Understanding Misunderstandings

As I have been reading the selections as of late, I have been reflecting on the amount of misunderstandings in literature and movies that we never seem to tire of. Everywhere there are people barely speaking and barely listening, except to gossip, and the miscommunications seem to continue to pile up.  If we look at Darcy and Lizzie and Mr. Bingley and Jane, how many chapters could have been skipped if they just listened to each other and drowned out the rest.  However, would the story have been the least bit interesting to us?  Now we read about the Spring Fragrances and are on the edge of our seats wondering if there is enough love between them to have faith in the other or if Jade will come home to an empty house.  That I think is the point, I am wondering if as a society we have not worn each other down to the point of complete mistrust with the acidic gossip we constantly hear and share.  If we hear the spouse/partner might have cheated they are guilty until proven innocent,  until they can prove, under our acerbic tongues and gazes that they are innocent, but there is damage done at that point.  There is much trust lost in that supposed trust gained and we can see that pattern stretching all the way back to Austen's time.  The most horrible example is in old Woman Magoun who allows her daughter to die to avoid the rumor mill and bring shame upon her.  Shame?  What is more shame than murder?  I am not claiming that everyone partakes of the ritual of gossip or believes all that they here, but we do for the most part LIKE to hear it and I think that is the problem.  When we hear about someone else's trouble we feel good about ourselves and our situations and  I just wonder what that says about us as a society.  Are we really so far gone that we need that little "elixir of hope" to show us that someone else is even more screwed up than we are.  Troubling.