[Soft*Silver]

I think its more complicated than just listing the seven deadly sins or a similar list.

if that were so, people of simplere cultures than ours would also covet things they did not have and that just isnt so across the board. At least not in the degree we Americans see. And not even across the board in all the strataspheres in our own culture. The key to coveting is in the degree of capitalism that one participates in or is subjected to. Before TV, if one was poor, people often claimed they didnt know they were poor and didnt care if the neighbors had more or less. In fact, if someone fell on hard times, they helped one another. Thus the beauty and long fascination with Its a Wonderful Life.

But along comes the era where there is a tv in every home...then in every room..then in every car...on now on our computers, which every person in the family now has one of. And if thats not enough, their personal phones can now access the web which accesses the media, which accesses all the global media you could dream of.

and what goes along with that?

commercials. We are a better fed consumer with more to select from. And we are creating faster than our wallets can keep up. And just as we acquire, the next new thing is created and we desire...

I am 54 and dirt poor. I have a very old dell laptop. I have a free cell phone that only can call and send texts. It looks like a half a candy bar. My sister just got some new fangled do dad and she is stuggling to make it stop saying whorehouse when she wants to say whitehouse. I am not coveting that. But others are. I have a threadworn couch. My niece who is on welfare took her tax check last year and bought a $2000 living room set. Because she coveted her sister's expensive leather living room set. She could have used that money to pay bills but she had to have the material thing to compensate her need to be as good as her sister. I didnt. I couldnt. I wouldnt have anyway. I like my old couch. I will probably have it until I die. It fits my personality and even if I somehow land alot of money, I could use that money to pay bills or add more seed to my bird feeders.

I dont watch alot of tv. I dont read alot of magazines. When I am on the computer I really dont go to places where there are commercials. I am not a product of capitalism. I dont covet. Except of course, for a horse.

So thats my answer...capitalism.