removing Linux packages and dependencies

[7D8]

Ok, so I was going to do some cleanup in Debian, and I'm looking at this software called Ekiga that allows you to do vid conferencing. I don't want it and want to remove it, so I opened Terminal and wrote:

sudo aptitude show ekiga

and this showed me all the information related, including that it is installed, etc.

So then I wrote

sudo aptitude purge ekiga

to remove it, and I get the following:

The following packages will be REMOVED:  
  ekiga{p} 
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 18.8 MB will be freed.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  gnome-desktop-environment: Depends: ekiga (>= 3.2.6) but it is not going to be installed.
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

     Remove the following packages:
1)     gnome                       
2)     gnome-desktop-environment   



Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?]

So this is telling me "The following packages have unmet dependencies" and it lists gnome, and then says that I can fix these Dependencies if I remove Gnome. Isn't that like saying that I can fix scratch on my car by removing all of the paint?

QUESTION: how do I know if I can remove this package from the OS and not effect the OS?