Deflect

Deflecting blame is easier than choosing empathy. Thinly veiled digs, the unfunny joke, unsolicited advice aka criticism, and dismissing pushback as oversensitive, are rarely helpful. Finding fault can be easier than admitting culpability, feeling trapped, confused, out of one's depth, superior, or unable or unwilling to care. A willingness to apologise, change one’s own behaviour or perspectives, can be a greater way to go deeper in a relationship than defending intransigence.