As someone who's been on both ends of rumor culture, I know just how important it is to listen before you speak. Human beings tend to be very reactive. We hear something about someone, and that shapes our opinion of them even if we've never met them. But God is a righteous judge. He knows every detail of every case, acting on completeness of knowledge. As followers of such a God, we need to have that same wisdom, and that same drive for righteousness.
Just as many of us have been, Christ Himself was the victim of the wrath of man. During His ministry, He was quite the controversial figure. So controversial, in fact, that the Pharisees were slow to hear, quick to speak, and even quicker to wrath. In John 7, the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest Jesus. They were a bit cross when the officers came back empty handed, saying "No man ever spoke like this Man!" (John 7:46b). They were furious, and declared everyone who even hinted at disagreeing with their judgment of Jesus as deceived and accursed (v47-49). But Nicodemus, a wise Pharisee who had already spoken to Jesus for himself, contradicted his fellow Pharisees, asking "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" (v50-51).
The answer, of course, is no. No just law would ever pass judgement without giving the accused a fair trial. Imagine a world in which the police could legally arrest you just because they didn't like something they'd heard you said. Imagine a world in which the court can sentence you before you've even walked in the door. Such a world (which is a tragic reality in some countries) would be a horrific world gripped in fear and violence. What's worse than a genuine court doing this is the court of public opinion. It's one thing for the police to be able to throw their weight around, it's another thing entirely for society to uncritically hear rumors. The latter can cause violence on the inside and out.
A story that has stuck with me since primary school comes to mind as I write this. A man went out hunting, leaving his dog to defend his child. When he returned, he found a terrifying scene: Crib overturned, furniture thrown across the room, and his dog sitting with blood all over his mouth. "You bad dog!" The man shouted, and shot the dog. But then the man heard crying from under the crib. The child was still alive, with not a scratch on him. Then, in the corner, the man noticed the lifeless corpse of a wolf. Evidently, the man in the story had made a terrible mistake. Had he waited for the facts, he would know that his dog had performed his duties very well, risking his life to defend the child. Yet the man was very quick to jump to conclusions, leading him to kill his loyal friend.
Wrath is not something that can be easily taken back. In fact, more often than not, it is a mirror that will forever remain cracked. Legally speaking, it is far better to let a thousand guilty criminals go free than to convict a single innocent man. Socially speaking, the same applies. Lest we do the unforgivable, let us all be sure to look before we leap.