Why Does The Bad Guy Feel Like The Victim?

Thoughts on the psychology of sympathizing with petty wrongdoers

My wife and I were at Trader Joe’s recently, in the evening when it empties out a bit. There was a father there with his daughter, who was probably two or three, and when he wasn’t looking she bent down to the basket of fruit snacks and started shoveling them out of the basket onto the floor.

When he saw what she was doing, the father nudged her aside an…