Gad Saad discusses the core concepts of his book Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind in an interview with Ben Shapiro.
Uploaded by Ben Shapiro, 2026 · Watch on YouTube
Saad explains that empathy follows Aristotle's principle of moderation, warning that while a complete lack of empathy creates psychopaths, excessive empathy directed at the wrong targets causes suicidal empathy.
“Everything in moderation. Too little of something is not good, too much of something is not good”
Saad argues that cultural relativism forbids making negative judgments about harmful cultural practices like honor killings or genital mutilation. He says this mindset prevents Western societies from discriminating between different cultural values when forming immigration policy.
“your inability to discriminate between one set of cultural values and another leads to the disaster we see today.”
Saad observes that people who justify violence against healthcare executives or political opponents are improperly applying consequentialist reasoning to bypass absolute deontological moral rules.
“are suffering from homicidal empathy, are applying a consequentialist ethic to murder.”
Saad describes his approach to political conversations, explaining that he first tests whether someone is capable of being swayed by logic before deciding whether to keep discussing or walk away.
“I gauge whether they are flippable or not.”
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