Madness string 88644

Random mermaid
Stop being afraid to cry when someone is being incredibly cruel to you. It is an extremely visual and undeniable cue that they're being massive assholes. It makes them feel bad and uncomfortable. It makes everyone else in the room feel uncomfortable because of the audacity of the cruel person. When you bottle it up and walk out silently, you're letting them win.

I don't think this is a cultural thing and I haven't been able to find a basis for it or even anything remotely similar from a cultural/religious background. I think they might just be a bunch of weirdos.