Published: April 28, 2009 06:46 pm      

GESENHUES: The rumor mill

Anyone remember the Denzel rumor that floated through our Southern Indiana area a few years back? Word on Scottsville Road was that Denzel Washington (yes, that Denzel) was moving to Floyds Knobs. Nobody knew exactly when he would arrive or where he was going to stay once he got here, but nearly everyone knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who knew all about it.

I first heard about Denzel joining our town during one of my regular Sunday dinners at Grandma’s house. My cousin, who worked part-time serving soft-serve ice cream claimed that she worked with a girl whose uncle worked with a builder who worked with a contractor who had talked to Denzel and that he was on his way. “He’s going to live here while he films a movie about the Carrollton County bus crash,” she told us.

We laughed. We made jokes about whether or not he would go to Sammy O’s or if anybody would recognize him buying DVDs at Target. And like most stories that circulate around the table over my grandmother’s cream corn and cucumber salad, we blew if off. But then the next Sunday came along and a few of us had heard the story outside of our Sunday dinner gathering from different people. By the third Sunday, the stories were rampant. The rumor was spreading across the Knobs like a strawberry vine run wild.

One story had him and his children behind closed doors at Floyd Central High School meeting with their administration. Another story had him gassing up a green hummer at the Sav-a-Step at the top of the Knobs. My favorite story was from someone who had talked to one of the local clergymen at the produce section in the New Albany Kroger who claimed he knew for certain that Denzel Washington would be moving to Floyds Knobs, Indiana soon. You have to believe a priest, right?

The rumor was harmless and made for lively Sunday dinner conversation topic even though it never came to be. In the end, after the buzz had died down, I got an email from a man who claimed to be the original contractor who had a role in the beginning of the Guess Who’s Coming to Floyds Knobs story.

The contractor told me in an email that it was his niece who had started the rumor after she heard that he had taken a meeting with a non-celebrity-someone from Hollywood who was looking around for a possible temporary living space. They did have a connection to Denzel Washington, but his moving to the Knobs was never a sure thing. The rumor had come full circle and the truth was that there was not going to be any actual Denzel sightings any time soon.

The interesting thing is how defiant some people were about what they knew. I talked to old high school buddies who assured me that Denzel was coming to town; they absolutely, one-hundred-percent KNEW it to be true. A check out attendant at the local grocery confirmed she had sold milk and eggs to Denzel’s wife. My doctor’s office had more than one nurse who had passed him on the road while driving to work.

The Denzel rumor was safe and fun and no damage was done in believing or spreading the idea that we could end up with a living, breathing, Oscar-winning celebrity in our midst. But not all rumors are as harmless.

When a rumor whips through the collective consciousness, it gains momentum and power and can easily influence the masses. It takes very little for a rumor to move from false to true. Consider the power a rumor has when it is broadcast on a national news channel. Millions of people hear a sound byte that turns into a thought that eventually manifests into an action and boom: the rumor is no longer just a rumor.

I imagine the only way to be safe is to safeguard yourself from what you read and see and hear. Don’t believe something to be true just because the news channel anchor with the high-ratings (or, dare I say, your clergyman) claims it to be real.

Unless, of course, you hear Denzel is moving here, then send me an email right away!



Amy Gesenhues is a freelance writer in Floyd County, Indiana. You can read her daily commentaries at www.AmyWroteIt.Wordpress.com or email her at amy@amywroteit.com.