Thou Shalt Not Covet

Watching how the world looks at America today is a lesson in how human envy works. Everyone and their dog seems to be against America and things American. But why? Is it that America behaves worse than other countries? Is it that American culture is shoddier than other cultures?

Surely not. We may all disagree with American foreign policy here and there. I myself disagreed with the American invasion of Panama, and with its intrusion in Kosovo, as dangerous precedents and violations of international law. But you cannot say America is really in the habit of throwing its weight around. More often, historically, the rest of the world has had reason to wish the US would become a little more actively involved.

The mere continued existence of Canada proves this. If America had imperialist ambitions, what easier or more valuable prize than Canada, with all its natural resources?

And yet Canadians, gracelessly, too often lead the raspberry chorus.

This is all a warning to individuals: just as everyone heartily hates the USA, no matter what it does, so, inevitably, everyone is going to hate anyone smarter than they are, richer than they are, better looking than they are, or even more moral than they are.

So too the Jews are hated--because they have tended to be smarter than the surrounding populations, most often richer, and quite often more moral as well. So too "dead white males" and "Europeans" are hated elsewhere--not because they have done anything wrong, really, but because they have accomplished so much. So "the rich" are hated generically. So the Catholic Church is hated--because it is openly moral, and stood on principle over abortion, not really for the canard about pedophilic priests. And beauty is rightly considered, in Chinese tradition, a misfortune for the beautiful.

We should resist envy, and the many ideologies based on envy, as we resist a thing of pure evil. Envy is a serious sin, covered in two of the Ten Commandments; murder rates only one. In a sense, envy--envy of God--was the original sin in Eden, and the original sin of Satan himself.