While most media commentators are blaming racial division for the vicious aggression shown to WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, the source of the malevolence is more primal. It is more likely that envy is what is driving the hateful behavior and malicious violence that is being perpetrated against the Indiana Fever rookie player. Since her arrival on the WNBA court, Clark has consistently faced some of the most vicious attacks ever seen. The most violent of all — and the one that sparked the most allegations of racial animus toward Clark — was the hard foul by Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter. The Carter foul resulted in a flagrant-1 violation but it was only one of several hard fouls that a growing number of WNBA players have perpetrated against the rookie player. (READ MORE: Trouble in the Picklesphere) Following Carter’s brutal attack on Clark, Chicago Sky teammate Angel Reese, another rookie and longtime foe of Clark’s, congratulated her teammate. Reese, whose resentful envy was on full display both during the game and in a news conference following the game, has also been aggressive in her physical attacks on Clark on the court.  In the news conference, Reese bragged about the growing attention on women’s basketball and attempted to minimize the role that Clark has played. Claiming that “celebrities are coming to the games now,” Reese stated that the reason for that “isn’t due to just one person.”  Rather, Reese suggested that people watch the WNBA “for me too.” In some ways, envy is the worst of the deadly sins because it leads to so many of the others. The resentment that accompanies envy often erupts in the kind of anger and resentful rage we are seeing on the basketball court.  It is inextricably intertwined with pride.  Often called the “sin of sins,” the sin of pride is — like the sin of envy — a narcissistic preoccupation with self.  The truly envious are the truly prideful who believe that no one is more deserving of advantages and rewards than they are. The prideful remarks from Reese about celebrities coming to see her on the court is just one example out of many of the ways in which envy is ever-present in all of our lives. But most of us refuse to acknowledge the envy we may have experienced in our own lives and refuse to see it in others. Even former WNBA superstar Rebecca Lobo has dismissed envy and jealousy as the reason for the hostility shown to Caitlin Clark: “I don’t think there’s any jealousy or pettiness that is fueling dirty play. Now, is the attention she’s getting on the defensive end unprecedented for a rookie?  It absolutely is. Are veterans being physical with her? They are. But I have not seen anything excessive or anything dirty until that Chennedy Carter hit.” Lobo is wrong. There has been unprecedented hostility shown toward Clark but like most of us, Lobo would rather not acknowledge envy in the sport. (READ MORE: Biden, Trash-Talker in Chief) The word envy itself derives from the Latin word invidia, which means “non-sight.” This etymology suggests that envy arises from and creates a form of blindness or lack of perspective. In Anthony Esolen’s translation of Dante Alighieri’s Purgatorio, the envious are punished by having to wear penitential grey cloaks, their eyes sewn shut with iron wire because the truly envious are blind to the goodness, truth, and beauty around them. Dante warned that the envious are blind to reason and love, spending their days tormented by resentment toward those who possess that which they covet. It is an enforced blindness so that the once-envious souls can no longer look at others with envy and hatred. Envy is insidious. In the Book of Wisdom, we are told that it was through “the envy of the devil, death entered the world,” (Widom 2:24). In Genesis envy is the destroyer of happiness and contentment — from the story of Eve’s envious desire to have the wisdom of God, to the first deadly sin of the murder of Abel by his envious brother Cain. It was Satan’s envy of the love God had for his new creation and that Adam and Eve had for each other, that led him to destroy the innocence in the Garden — an envy that was predicted as Adam sadly admits: “that malicious foe, envying our happiness, and of his own despairing, seeks to work our woe and shame by sly assault.” (READ MORE: Great Coach Stumbles on Transgenders in Sports) There is nothing sly about the ongoing assault on Caitlin Clark. Just as there is nothing sly about the ways in which envy is driving so much of the hatefulness we are experiencing in society right now through the gratuitous attacks on former President Donald Trump, and the contemptible attacks on Jews through the growing anti-Semitism in this country and beyond. Much of this hostility derives from envy.  Rene Girard, French historian and literary theorist of the 20th century argued that the key to understanding this type of hostility is to understand “mimetic desire.” Girard’s mimetic theory holds that people desire objects and experiences enjoyed by others not for their intrinsic value but because they are desired by others. We mime or imitate their desires. Caitlin Clark is viewed as having been “given more” attention and accolades than others in the WNBA and there is a general perception that she needs to be taken down. The WNBA will need to acknowledge the danger that envy poses to their league. If allowed to grow unchecked, toxic envy can destroy not only an individual or a group of individuals, but it can also destroy a society — even a civilization. Anne Hendershott, PhD is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life.  She is the author of The Politics of Envy (Crisis Publications, 2022). The post Blame Envy, Not Racial Division, for Player Hostility to WNBA Superstar Caitlin Clark appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.