Is It Possible to Have Empathy for People Who Have Done Bad Things?

How can someone be a monster — a brutal dictator, a mass murderer, a serial killer — and up close seem like a decent, caring person? In this hour, we tackle a complicated question: what happens when our moral categories fail and we find ourselves feeling empathy for monsters? Is that wrong? And what does it say about us?

Original Air Date: January 20, 2018

Guests: 

Will Bardenwepper — Adam Rogerson — Paul Beatty — Åsne Seierstad — Chuck Klosterman — Joshua Landy — Michael Tisserand

Interviews In This Hour: 

The American Guards Who Kept Saddam Hussein Safe Until His Execution — Paul Beatty on 'The Nazi and the Barber' — What Can Americans Learn from a Norwegian Massacre? — Your Archenemy Turned Out To Be a Hero. Now What? — Can Literature Make You More Empathetic? — Michael Tisserand on 'My Friend Dahmer'

Further Reading:

"Making Peace With Monsters" podcast extra about the making of the film version of "My Friend Dahmer" 

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