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Envy was once considered to be one of the seven deadly sins before it became one of the most admired virtues under its new name, “social justice." - Thomas Sowe

Envy was once considered to be one of the seven deadly sins before it became one of the most admired virtues under its new name, “social justice." - Thomas Sowell https://twitter.com/ThomasSowell/status/1133792472063258627 https://twitter.com/ThomasSowell/status/1133792472063258627

tasty_freeze 6y ago
Rather than just downvoting, I'll offer another perspective. Sowell's statement is vacuous, just a bumpersticker retort. Rather than engaging in the issue, it simply questions the motives of the opposite party and in fact dismisses their motives as one of the seven deadly sins. I realize this is twitter and not a well developed thesis, but that just means twitter is a terrible platform to meaningfully engage in nuanced topics. It is a great platform for shallow thinking and insults, though, akin to the excuse, "I have a wonderful proof of this but the margin it too small to contain it."
- nickff 6y ago
  What you say about Twitter sounds about right, but Sowell appears to have put a bumper-sticker quote on a bumper-sticker; he's written a bunch of long books if you want to find out more about his views.
  - blisseyGo 6y ago
    Note that the twitter I linked to is not Sowell's actual twitter. He doesn't use Twitter. It's an account which tweets useful passages from his books.
- blisseyGo 6y ago
  Sowell has written plenty of books on these topics which are worthy reading. The quote is from one of his books. The twitter account I linked is not actually Sowell's. He doesn't have twitter. The account simply posts quotes from his books. So no, it's not just a bumpersticker retort. Growing up in a poor south asian country, I was taught to only care about the food on my plate and not be jealous of the food on someone else's plate. That made me work hard at putting more food on my own plate without being jealous and stealing from another's plate.
  - SahAssar 6y ago
    The problem is not the food on my plate, the problem is I see many millions beside me with too little food and a few guys with at least 30000000 times of what they could ever want or need.
    - username90 6y ago
      No person has 30000000 times what they could ever want or need. You need about a million dollars to retire early with a family, 30000000 times that would be 30 trillion dollars. Nobody is even close to that.
      - SahAssar 6y ago
        It was hyperbole. Take off a few zeros when reading it if you want.
dumbfoundded 6y ago
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." - Matthew 22:36-40 Any attempt to use the Christian bible to justify massive inequality is a bastardization of Jesus' teachings. We're not talking about inequality in the sense that people deserve all the same things. Everyone deserves at least to be fed, housed, and taken care of when sick. A society capable of such but unwilling is disgusting. Maybe you could debate to what degree we could provide for each other. We don't have limitless resources and capabilities. But certainly, we have the ability to provide everyone with clean water, food, and housing at this point.
- blisseyGo 6y ago
  I come from a poor south asian country. The idea that western countries like US, Canada etc don't have "food and shelter" is absurd. I can understand examples like Flint's water issue but that's the fault of the very politicians people keep voting in again and again. It's not the fault of all the rich people. Everyone who's willing to put a tiny bit of effort can get food and shelter thanks to food banks, shelters etc. Back in my country, we don't have that luxury yet but a lot of religious places are trying their best at providing that. I am not religious myself but I do think they should play an important role at feeding those who don't have the resources yet. Once your basic necessity like food and water have been solved, it's up to you to work your way up.
  - refurb 6y ago
    America is one of the most obese countries with obesity being more prevalent at lower income levels, yet we keep hearing about how people are starving.
    - dumbfoundded 6y ago
      A quick google would help educate you: https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/07/18/hunger-and-obesity-jessica-fanzo/ https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/07/18/hunger-and-obesity-jessica-fa... https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-17/how-hunger-and-obesity-coexist-in-america https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-17/how-hu... Long story short is that a better concept isn't starvation, it's food insecurity. More than 10% of Americans are food insecure.
notacoward 6y ago
Imagine for a moment that there really was injustice in the world, and that some people really cared about it. How helpful would it be to deride their sentiment as envy? Seeking something for others doesn't meet the definition of envy; even if it did, attribution of motive is still a fallacy and the side order of appeal to authority only compounds it. Sowell's tweet is a dishonest, dismissive take that could only appeal to the worst kind of culture warrior and has no place in reasoned conversation.

