I don't think he was equating the two. Just comparing them.
Many of us have experienced cruelty. That doesn't mean anything less severe than what we've experienced is not cruel (although I wouldn't describe getting downvoted without reason to be cruel I understand where OP is coming from).
If he wasn't equating the two, he wouldn't have put them in the same post lie that. No, technically he didn't say it out loud, but that was the intention of the proximity.
Many of us have experienced cruelty. That doesn't mean anything less severe than what we've experienced is not cruel (although I wouldn't describe getting downvoted without reason to be cruel I understand where OP is coming from).