Dishing... I don't get it

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If I knew you, I would support you.

I used to be really bad at joining in conversations that involved talking bad about somebody else, or agreeing with someone about another person (if they were being negative) - even if that other person had been a friend for years.
I always try to do the opposite now, or I just stay out of the conversation. Sometimes though if someone makes me mad I have a hard time not getting annoyed or irritated or venting about them with someone else who is doing them same... but I try to point out their positive aspects.

I think talking about other people is pointless and creates a negative energy around you, and them.

If somebody said something bad about somebody that isn't true, I would intercede for that somebody, and relay the truth.

Rumor mongers (the 'good and bad'), crab-mentality, positive/negative envy/jealousy as a 'motivation', being superficial (the local term here is 'being plastic') and sorts of dramas... I've seen and heard them. And I'm actively dodging them.
I don't engage them, because it's pointless.

I see it as the same thing all over again, but only with different names, degrees of truth/lies, and 'flaws and faults' added/subtracted.

People enjoys bringing up scandals and controversies. Whether it's true or not, they take interest in it. It's a very common theme here, and I'm rather tired of it. From the locals to the celebrities. Simply put it that it's one of their 'source of entertainment' in socializing and media.
It's also one of their 'common ground' (but at one's expense if it turned out negative), usually for the sake of conversation. Whether people actually knows the person or not. They're so 'entertained', they don't care sometimes.

Overall, I don't get it. It's pointless. Like I said, it's just the same thing all over.

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One of the consequences of my social issues is that I find gossip (is this the same as dishing?) absolutely DISGUSTING! While I don't have the level of social skills that an NT has, I at least have the sense to realize how clearly WRONG it is for people to make entertainment of the hardships, (admittedly) poor decisions, and/or misfortunes of others.

Surely the NT sense of reciprocity (theory of the mind) should be enough to nip such actions in the bud. Yet it takes someone like me, a social 'idiot', to realize the hypocracy of the behavior. I say 'hypocracy' because anyone old enough to have experienced life surely has also gone through something that could serve as someone else's "entertainment" (i.e. gossip) material.

Cathylynn hit the nail on the head, I believe.

I should have thought of that!

I don't like dishing and I refuse to participate in it.

Is "dishing" when the person is present? or only behind their back?

I have noticed a pattern where people will do this kind of "dishing" behaviour with the target present, and in most cases, the target will contribute their own self-deprecating suggestions. Jokes are made about these otherwise insulting comments and i think it is a test for what is okay to talk about within the group. when the target has had enough, they can shift the target of the insults to someone else (the 'funniest' insult seems to be the most effective at shifting the focus of the group).

I noticed this in Australian culture. YMMV.
Maz

If all are present, and they insult each other, it's called "ranking out" or "playing the dozens."

I didn't know it was called "dishing". People around me often call it a "bitching session". I see this happen in most places, work, school etc.

When a group of people are bitching about someone (the target), what does that tell you about the target? Nothing, because it's full of exaggerations and lies. But it does tell you something about those people that are engaging in dishing: they are not nice people and they cannot be trusted.