Sins With Victims: The New Seven Deadly Sins
I don’t remember when I first learned about the so-called Seven Deadly Sins. It may have been in Sunday School when I was a relatively small child, or it may have been when I was studying literature in high school or college. Whenever it was, I was already a skilled enough critical thinker to realize that the list was arbitrary and somewhat ridiculous. I probably wasn’t bothered that the sins were states of mind or conditions, not actions—“wrath” instead of “murder,” “greed” instead of “theft.” But I remember being bothered that “greed” and “gluttony” were very similar; “gluttony” is a specific kind of “greed,” involving food and drink rather than money or power. But I was mostly bothered that I could think of much worse sins than “sloth,” “envy,” or “pride” and even “lust,” “greed,” and “wrath.” In fact, I would argue that some of those so-called sins are healthy emotions. This week I told a friend who is fighting a political battle where she works and suffers from depression, which the battle is aggravating, to stay angry because I’ve learned that rage is a more positive emotion than depression. Unless anger leads to violence, it’s a healthy, energizing emotion. Pride is also healthy. We should be proud of our parents, our children, other family members, and of our own achievements. The opposite of pride is not necessarily (or just) humility but low self-esteem, which can lead to depression and also envy and shamelessness. A person who has no pride also has no shame. People who brag all of the time, lie about their achievements, and can’t admit their faults aren’t proud. They are the opposite—insecure because they have low self-esteem. More proud or confident people are less boastful and much more willing to admit mistakes and faults. And like the other sins, even lust, envy, and wrath, pride doesn’t hurt anyone. How does my being proud of myself or a family member hurt you? If you’re envious instead of happy for me, that’s your problem. Unless a greedy person steals, an angry person kills, or a lustful person rapes (and we know that rape has little or nothing to do with lust, unless we mean a lust for power or violence), no one is hurt. The gluttonous person might hurt herself by ruining her digestive system, or if the greed is for alcohol or drugs, by killing herself with an overdose, but she is the primary victim. In fact, another word for “gluttony” might be “addict.” Why should victimless sins be deadly?
I’ve proudly decided that I should provide a new list of deadly sins, mainly because no one else seems interested in taking care of this problem. Preachers, where y’all at? The MF SISNEY SEVEN DEADLY SINS are: 1) Hatred 2) Cruelty 3) Vengeance 4) Intolerance 5) Selfishness 6) Dishonesty 7) Snobbishness. Yes, critical thinkers, the current racist, sinful occupant of the White House did provide inspiration for my list. He is not only the most illegitimate, incompetent, and insane President in my lifetime, but he’s also the most sinful. The lustful, gluttonous, at times wrathful Bill Clinton was a saint compared to the thrice-married, lying, racist, sexist, hateful, greedy braggart currently occupying the White House. I assume that a quick glance at this list will show the critical thinker that the sins I list are more “deadly” than those on the original list. “Hatred” is more likely to lead to murder than “wrath.” Hatred of a specific group of people can lead to mass murder in a church, a synagogue, a mosque, or a WalMart. Hatred of a particular person could also lead to mass or serial murders. Some men who kill women hate their mothers or a girlfriend who “did them wrong.” Hatred is also more “deadly” for the hater. As former Senator Alan Simpson pointed out in his eulogy for Papa Bush, hate corrodes from the inside. Hating can lead to both physical and mental illness. One form of mental illness suffered by the current occupant of the White House is sadism. Unlike the humorously tactless woman described in my last blog post (2/1/20), he is deliberately cruel and enjoys hurting people. The worst sadists, like the man who held three women hostage in Cleveland for years, physically torture people, but the kind of verbal taunts that Trump enjoys can also be deadly. How many people, especially teenagers, have killed themselves because they were bullied, verbally tortured?
In addition to having victims, the sins on my list are bigger and broader than those on the original list. Intolerance covers not only racism, sexism, homophobia, and religious bigotry but also bias against people because of the way they dress (too much cleavage, droopy pants), wear their hair (too short, too long, too fake, purple hair?), or decorate their bodies (piercings, tattoos). Snobbishness focuses not only on people who feel superior because of socio-economic class, occupation, or level of education but also those who think they have a superior lifestyle (married with children versus single, going to church on Sunday versus going to bars on Saturday). Dishonesty includes not only lying but cheating, stealing, and defrauding. And just as being snobbish is worse than being proud because the former sin involves looking down on others, being vindictive is worse than being angry because the former involves taking harmful action against someone. Similarly, selfishness is worse than greed and gluttony because a greedy/gluttonous person might still share his money or his food and drink with others, but a selfish person won’t.
