They’ve been brainwashed to consider any form of empathy weakness. Hence, the “sin of empathy” insult thrown at the bishop from the inauguration. They are essentially powerless and are often struggling to get by so acting hateful to make someone feel awful gives them a sense of superiority since they don’t feel bad. Lack of empathy is equated with power and frankly, the power to be cruel is the only power they’ll ever have.