I think that’s an oversimplification that we should avoid. Evil can exist in any person. I think most evil (at least on a larger/societal scale) is actually caused or enabled by people who truly believe their cause to be morally right, as well as people who are just plain ignorant/stupid. Germans under the nazis were certainly capable of empathy, but they were convinced it was the Jews who were evil and that they themselves were truly superior. I think the average Trump voter was capable of empathy, but they just didn’t see the reality of who he was because they were ignorant, either willfully or otherwise
Edit: I also think a major cause of evil is dehumanizing/“othering” certain people. I’m sure many in the KKK are capable of empathy, but they’ve successfully dehumanized other races to the point that they don’t see anything wrong with brutally killing them
AClassyTurtle t1_j1crel1 wrote
Reply to comment by shawn_overlord in Gerda Weissman Klein was one of only 120 survivors of a 350 mile Death March during the Holocaust; it began with over 4,000 people. In this clip she tells of the last time she ever saw her father, and credits her survival to the intuitive last words he spoke to her. by asday515
I think that’s an oversimplification that we should avoid. Evil can exist in any person. I think most evil (at least on a larger/societal scale) is actually caused or enabled by people who truly believe their cause to be morally right, as well as people who are just plain ignorant/stupid. Germans under the nazis were certainly capable of empathy, but they were convinced it was the Jews who were evil and that they themselves were truly superior. I think the average Trump voter was capable of empathy, but they just didn’t see the reality of who he was because they were ignorant, either willfully or otherwise
Edit: I also think a major cause of evil is dehumanizing/“othering” certain people. I’m sure many in the KKK are capable of empathy, but they’ve successfully dehumanized other races to the point that they don’t see anything wrong with brutally killing them