That's happened to me a couple of times from (((former))) friends.
One of the most courageous acts is to keep a soft heart in a hard world. It's not easy---it takes all of your energy to resist the darkness and keep the light burning.
teach me your ways
I can think that, but I think that another, large, part of it is having values that actually denigrate being smart. Being good at maths, science, or writing is seen simultaneously as effeminate in boys and masculine in girls. (A telling disparity: 'effeminate' is only a snarl-word and used only for males, 'masculine' is negative only when applied to females, ++positive for males.)
Feeling imprisoned in a school also induces hatred of those perceived as 'trusties'….
Caring and empathy are signs of strength. Macho posturing is a sign of weakness and reveals one is insecure in their manhood.
Helping each other is the most human thing there is, we are meant to help each other, it's what we are here to do.
@RickiTarr It didn't used to be "brave", but I acknowledge your point.
I view empathy (or even just the desire to appear so) instrumental for a functioning civil society.
But, as a left-wing-pinko-degenerate-libertine, I was bound to think that.
The hatred some have for empathy is rational: it attacks their values and statuses and impedes their getting done what they want done…counter-cultural.
Some of them will feel more comfortable being unkind if _we_ are so, too.
A vague source of hope is that being completely lacking in it can make one effectively stupider, as one were less able to understand others and what they are likely to want to do, as opposed to
'
Know one's self
Know one's opponent
Win one hundred battles
'
@RickiTarr Caring about things in some sense is intrinsically a weakness that can be exploited by threatening the thing cared about.
We should definitely care about things, to the extent that we can defend those things from those that would threaten them.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️