, it's best not to poke your noses into others' business. Read: Mind your own business, or MYOB. In Singapore terms, it simply means not to be a kaypoh because others may not like it.

It is only natural for human beings to want to know more about what is going on around them, especially when it involves the people they know or care about. Take the school or workplace, for example. It may be a piece of juicy news (scandal, perhaps) or even a bit of information on a devastating event in someone's life. News spread fast, as observation of others' speech and actions eventually lead observers to make their own analysis and inferences, assuming that the subject did not give them a full account of their behaviour and actions. Humans just need to know about what is going on, even if it doesn't concern them at all.

And why does it (people's own inferences) spread? Well... the stimulation of discussion between and among individuals help to bond them together, maybe? There's also the need to hear what others' opinions may be, and to contribute their own to the story.

Of course, humans' need to know is subjective. People may be purely ignorant on current affairs of the country or world, and not bother to find out, out of sheer laziness (or bochup-ness). One explanation for this may be that such events are always happening, always changing, and it does not affect people's life directly. i.e. they are taking place far from home, where people cannot imagine themselves in those situations, or they simply cannot be bothered.

News is always jucier if you have to or happen to find out about them and draw your own conclusions. As mentioned above, this is usually discussed with other beings. When do we draw the line, though? When does such knowledge become gossip, and eventually, betrayal of friendship? Something may be entrusted to someone but that someone just HAS to share it, to hear another person's opinion with regards to that matter. Is there such a thing as knowing to much?

SHeesh, I wanna do up an essay with lots and lots of rhetorical questions (the exact thing my GP teacher said to avoid) but I'm just typing whatever comes to my mind, which is not the least bit coherent! AND my laptop battery is running low, it's gonna blow soon.