I disagree with the tenor of the article--too binary. One doesn't either have / lack empathy. Lucy Adeniji clearly did not suffer from a lack of empathy, as she appears to have provided and cared for her own children even while enslaving non family members from her home country. Empathy can be 'situationally calibrated,' and this ability often begins with seeing people as different. Different race or ethnicity, different religion, different tribe / clan / family, different nationality, different sexual orientation, whatever the difference, it is used to turn people into "others."

This "othering" leads to the creation of enemies, and is the first step toward demonization and dehumanization. Having categorized a person or group of individuals as 'less than human,' one is able to selectively 'shut down' their empathy. The SS officer can therefore go home to his loving family and read bedtime stories to his children after a hard day's work hunting and killing Jews.

The key here, IMO, is not whether one possesses empathy, rather, whether or not one views negatively the differences between individuals or groups. Once we allow ourselves the luxury of an attitude of superiority over a 'different' group, we have taken the first step toward 'othering,' and as a consequence, selective empathy reduction.