This chapter is titled 'On the Blocking of Empathy and the Hardening of Hearts'. In this chapter Nick narrates about his own experience why he was not moved to seek justice in the past though he has some idea of injustice being meted out to certain group of people, and he goes on to provide reason why this sort of thing happens with people in general. So, why are we not moved by injustice? I am not paraphrasing all the reasons he gives. One reason is that we are afraid of change. To seek justice may mean losing job, losing friends, losing money etc. This sort of change is to put us in an uncomfortable position and so we are afraid to seek justice. Another reason is that people think that the victims of injustice invite this terrible condition upon themselves. For example, the poor are poor because they are lazy. There can be truth in that, but not all poor are poor because they are lazy. The poor can be there because more powerful force is pulling them down -- the global economic force!
Seeing the faces and the hearing the voices of the people in suffering is what woke Nick up from his 'slumber'. And oftentimes, knowing the reality firsthand is the best way to help us see injustice and empathise with the victims of injustice.
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