I don't think there's anything ironic with that. Empathy doesn't mean that you automatically just give the other person what they think they want. If a kid is s

I don't think there's anything ironic with that. Empathy doesn'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't mean that the parent lacks empathy for their child. When people use the "toughen up" approach, it isn't necessarily the case that they have no empathy. Maybe they know it'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. Or it could just be that they don't care and like to see those they perceive as "weak" suffer. Hard to say.