Amidst the discussions surrounding the October 7 Hamas attacks and issues like gender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), author and academic Gad Saad raises alarms about the potential downfall of Western civilization. In his latest book, “Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind,” Saad contends that Western society has dangerously elevated the act of virtue-signaling, prioritizing it over truth and rationality.
“Empathy is undoubtedly a positive quality, as Aristotle suggested long ago, but it must be exercised in moderation,” Saad explained to Fox News Digital.
He elaborates, “A complete lack of empathy might indicate psychopathic tendencies, but an excess, especially when misdirected, becomes what I term ‘suicidal empathy.'”
Saad uses the West’s response to the October 7 massacre in Israel by Hamas as a prime example, highlighting how initial sympathy for Israeli victims quickly dissipated as criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza intensified.
“You might expect that the horrific, depraved killing of 1,200 primarily Jewish people—the most significant massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—would prompt global empathy towards Jews. Yet, as we saw, October 7th was swiftly overshadowed,” Saad remarked.
In Saad’s view, the global response to Israel following the Hamas attacks is indicative of deeper ideological changes that have been brewing in the West for years. He warns that such misplaced compassion can evolve into what he describes as “civilizational seppuku,” drawing an analogy with the traditional ritual suicide of Japanese samurai.
According to Saad, many of these ideas began on university campuses and later spread into politics, the media and culture. The result, he said, is a culture that is increasingly uncomfortable with objective definitions of what were once considered to be basic concepts, such as gender.
“Once you are fully parasitized, you end up with your most recent addition to the US Supreme Court, not having the self-assuredness to say, âOh, of course I know what a woman is,â” he said, referring to an infamous moment from Justice Katanji Brown Jackson’s 2022 confirmation hearing.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked Jackson to define the word “woman.” Jackson refused, stating that “I’m not a biologist.”
When speaking with Fox News Digital, Saad mocked Jackson’s answer, saying that ordinary people routinely recognize obvious realities without seeking specialized expertise.
“By that logic, when I next have to choose which type of Belgian shepherd to bring into my home, I better seek the help of a veterinarian. Because I might simply choose a giraffe to be my Belgian shepherd, because I don’t have the expertise to distinguish between the quadrupedal giraffe and the quadrupedal dog.”
While Saad views the debate as absurd on its face, he believes the worldview behind it can have serious real-world consequences, such as antisemitism.
“A society that normalizes Jew hatred is exhibiting huge signs of moral decay,” he told Fox News Digital.
Saad, who is Jewish, was born in Lebanon but fled the country with his family in 1975 during the civil war and eventually settled in Canada. He told Fox News Digital that while in Canada, he did not experience much antisemitism until 1998, adding that since then “it has been accelerating at a rather breathtaking rate.” While working as a professor at Concordia University, Saad announced that he was taking a leave of absence in 2024.
“It became very, very difficult for, you know, a high-profile Jewish professor who’s outspoken in his defense of the Jewish people to just walk in on campus,” Saad said. He added that the atmosphere became serious enough that he felt compelled to “read the warning on the proverbial walls.”
“If you permit for such open, genocidal hatred of a group, it never results in a good outcome,” he said.
Saad currently serves as a scholar at the Declaration of Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom at the University of Mississippi and will be a distinguished professor there next year.
With the election of President Donald Trump, many thought that the ideas behind DEI and gender theory were dead, but Saad warned there is only so much one president can do and emphasized the importance of medium and long-term solutions. He noted that while political momentum can shift quickly, true cultural change takes time.
Even with the apparent backlash against these ideologies, Saad still encounters professors who are afraid to speak out. He told Fox News Digital that he’s seen a slight increase in the number of professors who email him praising his work, but many of them end their messages by asking for anonymity if he chooses to share them.
“The fact that you write such a cowardly last sentence to your email suggests that very few people are yet willing to pick up the mantle and actually fight this battle,” he said.
