:ט”ו Snake Attack

ואמר ריש לקיש מאי דכתיב אם ישוך הנחש בלא לחש ואין יתרון לבעל הלשון לעתיד לבא מתקבצות כל החיות ובאות אצל נחש ואומרות ארי דורס ואוכל זאב טורף ואוכל אתה מה הנאה יש לך אומר להם וכי מה יתרון לבעל הלשון

I have always found this allegorical discourse troublesome. From the little I know about snakes, they don’t actually attack for no reason whatsoever. They attack as a defense mechanism when they feel threatened.

But it occurred to me - perhaps that actually works into the analogy perfectly. As is often discussed regarding לשון הרע, the urge to speak לשון הרע comes from a feeling of inferiority and that one needs to share this juicy piece of information in order to get a leg up. Although a snake attacks when they feel they are under attack, that doesn’t mean it is actually the case. Very similarly, the tongue speaks לשון הרע when it is deluded to believe it would be otherwise disadvantaged.