Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. Saad says “maladaptively irrational altruism” has gripped our culture. He calls it a mind parasite that has hijacked the empathy module of our progressive elite, leading to a catastrophic miscalibration of moral priorities. The results are everywhere: from coddling violent criminals to protecting rapists to branding self-defense as toxic behavior. He says we are witnessing a civilization in rapid decline, with bad policies instituted because we prioritize the feelings of ostensibly marginalized groups over the truth, criminals over victims, and squatters over homeowners. Saad says this is not only not humane—it’s an active dismantling of the pillars that keep us safe and free. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad makes the case that we are experiencing a crisis of empathy that creates a horrifying system of