--Just as inciting people to lust or theft or hatred are harmful to that person and to the community, and therefore entail positive obligations in the rest of us about how we treat people, the same is true of the 10th Commandment.
--So what can we as neighbors do to reduce covetousness in others?
--If the major source of coveting is the disparity of good things that we notice other people enjoying that we lack, maybe we can solve that problem
--One solution people offer is to impose equality so that no one is jealous of another. Thus the rich-poor gap gets blamed as a source of covetousness (among other things).
--But equality never occurs unless everyone has an equally low level of it.
--And even so, it’ll never be true of wives and servants!
--Is there another way to solve the disparity problem?
--Perhaps by making people unaware of others’ doing so much better than you. Don’t advertize or flaunt what you have.
--But this, too, is fraught with peril because the problem with coveting is that people aren’t celebrating your gains the way they would their own. And the ideal solution to this is neither to avoid gains nor to avoid sharing news of your good fortune with others.
--So what can we as neighbors do to reduce covetousness in others?
--If the major source of coveting is the disparity of good things that we notice other people enjoying that we lack, maybe we can solve that problem
--One solution people offer is to impose equality so that no one is jealous of another. Thus the rich-poor gap gets blamed as a source of covetousness (among other things).
--But equality never occurs unless everyone has an equally low level of it.
--And even so, it’ll never be true of wives and servants!
--Is there another way to solve the disparity problem?
--Perhaps by making people unaware of others’ doing so much better than you. Don’t advertize or flaunt what you have.
--But this, too, is fraught with peril because the problem with coveting is that people aren’t celebrating your gains the way they would their own. And the ideal solution to this is neither to avoid gains nor to avoid sharing news of your good fortune with others.
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