The Judge’s Blind Spot: The ‘Magnitude Gap’ In Gemara

Roy F. Baumeister’s book, “Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty” has an insight he calls the “Magnitude Gap”. There is a vast discrepancy in the perceived quality of an act between the victim (huge) and the perpetrator (minimal), עיין שם.

Some quotes:

A central fact about evil is the discrepancy between the importance of the act to the perpetrator and to the victim. This can be called the magnitude gap. The importance of what takes place is almost always much greater for the victim than for the perpetrator. When trying to understand evil, one is always asking, “How could they do such a horrible thing?” But the horror is usually being measured in the victim’s terms. To the perpetrator, it is often a very small thing.

As we saw earlier, perpetrators generally have less emotion about their acts than do victims. It is almost impossible to submit to r**e, pillage, impoverishment, or possible murder without strong emotional reactions, but it is quite possible to perform those crimes without emotion. In fact, it makes it easier in many ways.

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Whole societies and cultures may nurse one grievance for centuries. The victim’s motto is “Never forget.” In contrast, the perpetrator’s motto is “Let bygones be bygones.” Perpetrators can furnish a clear and detailed memory of something that happened long ago, but it seems to be bracketed in time. They do not usually give background events leading up to the act, nor do they describe lasting consequences. If they refer to the present at all, it is usually to say how different the present is from the episode in the past or that what they did wrong long ago has no bearing on the present.