tasty_freeze 6y ago

Rather than just downvoting, I'll offer another perspective. Sowell's statement is vacuous, just a bumpersticker retort. Rather than engaging in the issue, it simply questions the motives of the opposite party and in fact dismisses their motives as one of the seven deadly sins. I realize this is twitter and not a well developed thesis, but that just means twitter is a terrible platform to meaningfully engage in nuanced topics. It is a great platform for shallow thinking and insults, though, akin to the excuse, "I have a wonderful proof of this but the margin it too small to contain it."

nickff 6y ago
What you say about Twitter sounds about right, but Sowell appears to have put a bumper-sticker quote on a bumper-sticker; he's written a bunch of long books if you want to find out more about his views.
- blisseyGo 6y ago
  Note that the twitter I linked to is not Sowell's actual twitter. He doesn't use Twitter. It's an account which tweets useful passages from his books.
blisseyGo 6y ago
Sowell has written plenty of books on these topics which are worthy reading. The quote is from one of his books. The twitter account I linked is not actually Sowell's. He doesn't have twitter. The account simply posts quotes from his books. So no, it's not just a bumpersticker retort. Growing up in a poor south asian country, I was taught to only care about the food on my plate and not be jealous of the food on someone else's plate. That made me work hard at putting more food on my own plate without being jealous and stealing from another's plate.
- SahAssar 6y ago
  The problem is not the food on my plate, the problem is I see many millions beside me with too little food and a few guys with at least 30000000 times of what they could ever want or need.
  - username90 6y ago
    No person has 30000000 times what they could ever want or need. You need about a million dollars to retire early with a family, 30000000 times that would be 30 trillion dollars. Nobody is even close to that.
    - SahAssar 6y ago
      It was hyperbole. Take off a few zeros when reading it if you want.

dumbfoundded 6y ago

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." - Matthew 22:36-40 Any attempt to use the Christian bible to justify massive inequality is a bastardization of Jesus' teachings. We're not talking about inequality in the sense that people deserve all the same things. Everyone deserves at least to be fed, housed, and taken care of when sick. A society capable of such but unwilling is disgusting. Maybe you could debate to what degree we could provide for each other. We don't have limitless resources and capabilities. But certainly, we have the ability to provide everyone with clean water, food, and housing at this point.

blisseyGo 6y ago
I come from a poor south asian country. The idea that western countries like US, Canada etc don't have "food and shelter" is absurd. I can understand examples like Flint's water issue but that's the fault of the very politicians people keep voting in again and again. It's not the fault of all the rich people. Everyone who's willing to put a tiny bit of effort can get food and shelter thanks to food banks, shelters etc. Back in my country, we don't have that luxury yet but a lot of religious places are trying their best at providing that. I am not religious myself but I do think they should play an important role at feeding those who don't have the resources yet. Once your basic necessity like food and water have been solved, it's up to you to work your way up.
- refurb 6y ago
  America is one of the most obese countries with obesity being more prevalent at lower income levels, yet we keep hearing about how people are starving.
  - dumbfoundded 6y ago
    A quick google would help educate you: https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/07/18/hunger-and-obesity-jessica-fanzo/ https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/07/18/hunger-and-obesity-jessica-fa... https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-17/how-hunger-and-obesity-coexist-in-america https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-17/how-hu... Long story short is that a better concept isn't starvation, it's food insecurity. More than 10% of Americans are food insecure.

notacoward 6y ago

Imagine for a moment that there really was injustice in the world, and that some people really cared about it. How helpful would it be to deride their sentiment as envy? Seeking something for others doesn't meet the definition of envy; even if it did, attribution of motive is still a fallacy and the side order of appeal to authority only compounds it. Sowell's tweet is a dishonest, dismissive take that could only appeal to the worst kind of culture warrior and has no place in reasoned conversation.