Strange Siting

I had a dream about a week ago, in which I saw a rather large tabby cat. I told my friend, who told her sister that I saw a big cat. The sister, in turn, told all of her friends that I saw a cougar, a puma, a mountain lion ... and so on. Somebody then heard that I saw a real lion and called animal control, which brought in a team of experts to "handle the situation." They took me in for questioning and asked, "Ma'am, I hear that you saw a lion. Can you describe his whereabouts?"
"Uh," I said, "I didn't see a lion; only an unusually large tabby."
Then I wok up.
That dream, I think, was speaking about the power of language and its (language's) influence over people's thought and beliefs. This first came to my attention when I followed the debates and has continued ever since: the language thing, not the dreams. People blow everything out of proportion when it comes to rumors, because gossip has proven itself worthwhile.
What is it that does this to us, to be informants--always on the "D-L" than anything else? I like information just as anyone else, but where is the line drawn between the good and the destructive?


Becca