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.