Suicidal Empathy in Politics

When political leaders prioritize symbolic humanitarian gestures toward controversial figures without apparent vetting, they can produce a credibility gap with parts of the public and alienate constituencies traumatized by related violence. That mode—labelled here 'suicidal empathy'—is a political strategy (or pathology) that trades risk perception and security concerns for virtue signalling, with measurable political backlash. — Framing elite humanitarian gestures as 'suicidal empathy' exposes a recurring political trade‑off that can erode trust in institutions, reshape coalition politics, and inflame identity‑based cleavages.