OUR VIEW: Juicy and faceless book

If you haven’t heard of it yet, it won’t be long till you do. With the catch phrase “Always anonymous, always juicy,” a new breed of Web site is making the rounds and raising hackles on college campuses. Some officials at some colleges, according to an Associated Press article on juicycampus.com, are looking to ban the message board that makes it a mission to spread insulting gossip. By doing so, of course, those same campuses are ensuring that the Web site started by a Duke grad will gain in popularity and, like the social networking site Facebook, which early on was available only to Ivy League students, spread to the greater population, including high schools and middle schools. In fact, much of the content of juicycampus.com already seems to be coming from middle school minds.
Spreading gossip is, of course, an activity unbecoming of anyone, even middle school students. Adults, especially those adults with parents paying good money for an education, should shun juicycampus.com. But they won’t. And why should they? The other, older and arguably more mature adults they know don’t. Human beings love a good gossip session, whether it be about one of the Spears siblings, the sophomore in the dorm room next door or a Republican presidential hopeful. None of the facts need be confirmed, especially if they are placed on outlets such as juicygossip.com, In Touch Magazine or the New York Times.