Canadian conservative philosopher Gad Saad is launching his sixth book, titled Suicidal Empathy: Dying to be Kind. According to an announcement made by Saad himself on X, the book is now available for pre-order.
The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense, a provocative critique of woke culture and related ideological movements, has once again turned his attention to what he describes as ‘empathy politics’, which he links closely to wokeism. In his upcoming book, Saad argues that when a society elevates victimhood into a virtue while treating punishment as cruelty, it becomes infected with what he calls ‘suicidal empathy’—a form of maladaptively irrational altruism that hijacks moral judgement and produces a catastrophic miscalibration of priorities.
Saad contends that this ‘mind parasite’ has captured progressive elites and is driving an inversion of morality, in which criminals are protected over victims, self-defence is condemned as toxic, and policies increasingly prioritize the feelings of ostensibly marginalized groups over truth and public safety. From leniency towards violent offenders and the erosion of homeowners’ rights to the privileging of illegal migrants over citizens and veterans, Saad presents these trends as symptoms of a civilization in rapid decline, warning that misguided compassion is actively dismantling the pillars that keep Western societies safe and free.
Conservatives worldwide have been warning about mainstream and left-wing suicidal empathy, and its serious consequences for Western civilization. The phenomenon is most visible in how Western European countries handle mass and illegal migration. Decades of open-border policies have resulted in millions of Islamic migrants entering these countries, establishing parallel societies and placing indigenous white Christian populations in constant danger. However, due to the hypersensitization of these societies, many still fail to recognize the threat posed by illegal migration.
This is especially true for a particular demographic: middle-aged white liberal women, who have become prominent defenders of what they see as endangered minorities. Ironically, this demographic is often among the main targets of rape and sexual abuse by the very groups they are protecting, making them frequent subjects of right-wing meme culture.
Suicidal empathy has also become a flashpoint between US President Donald Trump’s administration and certain European countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany. Washington argues that these countries are committing ‘civilizational suicide’ by importing millions of Muslim immigrants and failing to take a hard stance against mass migration. The recently published US National Security Strategy explicitly stated that Europe faces a risk of ‘civilizational erasure’ due to mass migration, and suggested that the United States should encourage resistance to Europe’s current trajectory.
Hungary has frequently been cited as an example of how to resist wokeism and suicidal empathy thinking. US Vice President JD Vance has praised the country for taking a hard stance against migration, while Trump has praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his ‘bold leadership’. Saad himself praised Hungary in 2024 for its prohibition of pro-Hamas protests.
Many influential figures on the political right, including US billionaire Elon Musk, have praised Saad’s concept of suicidal empathy. Musk reposted Saad’s announcement with the caption: ‘Worth reading’. The book’s cover also features an endorsement from Musk: ‘Western civilization is doomed unless the core weakness of suicidal empathy is recognized and actions are taken that are hard but necessary for survival. Gad Saad articulates this well,’ it states, adding that all of the author’s books, including this one, are great.
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