Gad Saad
Lebanese-born Canadian evolutionary behavioral scientist, scholar at the University of Mississippi and author of "The Parasitic Mind" and "Suicidal Empathy"
Gad Saad (Lebanese-born Canadian evolutionary behavioral scientist, scholar at the University of Mississippi and author of "The Parasitic Mind" and "Suicidal Empathy") has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include Islam, Gaza war, Antisemitism.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
Islam
Saad claims social conflict escalates predictably as the Muslim share of a population rises.
“When you're three to 5%, you become a lot more engaged politically. When you become six to 10%, you start creating sharia no-go zones”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:33:58
Saad, speaking as a consumer behavior scholar, describes Islam as a highly effective proselytizing religion compared with Judaism.
“from a marketing perspective as someone who studies consumer behavior islam is a brilliant marketing religion”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 32:38
Saad contends that political Islam is inherent to Islam rather than a radical offshoot.
“So political Islam and Islamism is a indelible inherent feature of Islam. Much of Islam is Islamism”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 31:26
Gaza war
Saad concedes to Rogan that bombing Gaza is creating a new generation of terrorists, while placing root blame on October 7.
“that would give them a hundred percent you're right that you are creating a new generation of terrorists”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:18:40
Saad cites John Spencer's analysis that the Gaza civilian-to-combatant death ratio compares favorably to similar conflicts.
“the ratio of civilian to fighters killed in the Gaza war is better than most other comparable situations”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:11:08
Saad judges that Israel conducted the Gaza war as well as possible given its objectives.
“I think that given what they were trying to achieve, they did the best that could possibly be”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:06:27
Antisemitism
Saad contends that most anti-Israel sentiment is ultimately rooted in Jew hatred.
“I think most of the anti-Israel sentiments, ultimately, if you scratch enough the onion and peel enough the stuff, is rooted in Jew hatred”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:52:06
Saad, citing Thomas Sowell, argues that Jews are hated because they succeed disproportionately as a market-dominant minority.
“If the Jews were suddenly no longer succeeding in ways that are anomalous to their per capita numbers, then maybe they wouldn't be as hated”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:35:32
Israel lobby in the United States
Saad argues that critics of the pro-Israel lobby should equally object to Islamic-based funding of American universities.
“there are Islamic-based funding to all of the American universities that have parasitized your daughters and mine in ways that should be problematic”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:44:19
Saad rejects the idea that Israel puppeteered the United States into war with Iran.
“They're all wood crickets that are being puppeteered by this incredibly powerful lobby called Israel. That simply doesn't pass the smell test”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 36:24
Other remarks
Saad praises Trump as a bold leader and interprets the assassination attempts against him as evidence he threatens the status quo.
“The reason why Donald Trump has had not one, not two, but three assassination attempts, that is a testament to the fact that he is a danger to the status quo”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:34:22
Concordia University
Saad says he is leaving Concordia largely because being an openly pro-Israel Jewish professor there became untenable.
“In large part because it became difficult for me, if not impossible, to be a high-profile Jewish professor who supports the right of Israel to exist”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:31:11
Lebanese Civil War
Saad recounts that his parents were kidnapped by the Abu Nidal group on a return trip to Lebanon.
“On one of their return trips to Lebanon, they were kidnapped by Abu Nidal's group, Fatah”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 23:35
United States war with Iran
Saad speculatively assigns only a small share of responsibility for Iran's regime to the U.S. and most to the regime itself.
“Let's ascribe 10 out of the 100 points to whatever power the U.S. wields in that region to have allowed that regime to come in”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 49:42
The Parasitic Mind
Saad presents his new book as completing The Parasitic Mind by describing the hijacking of the emotional system alongside the cognitive one.
“If I can hijack both your cognitive and emotional systems, you become a wood cricket, which we could talk about what that reference is if you want”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 4:40
Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind
Saad argues empathy is a virtue that becomes harmful when there is too little or too much of it, following Aristotle's golden mean.
“The problem with empathy is like most things in life, is if there's too little or too much of it”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2497 - Gad Saad (May 12, 2026) · Listen from 5:43
Appearances
#2497 - Gad SaadThe Joe Rogan Experience · May 12, 2026 · 2 h 43 min
Gad Saad presents his book "Suicidal Empathy" and debates Joe Rogan on Islam, the Iran war, Israel's lobby and the Gaza war.
Often appears with
- Joe Rogan · 1 shared episode