A reflection on the essence of slander and what it says about human life. 

I want to give a shout out to the essay "Self Actualization and Society" by Rabbi Shagar (Shimon Gershon Rosenberg) z"l which appears in his book Faith Shattered and Restored: Judaism in the Postmodern Age.  That essay pointed me to some sources that I wouldn't have otherwise thought to connect with the ideas here.