I don’t think any person alive can avoid committing at least some of the original deadly sins. I have not been guilty of lust and am certainly not greedy for money and power, but I love chocolate and fried food, so I guess I’ve committed the sin of gluttony. I also occasionally brag about being angry, so that’s two deadly sins in one. However, if there is a person alive who isn’t proud, occasionally greedy, gluttonous, angry, and envious, why is that person even alive? A person who doesn’t commit any of those sins, including lust, is a very dull and probably unhappy person. I think we should beware of “lean and hungry” people, like Cassius in “Julius Caesar,” not because they’re thinking, which we all should do more frequently, but because they’re not eating enough and therefore are probably sad and miserable, possibly insane.
The people committing the Sisney Seven Deadly Sins are more likely to be insane and much more likely to cause harm to other people and our society than the proud, lustful partiers condemned in the original list. We should all try to avoid hatred, cruelty, vengeance, intolerance, selfishness, dishonesty, and snobbishness. It’s hard but not impossible to avoid those sins. We and the world will be a better place if we do. Are you listening, Donald Trump?
I’ve proudly decided that I should provide a new list of deadly sins, mainly because no one else seems interested in taking care of this problem. Preachers, where y’all at? The MF SISNEY SEVEN DEADLY SINS are: 1) Hatred 2) Cruelty 3) Vengeance 4) Intolerance 5) Selfishness 6) Dishonesty 7) Snobbishness. Yes, critical thinkers, the current racist, sinful occupant of the White House did provide inspiration for my list. He is not only the most illegitimate, incompetent, and insane President in my lifetime, but he’s also the most sinful. The lustful, gluttonous, at times wrathful Bill Clinton was a saint compared to the thrice-married, lying, racist, sexist, hateful, greedy braggart currently occupying the White House. I assume that a quick glance at this list will show the critical thinker that the sins I list are more “deadly” than those on the original list. “Hatred” is more likely to lead to murder than “wrath.” Hatred of a specific group of people can lead to mass murder in a church, a synagogue, a mosque, or a WalMart. Hatred of a particular person could also lead to mass or serial murders. Some men who kill women hate their mothers or a girlfriend who “did them wrong.” Hatred is also more “deadly” for the hater. As former Senator Alan Simpson pointed out in his eulogy for Papa Bush, hate corrodes from the inside. Hating can lead to both physical and mental illness. One form of mental illness suffered by the current occupant of the White House is sadism. Unlike the humorously tactless woman described in my last blog post (2/1/20), he is deliberately cruel and enjoys hurting people. The worst sadists, like the man who held three women hostage in Cleveland for years, physically torture people, but the kind of verbal taunts that Trump enjoys can also be deadly. How many people, especially teenagers, have killed themselves because they were bullied, verbally tortured?
In addition to having victims, the sins on my list are bigger and broader than those on the original list. Intolerance covers not only racism, sexism, homophobia, and religious bigotry but also bias against people because of the way they dress (too much cleavage, droopy pants), wear their hair (too short, too long, too fake, purple hair?), or decorate their bodies (piercings, tattoos). Snobbishness focuses not only on people who feel superior because of socio-economic class, occupation, or level of education but also those who think they have a superior lifestyle (married with children versus single, going to church on Sunday versus going to bars on Saturday). Dishonesty includes not only lying but cheating, stealing, and defrauding. And just as being snobbish is worse than being proud because the former sin involves looking down on others, being vindictive is worse than being angry because the former involves taking harmful action against someone. Similarly, selfishness is worse than greed and gluttony because a greedy/gluttonous person might still share his money or his food and drink with others, but a selfish person won’t.
I don’t think any person alive can avoid committing at least some of the original deadly sins. I have not been guilty of lust and am certainly not greedy for money and power, but I love chocolate and fried food, so I guess I’ve committed the sin of gluttony. I also occasionally brag about being angry, so that’s two deadly sins in one. However, if there is a person alive who isn’t proud, occasionally greedy, gluttonous, angry, and envious, why is that person even alive? A person who doesn’t commit any of those sins, including lust, is a very dull and probably unhappy person. I think we should beware of “lean and hungry” people, like Cassius in “Julius Caesar,” not because they’re thinking, which we all should do more frequently, but because they’re not eating enough and therefore are probably sad and miserable, possibly insane.
The people committing the Sisney Seven Deadly Sins are more likely to be insane and much more likely to cause harm to other people and our society than the proud, lustful partiers condemned in the original list. We should all try to avoid hatred, cruelty, vengeance, intolerance, selfishness, dishonesty, and snobbishness. It’s hard but not impossible to avoid those sins. We and the world will be a better place if we do. Are you listening, Donald Trump?
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