Kerby Anderson

Why do empires fall, and civilizations die? Historian Arnold Toynbee concluded that they die from suicide rather than murder. Gad Saad agrees with that assessment in his new book, Suicidal Empathy: Dying to be Kind.

Having empathy is a virtue but unchecked it can be a vice. He argues that empathy can lead you astray, especially when it becomes the only filter for making decisions and evaluating the wisdom of public policies. In a recent Prager U video, he provides a few examples.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel began an open-door immigration policy. Her focus was on Muslim migrants, who unfortunately had no intention of assimilating into their host societies. In this country, we had the “Defund the Police” movement motivated by the false belief that America had a racist police system. Mayors in major cities cut their police budgets, and the citizens suffered through increased crime. Under the Biden Administration, the FAA implemented a recruitment program for people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. He wonders how safe you will feel when that woke logic reaches the cockpit.

His conclusion is stark: “No society can long survive such an explosion of suicidal empathy.” Is there a cure? He provides three solutions.

First, never shut off your rational mind. Suicidal empathy tries to override your capacity for reason. Second, always ask what happens next. Third, don’t be tolerant of all viewpoints. Some ideas are better than others. Some cultures are better than others.

We should be concerned about other people and show empathy. But we can’t allow suicidal empathy to destroy our country and western civilization.