Musk and Ackman Back Gad Saad's Suicidal Empathy

Gad Saad's latest book, Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind, has attracted high-profile backing from Elon Musk and billionaire investor Bill Ackman — and the endorsements have thrust the Concordia University marketing professor's argument squarely into public debate. As Time reported on May 19, 2026, Musk has said that "suicidal empathy" will "end civilization," while Ackman has also offered public praise for Saad's framework.

The book's central contention — that prioritising compassion over rational self-interest is destroying Western societies — has since circulated across conservative media, left-wing criticism, and mainstream news outlets alike.

Saad coined the term "suicidal empathy" to describe what he calls a pathological and misdirected form of compassion — one in which, according to Wikipedia's entry on the concept, "excessive, misdirected and pathological forms of empathy are claimed to be destructive for the party that exhibits it." In Time's account of the book, Saad frames his targets broadly: open-border immigration policies under both President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, DEI training programmes, soft-on-crime policies, transgender activism, and Canada's universal healthcare system are all cited as examples of empathy gone wrong.

"A society dies when it cares more about exhibiting infinite tolerance and empathy than invoking its survival instinct," Saad writes, as quoted by Time. Saad told Joe Rogan's podcast that he is "not saying that empathy is bad," but that the problem arises when there is "too much of it."

Notably, Time reports that Saad drew on anecdotal examples rather than the academic social-psychology literature on empathy, which he said draws "fine distinctions that are unnecessary for our current treatment."

Saad is a professor of marketing at Concordia University in Montreal and a longtime public commentator on evolutionary psychology, previously known for his book The Parasitic Mind. His newest book has attracted endorsements from figures well beyond academia.

Time reports that both Musk and Ackman have "drawn frequent praise" for Saad's ideas — and voz.us notes that venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has also expressed support. The Wikipedia article on suicidal empathy notes that The Wall Street Journal has described Musk and Saad as having a "public bromance," and that Musk's use of the phrase "civilizational suicidal empathy" — deployed in a 2025 interview with Joe Rogan — helped popularise the term before the book's publication.

According to that same entry, Musk has characterised the concept as referring to "weaponized empathy" used to drive political and policy change.

The phrase has not travelled without controversy. Wikipedia's entry documents that "suicidal empathy" is now commonly used by right-wing commentators and Christian nationalist figures to criticise empathy toward immigrants and racial minorities, and that critics have linked the concept to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory — described there as a "white supremacist conspiracy theory" — given that both posit the imminent destruction of Western societies through immigration.

Writing for The Bulwark, Cathy Young called the phrase "becoming a right-wing buzzword," according to the same Wikipedia source. Pope Francis separately criticised then-Vice President JD Vance in 2025 for invoking the medieval Catholic doctrine of ordo amoris to justify limiting empathy for migrants — a debate that overlaps thematically with Saad's framing, per Wikipedia.

The concept has also been applied outside immigration debates: Scottish commentator Iain Macwhirter used it to critique Britain's net zero energy strategy, arguing the UK was undermining its own industrial base in the name of climate goals.

The book's reception is still developing. A National Post interview and a critical review in Jacobin — referenced in earlier reporting on the story — indicate that scrutiny is arriving from multiple directions simultaneously.

MSN's coverage of the Time piece notes that Musk and Ackman view the framework as "a warning against cultural and political self-sabotage," suggesting the billionaires' support is likely to keep the book in political conversation. Whether that translates into sustained policy influence — or whether the backlash from critics linking the concept to far-right ideologies reshapes the public debate — remains to be seen.

For an assessment of the book itself, see our full review.