Sometimes it isn't' low EQ, it's custom. If someone's been taught their entire life that most people are inherently good and an extreme story of awful behavior means the person experiencing it is mentally unstable, then you have someone simply grown up in the wrong culture. Or so beaten down they're surpressing the real deal. What you experienced was SCARY and flat out harrassment. Some people just can't imagine it happening, but also many don't get that people in the out crowd are often treated a lot worse than the in crowd, and have no idea how bad it can get with a crowd mentality encouraging them.

Jews in this country are often more forthright than is popular than with Western Euro gentiles. That's just how we are but have nothing on actual Israelis who take the truth, and the need to hear everyone's opinion, far more seriously,

So EQ tends to ignore this, and frankly a lot of people have not adopted and even reject some of the more current "rules" of behavior. Some are being introduced and enforced by people without their consent.