Monster-drinking, giant truck-driving redneck here for some perspective:

We have no class. It’s kind of the brand.

You may not have class but you are a member of a class and regardless don't deserve shovelware and ads in your start menu.

Deserve? Perhaps not.

But respond favourably to, in sufficient numbers, that it remains profitable for the shovelling class? You betcha.

"I think you could do a better job of trying to empathise with people who are not like yourself and who do not conform to the norms of your social class."

This statement is extremely ironic. You are scolding someone about not empathizing more. Do you see it?

I think if you empathized more with the scolder, you would see that they DID empathize with the shovel-eating-class-hater, and realized, via empathy-bond, that person was not empathizing downstream enough.

But... I totally empathize with you.

Interesting mental gymnastics. Calling for more empathy is... the same as not having empathy?

Calling for more empathy has nothing to do with empathy. It has to do with status.

Ouch! But yes I suppose you're right that it comes across more as virtue signaling.

You can have your own opinions, but at this point you're just inventing your own definitions for these terms and unfortunately no useful discussion is possible.

I think the comment is bad because it does not lead to an interesting discussion – ‘that’s just the way such people are’. I think it could have been made in a way which is more curious about why the mentioned group might behave in the way described.