In a way, the problem faced by Jacob’s people is similar to the plague of pornography in our day. Pornography denigrates women by treating them as a commodity or as a mere object of lust. How does that make women feel? Jacob uses the Lamanites as a righteous example, saying, "Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children" (v.7). We can learn a big lesson about how that can help us. Concerning pornography, you can’t just say to kids, "Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it." It helps when they understand why it is wrong. Fairly recently, the Deseret News published a number of articles on pornography, and how it is not a victimless crime. There are indeed victims, and we have to make people aware of the spiritual, emotional, and also mental injury and damage that can come from it.
This might be one of the first places in the Book of Mormon that demonstrates and clearly emphasizes that righteousness is not merely a matter of lineage. At least in this regard at this time in their history, the Lamanites were more righteous than the Nephites. This idea was likely somewhat of a very new concept for them. The Nephites apparently saw themselves as the righteous lineage, and because of this they probably were tempted to excuse their own sins. In fact, they may not have even recognized their own spiritual decline. We need to be careful that we don’t ever feel that personal righteousness can be inherited or that it is a product of culture or upbringing or any other factor besides personal agency.
Book of Mormon Central, "How Can the Book of Mormon Strengthen Marriages and Families? (Jacob 3:7)," KnoWhy 302 (April 19, 2017).