What should be done to reduce the gossip and lies being spread in the news and internet?
The Chicago Tribune AP article titled: Twitter, Facebook CEOs defend election safeguards, contained this statement: “
“But Republican senators, including Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, revived complaints of censorship and anti-conservative bias against the social media platforms and pushed for stripping away some of the protections that have shielded tech companies from legal responsibility for what people post.”
The Big or Noble Lie was recorded in history as far back as 3000 years ago.
The Purpose of This Post
Is to relate ancient proverbs to this same issue that date back centuries and my opinion on a simple fix which has proven to work in both ancient and our contemporary times.
King Solomon
In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines. (Proverb 18:17)
He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin. (Proverbs 26: 27-28)
What’s My Point?
3000 years ago – King Solomon wrote the above proverbs which indicates people were taken to court to account for what they say or do. In other words when the lie, whether in jest or to flatter, if the court rules against them, they must pay a price which will brings about their ruin of money or reputation.
2395 years ago – The noble lie is a political concept originated by Plato in The Republic. Put simply, it is the idea that, if the cultivation of nobility of the soul is the purpose of the state, then it is in fact laudable to lie to the people too dumb to understand the necessity of virtue. Put even more simply, it means that false propaganda for the sake of the public welfare is totally acceptable. It is the immaculately conceived son of Pious fraud and the big lie.
My point is the Big Lie is nothing new under the sun.
In My Opinion
And in our contemporary times of high-tech news and internet, or regardless of how lies or gossip are spread, if you do not hold people accountable to what they say or do to protect one another’s reputation, it is a personal injustice.
The tech businesses need to make users provide identification of the senders and not allow the use of pseudo names on every message to allow victims to sue in courts according to libel laws.
The news media should all identify every news media commentary to state clearly what they are saying or writing is either news or opinion.
Gossip, lies, flattering, scheming, intrigue, etc. are nothing new in history and will continue in every generation according to this verse
What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.… (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10)
Fear and love are the two greatest motivators in the history of mankind. People who practice the virtue of love do not lie. People who gossip and lie need to be reminded they will be made accountable has been and will always remain a way to reduce folly.
We do not need another army of regulators or censors in the USA to regulate each other.
And we do not need to “reinvent the wheel” to reduce the folly of this issue. What we need is for courts to use the wheel on liars and schemers the same way as this ancient proverb
A wise king (Government Court) winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them. (Proverb 20 :26)
If Interested
Read the Source Links below
You Decide
Will making people, business, and news media accountable for what they say be a much simpler method that another army of government regulators or censorship by private companies with political views on issues.
Should the same libel laws apply to politicians in office making accusations against other politicians?
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Source Links
Chicago Tribune Ap
https://triblive.com/news/wire-stories/twitter-facebook-ceos-defend-election-actions-promise-more/
Wiki – Nobel or Big Lie
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Noble_lie
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
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