THE EMPATHY GAP Building Bridges to the Good Life and the Good Society

The tone of Trout's narration may seem at odds with the subject of empathy when one is first listening to his flat vocalization of his text. Yet the focus of this narrative is not how often people are inspired to acts of empathy, but rather all the instances when humans resist the urge towards empathy because of other cognitive functions. Trout details the shortcomings of well-fed Congressmen making decisions for the poor, a jury’s need for empathy to reach a just verdict, and other scenarios. Instances in which people withhold help or assistance despite the dire circumstances of others, called “gaps” by Trout, are predicated on the amount of social distance between the listener and the person who is affected. M.R. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2009]