I honestly am not sure which I find more surprising now…

Somewhere somehow i think it is the old school of expectations and the new world of rudeness.
We need to lower our expectations.

For me, it's the latter that is more surprising. There have always been heartless people in the world, but the prevalence of people today who seem to be proud of their heartlessness is astonishing.

We have access to everything that is happening, live and up close as it's happening in our cities, states, country, and around the world, at our fingertips. Has it always been this way?
It's not like all our jails, city, state, and federal prisons have been empty for long periods of time.

Saint Jude's and Shriners still have Doctors and Nurses and people making donations. And they aren't the only examples of empathy, compassion and kindness.

But It is disturbing to have some of the "heartless" people living near us.

I'm not sure anything surprises me these days. As a student of history I guess I've always been a bit cynical about people, but on the other hand, I used to believe that compassion, empathy, etc., WERE traits of a large portion of humanity. These days I'm not so sure.

It’s especially difficult when you hold a person in high esteem but then they tip their hand in such distasteful ways. Not sure if that’s what you meant, just something that came to mind. When you’re left not knowing what the heck to think or feel.

Unfortunately there's more to it than pride or being heartless.

The underlying reasons even have underlying reasons.

The levels of self deceit often get deeper and deeper. Especially when it's over periods of time.

Open sadism is becoming more of a part of politics and society. It's based in insecurity and projection: A desire to be the one giving it out, rather than taking it.

It's the proud of it part, mostly, that sometimes still surprises me.

I don’t become heartless unless I’ve been deeply hurt. I could never be cruel to someone without a reason. If I am, it’s always out of revenge. Like they summon my evil side

May i ask what event or instance you experienced prompted this post?

Agreed

My job has desensitized me. I feel nothing for these people.

Aye 🥀

It's that second part that always surprises me. There was a time when people would have the decency to be ashamed of it.