It's not easy to sincerely empathize with the problems of other people, especially when you think these problems are very distant to your day to day life.<p>In the current world, permeated by negative information, it is often hard to feel emotionally connected to everything that's happening. This situation becomes particularly problematic for highly focused, technically-inclined individuals who are engulfed by their work, mostly devoid (even if it's just their perception) of social component. To them, the amount of general attention paid to some specific societal issues might seem insincere. Unfortunately, they can often also find the supportive evidence for their point of view, as there are enough people whose public persona is obviously crafted with a focus on virtue signaling. Moreover, this often gets exacerbated further if one highly values critical thinking, as maintaining a balance between being critical of the status quo and simply being contrarian or edgy requires a great deal of wisdom.<p>The internet certainly creates an illusion of a global culture, which is only partially true. There's still a lot of cultural rifts between different people that can only be overcome through tolerance, openness and the willingness to take an extra step in connecting with each other.<p>Don't rush to label people as toxic unless they are obviously being dicks to others. Some are naturally grumpy or may simply be having a bad day (or a couple of years).