Rumors stop at wise men

Rumors stop at wise men

It is an idiom that the rumor stops at the wise, which comes from Xunzi · Wu Wu. Idiom means: if there is no basis, it will be stopped by wise people. Rumors and groundless words (including rumors, lies and heresies) can't stand verification and examination.

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"Xunzi · roughly" said: "the flow of pills ends in Ouyu, and rumors end in the wise." The rolling beads will be forced to stop by the ascent of the bowl, and the unfounded rumors will be stopped by the wise man.

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The harmfulness of gossip speech is a common tool for emotional and ideological communication. Although what people say is only their feelings and impressions of the facts and their own imagination, rather than the facts themselves, according to the general principle of credit, listeners tend to believe what they hear. In this way, rumors may mislead the listener's judgment and lead to wrong understanding, wrong decision and wrong behavior. In the Warring States period, there was an important official named Pang Cong in the state of Wei. One year, he was ordered to accompany his son to Handan, the capital of the state of Zhao, as a hostage. Before setting out, Pang Cong said to the king of Wei, "king, if someone tells you that there is a tiger in the market, do you believe it? When the tiger swaggered through the market, the king of Wei, of course, did not believe it and answered, "how could this happen? I don't believe it Pang Cong said, "if another person tells you that there is a tiger in the market, does the king believe it?" The king of Wei thought about it and said, "well, it's worth considering!" "What if another person says the same thing?" "Well, if all three people say that, it should be true." After listening to the reply from the king of Wei, Pang Cong came up with the true meaning of saying this. He said: "in fact, there are no tigers in the street. They just spread the wrong information. Why should the king believe it? It's because there are so many people talking about it. Now my son and I are leaving our hometown to be hostages in the state of Zhao thousands of miles away. The king can't accurately understand our situation there. Maybe someone will spread the rumor that there is a tiger in the city. Do you want to believe it? Therefore, in order to ensure that my son can return to China smoothly in the future, after Datong Pang Cong, please ask the king to invite three people first. It is said that I just left the capital, not to Handan. " The king of Wei didn't think so. Soon after Pang Cong accompanied Shizi to Zhao state as a hostage, some people secretly slandered Pang Cong, saying that he was trying to support Shizi, and that he had two hearts and was plotting against him. Many people say that the king of Wei believed it and ordered his son to return to his country, but Pang Cong was no longer used. Although Pang Cong had given a "preventive injection" to the king of Wei in advance, he could not escape from the fate of "public praise for money", which shows the destructive power of rumors. There is a similar story in the Warring States policy: Zeng Shen, a disciple of Confucius, is famous for his filial piety. When he lived in Feiyi, a person with the same name killed someone. Some people mistook Zeng Shen for it and talked about it. Rumors soon spread to Zeng's mother. At that time, Zeng's mother was weaving, so she stopped and said, "my son won't do that!" Soon someone said, "Zeng Shen has killed people!" Zeng's mother remained calm and ignored her. Later, someone said the same thing. At this time, Zeng's mother finally got upset and began to pack up her things and prepare to run away. Wise people stop rumors. They don't believe rumors and spread them easily. If they think about and verify them, and confirm that they are untrue or unreasonable, they will not spread them by mistake. When they hear rumors that have been denied by themselves, they can eliminate a way of spreading rumors by giving a little explanation. It is for the wise to stop rumors, make time and space for truth and truth, safeguard social development and benefit future generations.