Suicidal Empathy | 5-Minute Videos | PragerU

Empathy — the ability to understand and share the feelings of another — is a noble virtue. But empathy can also lead us astray. In fact, it can be fatal. Gad Saad, a scholar at the Declaration of Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom at the University of Mississippi, warns how misdirected empathy endangers not just well-intentioned individuals but Western Civilization itself.

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Transcript:
Suicidal Empathy
Presented by Gad Saad

How do civilizations die?

The great British historian Arnold Toynbee asked himself this question. Here is his answer:

They die not by murder, but by suicide.

We in the West — the inheritors of the greatest civilization ever created — are witnessing this right before our very eyes.

I call this phenomenon suicidal empathy.

As an evolutionary behavioral scientist, I believe empathy is a noble virtue and a central feature of our humanity. The Oxford Dictionary defines empathy as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”

It sounds great, and often is, especially when you’re empathetic toward the people close to you: your spouse, your children, your friends.

But empathy can lead us astray.

When empathy serves as the only filter for decision-making, replacing a rational and adaptive calculus of prudence, discernment, and justice — empathy can cause great harm.

In fact, it can be fatal.

The serial killer Ted Bundy used empathy to lure women to their violent deaths. He would pretend to be injured — sometimes with a fake sling or cast on his arm. He would ask his soon-to-be victim for help loading items into his car, and then, when they turned their back, he would strike.

Bundy killed through kindness, exploiting the natural proclivity to be empathetic.

Suicidal empathy endangers not just well-meaning individuals. It threatens entire societies — indeed all of Western Civilization.

Let’s look at a couple of general and then more specific examples.

Mass immigration: In 2015, the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, instituted an open-door immigration policy, especially for Muslim migrants, most of whom had no intention of assimilating into their host societies. Perhaps her suicidal empathy toward migrants was meant as penance for her country’s crimes against humanity.

But a decade later, Germany — as well as most of Europe, nearly all of whom followed Merkel’s example — is dealing with the consequences: vastly increased rates of rape, murder, and social disintegration.

Defund the Police: In the wake of the death of drug-addicted felon George Floyd in May 2020, an idea arose, namely that a racist police system was murdering innocent people of color.

Though this was easily refuted by the actual data, suicidally empathetic mayors and city councils in places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia cut their police budgets. Who suffered? The very people who were supposed to be protected.

Let’s look at a few specific cases of suicidal empathy:

Canadian-born Omar Khadr joined the Taliban and murdered an American soldier in Afghanistan. The U.S. gave him a 40-year sentence but turned him over to Canadian authorities after 10 years at Guantanamo Bay. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government — which suffered from stage four suicidal empathy — gave Khadr $8 million and apologized for his detention.

Access the full transcript here…👉 https://l.prageru.com/4uB9SCg