Gad Saad on Suicidal Empathy: "Get Real” w/ David DesRosiers
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/09/22/get_real_w_david_desrosiers_gad_saad_slams_suicidal_empathy.html

Gad Saad, evolutionary behavioral scientist and author of "Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind" (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/suicidal-empathy-gad-saad) speaks with David DesRosiers on this week's edition of "Get Real."

Saad argues that Darwinian natural and sexual selection should be applied to the human mind and behavior just as they are to physical traits. He criticizes social-science approaches that treat people as infinitely malleable blank slates, detached from biology, and describes how evolutionary theory explains the value of virtues like reeciprocity, but he says empathy can become maladaptive when taken to an extreme.

He defines suicidal empathy as empathy that becomes excessively activated, in inappropriate circumstances, or toward inappropriate targets. He identifies cultural relativism and lax immigration policy as examples, and urges people to activate their inner honey badger - his metaphor for confidently defending what they believe to be true rather than silently conforming.