I don&#x27;t think there&#x27;s anything ironic with that. Empathy doesn&#x27;t mean that you automatically just give the other person what they think they want. If a kid is screaming because they REALLY want to buy a sweet and their parents refuse to buy it, it doesn&#x27;t mean that the parent lacks empathy for their child.<p>When people use the &quot;toughen up&quot; approach, it isn&#x27;t necessarily the case that they have no empathy. Maybe they know it&#x27;s a difficult phase to get through, but that a painful short term personal or mental change can result in a person have a long term improved quality of life.<p>Or it could just be that they don&#x27;t care and like to see those they perceive as &quot;weak&quot; suffer. Hard to say.