Empathy is one of the least favorite things they co-opted--the notion that the only appropriate reaction to empathy is to coddle and comfort. There could be someone who is living through the exact shitty situation that I had in the past, of course empathy would be a given. So if based on my own experience I think they should suck it up and take the hard road and they will be better in the end, but nope that's not empathy. It's all "oh I'm so sorry, you didn't do anything wrong you shouldn't have to suffer you poor little thing."

I wonder if that's why parenting keeps getting suckier too. Go directly to the coddle/comfort and not what's best for the kid to learn from.