Solomon's teachings can equally well be applied to today's online misinformation

I was reading the book of Proverbs (read here why I think it is the most subversive book of the Bible). Much of the book of Proverbs is thought to be written by King Solomon. While I was reading this, several of the proverbs leaped out at me as being relevant to today's online misinformation. In these proverbs, Solomon promotes a thinking approach and cautions against carelessness. Let's take a look:

A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain,
but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding

Proverbs 14:6 

 

The simple believes everything,
but the prudent looks where he is going.

A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil,
but a fool throws off restraint and is careless.

Proverbs 14:15-16

 


The mind of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

Proverbs 15:14

 


A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion.

Proverbs 18:2 

 

All of the above proverbs can be well applied to today's online misinformation. I suspect that if we all used these proverbs and applied them to misinformation, there would be a lot less misinformation and less people would believe and repeat it.

I doubt that Solomon literally foresaw that over 2000 years later, online misinformation would be a significant problem. But clearly he did notice that some people were believing folly in his day, and he cautions against that and promotes a more thinking approach: to seek understanding and knowledge first and foremost, and not to be hasty in jumping to conclusions.

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