LEV498 The law that states, "Do not go about as a talebearer among your people" [this verse, emphasis added] seems to be directed only toward Jews; in other words, don't bear tales or speak negatively and unfairly about your fellow Jews. In legal works on lashon hara, it is generally assumed that we are forbidden to speak lashon hara only of fellow Jews. In a democracy like United States, however, Jews have full equality, and are regarded, both by themselves and by non-Jews, as part of the American people. Therefore the laws prohibiting lashon hara should apply as well to the non-Jews among whom we live (unlike, for example, medieval Europe or Jews living under Roman occupation). In short, American Jews, as Americans and Jews, belong to two people, and have obligations to both.