ABSTRACT
There is a growing tide of widespread false beliefs, misunderstandings, and dubious claims, many with significant moral and political import, and shared almost entirely online. To combat such disinformation will require a range of actions—from large-scale institutional and social efforts to the cultivation of media literacy and associated skills in individuals. In this chapter I explore the role to be played by intellectual and moral virtues, focusing on the virtues of patience and love of truth. That a love of truth could play a role in addressing disinformation and fake news is perhaps unsurprising. Even so, I attempt to provide a viable working account of this virtue, and explain certain important roles it may play, particularly as a natural and much-needed complement to patience. But I begin by providing an account of patience itself, and argue that, so understood, it can play surprisingly important and wide-ranging roles in navigating online media. Frustration, uncertainty, and other unwelcome states are significant hurdles we must face in engaging with online media; patience is essential to overcoming these obstacles, and allowing sustained, reflective, and open-minded inquiry.
