“Here’s a pop quiz: name the seven deadly sins. Come on, you saw that Brad Pitt movie. Lust. Yeah, well, everybody gets that one. Gluttony, sure. Greed, yeah. Envy, sloth, anger, or to be a little more technical, wrath. What else? What else? Let me put it this way: if you think you know the answer, and because of that, you think you’re better than everybody else, then you’re guilty of it!” -Augustus Hill, Oz

 

Most of us are familiar with the seven deadly sins. For those of you who are not, refer to the quote above. But times have changed, and while those sins (and the need to resist them) are still present in the world, there are other sins that have also been present alongside the original seven that have become more rampant in our society. Knowing full well the risk of sounding preachy, I present to you the seven new deadly sins of our time.

 

Apathy

Apathy is the lack of concern for the welfare of others, or in other words, turning a blind eye to the suffering of others.

 

Bigotry

Bigotry is hatred of someone because they belong to a different religion, belief system, gender, ethnicity, etc. An act of bigotry can be as minor as calling someone a bad name or as serious as physically assaulting someone.

 

Manipulation

Manipulation is doing things to make someone do something you want, often at that person’s expense. A lot of actions can be categorized here, including threat, extortion, guilt-trip, etc.

 

Pretentiousness

Pretentiousness is acting that you are more than what you are. There are different forms of pretentiousness, such as hypocrisy, megalomania, and attention-seeking.

 

Sadism

Sadism is taking delight in the suffering of others. It can start with something as simple as comparing yourself with someone in a worse condition so you don’t feel bad about yours. It can be blown out of proportion into deliberately dragging others down or hurting them so you can feel better about yourself.

 

Self-Entitlement

Self-entitlement is the feeling that you deserve something even without having earned it. This usually goes hand-in-hand with a demand for special privileges that go beyond equality and fairness.

 

Self-Victimization

Self-victimization is the feeling that you are the victim of injustice in spite of a lack of evidence. Some red flags of this behaviour are being perpetually offended by little things and blaming one’s failure on an external oppressor.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

We see all these deadly sins – old and new – around us. But fighting them off always begins inside us.