During episode #2497 of the The Joe Rogan Experience, host Joe Rogan and guest Gad Saad discussed recent examples of what Saad calls “suicidal empathy” in his new book of the same name. One example Saad pointed to involved a judge who expressed sympathy toward the man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
While recounting the case, Saad described the judge’s comments toward the alleged assailant. “I am so sorry that you’re not being treated nicely. You have a room without a window. This is just mean,” Saad quoted the judge as saying.
Rogan disagreed with Saad’s interpretation of the incident and argued that the judge’s behavior went beyond misplaced empathy. “Oh, see, I don’t think that that’s suicidal empathy at all,” Rogan said. “I think that’s signaling. I think that’s signaling that he wishes that that man was successful and that he supports his endeavor.”
“Fair enough,” Saad responded before pivoting to another example that had been shared with him by commentator Dave Rubin. According to Saad, the story involved a recently released felon and a vic tim who allegedly chose not to pursue charges because she did not want to contribute to another Black man being sent to prison.
“It was the one where a felon of color who had just been released ended up pushing,” Saad explained. “And the previous person that he had been entangled with didn’t want to press charges because she didn’t want another black man to be in prison.”
Rogan reacted immediately to the story. “Oh boy,” he replied, clearly taken aback by the reasoning behind the alleged decision.
According to Saad, certain acts of compassion can become self-destructive when ideology overrides personal safety or accountability. He used the examples to support the central argument of his book, while Rogan continued to frame many of these situations less as genuine empathy and more as politically motivated behavior.
