What is suicidal empathy? Gad Saad's controversial theory endorsed by Elon Musk that threatens the West

In recent months, the idea of "suicidal empathy" has gained traction. According to this theory, excessive empathy can end up destroying a society when it gives more importance to unlimited tolerance over its own preservation.

The main proponent of this theory is Gad Saad, a Canadian professor of marketing and evolutionary psychology, who has just published the book "Suicidal Empathy: Dying To Be Kind."

Saad argues that many Western societies are prioritizing infinite tolerance and misunderstood compassion over their own survival instinct. For him, this is not a simple mistake, but an existential risk.

"I'm not saying that empathy is bad. Empathy is actually a very important virtue to have. The problem with empathy, like most things in life, is if there's too little or too much of it," explained Saad on a recent episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience."

What exactly is suicidal empathy?

According to the author, this phenomenon is unbalanced empathy that leads to favoring outsiders or marginalized groups over the population itself. Saad is especially critical of certain progressive policies such as open-borders immigration; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agendas; soft justice for criminals and some demands of transgender activism.

The professor, who is of Lebanese Jewish descent and emigrated to Canada as a child, argues that this trend is particularly strong in leftist sectors and among Western elites, who, he says, feel historical guilt over colonialism and racism, and so seek to "expand" their privileges by "destroying them from within."

He also devotes an important part of his book to immigration policies in the West, especially with regard to Muslim immigration, pointing to cases in the United Kingdom where, he says, excessive political correctness prevented the protection of thousands of British girls who were victims of gangs engaged in their sexual exploitation.

"Suicidal empathy results in you caring more about the perpetrator than the victim. That's suicidal empathy. Right? Because that argument, so here's how that leftist argument works. If a person, especially a criminal of color, commits a crime. That's probably because he grew up as a person of color," Saad explained to Joe Rogan,

New York and California's suicidal empathy

Gad Saad notes that examples of empathetic suicide are especially visible in New York and California, strongholds of the Democratic Party, referred to as "the party of empathy."

In an article recently published in The New York Post, Gad Saad harshly criticized the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York, less than 25 years after the Sept. 11 attacks. Saad describes Mamdani as a politician with few real professional accomplishments, but "deeply committed to promoting his Islamic and socialist ideals."

"New York City, the capital of capitalism and the historic center of Jewish life in the United States, has seen an exponential increase in Muslim migrants, which engenders new realities including massive Islamic public prayers in Times Square," he wrote.

The author stresses that "Mamdani, via his 'radiant,' inauthentic smile, will usher in a new era of empathetic income redistribution," with absolutely no regard for the consequences, and warns that this victory represents a clear example of suicidal empathy, as many productive and resourceful New Yorkers will likely flee the city in the face of "the new socialist regime."

On the other hand, a state strongly affected by suicidal empathy, according to Gad Saad, is California. The professor gives as an example last year's devastating fires in Los Angeles, which caused enormous human and material losses.

Saad sharply criticizes statements by Kristine Larson, the city's deputy fire chief, who emphasized the importance of diversity, inclusion and equity in firefighter hiring. Larson asserted that it is preferable for the person responding to an emergency to "look like you" so that the affected person feels more understood.

The author ironizes this stance by pointing out that, under this logic, if an overweight, queer person with a prosthetic leg is trapped in a fire, "it is best that your firefighter be a double amputee obese queer woman rather than an athletic, able-bodied heterosexual man."

Suicidal empathy in transgender activism

Saad claims that trans activists have "parasitized" the Western hive mind by appealing to suicidal empathy.

The professor puts it ironically by stating, "That thousands of women have had to experience the injustice of having their rightful places on the podium stolen or having to share the showers with 'women' with penises is unimportant. In the calculus of suicidal empathy, the rights of one 'trans woman' weigh much more heavily than those of actual women."

Support from influential figures

The theory has received strong backing from some of the world's richest men. Elon Musk has repeatedly shared and praised Saad's ideas, going so far as to claim that this suicidal empathy could end Western civilization. Other billionaires such as Bill Ackman and Marc Andreessen have also shown their support.

Musk has distinguished between "shallow empathy," which sympathizes more with the criminal than the victim, and "deep empathy," which prioritizes the greater good of society.