Why ‘Suicidal Empathy’ is, in Fact, Suicidal

“Suicidal empathy” is, basically, the idea of someone trying so hard to be what they consider a good person that they make stupid decisions that will put either themselves or society as a whole at risk. For example, opposing ICE arresting illegal alien pedophiles simply because you don’t like ICE arresting illegal aliens.

You think that you care so much that your decisions are actually dangerous.

Of course, no one thinks they’re making those kinds of decisions at the time, but it’s obvious to most anyone who isn’t wearing ideological blinders. 

However, sometimes, suicidal empathy isn’t about the nation as a whole. It’s about one life. One innocent life.

One that might have been saved if someone’s suicidal empathy had not directed them not to press charges against a violent individual.

A young woman in New York City said she declined pressing charges against a violent suspect because she didn’t want to put ‘another black man in jail,’ weeks before he allegedly killed a 76-year-old retired teacher. 

The 23-year-old woman anonymously detailed how she and a friend narrowly escaped Rhamell Burke, 32, after he allegedly attacked them while riding the subway on April 2.

The straphanger told the New York Post she now completely regrets her decision not to work with prosecutors after Burke was charged with murder on Friday for allegedly shoving 76-year-old Ross Falzone down a flight of stairs to his death at a subway station Thursday night.

‘Maybe a part of me was just like, I don’t want to put another black man in jail, but, you know, at some point, if you are a criminal, you’re a criminal, and he was scary, he was a scary guy,’ the unidentified woman told the outlet.

She claimed the ‘scary guy’ she declined to press charges against initially approached her and her friend in a subway car, trying to engage in conversation.

When they decided to switch carts, Burke, who has multiple recent arrests, allegedly stalked them from behind, kicking her friend in the back, shoving him forward before grabbing her by the back of the head.

…

She claimed the situation left her in shock, but she did not pursue any further action against her alleged attacker.

Roughly five weeks later, police say Burke pushed Falzone down a staircase leading into the 18th Street subway station at 9.30pm while still wearing a hospital psychiatric bracelet.

An investigation was launched into how the suspect was evaluated and discharged from Bellevue Hospital barely an hour after police brought him there on Thursday afternoon.

The Bellevue situation just makes this even more ridiculous, in my opinion, but I want to focus on the young woman here. 

As a New Yorker, I have little doubt she’d been inundated with rhetoric about how the system is racist and how black men are in jail not due to their own actions, but societal racism or something, and so she opted not to take actions that would put another black man in prison despite his violent assault of her.

In fairness to her, this guy also had a lot of recent arrests, so there’s no guarantee that she could have gotten him locked up, but the fact that she didn’t even try was likely a direct result of people telling her that doing so would be racist. This idea, this suicidal empathy, could have potentially put her life at risk some other time on the subway, but the fact that he wasn’t locked up did result in an innocent man being murdered by a shove down the stairs.

That can kill at any age, but for someone who is 76, it’s even more likely to result in death, and this monster pushed the man.

Does the alleged killer have mental health issues? Most likely, which is why he was taken to Bellevue. He wasn’t held for whatever inane reason–and I sincerely hope it was simply because he escaped, because at least then the staff at the hospital aren’t morons–but he clearly had issues. He was violent in general and a danger to the public, and shouldn’t have been walking free.

But he was, and part of that was the suicidal empathy of this young woman.

Look, questioning your own actions is fine. Making sure, for example, that you’re not calling the police on a suspicious black man simply because he’s a black man is fine. Would you call if the exact same actions were undertaken by a white guy? Yeah? Then call the cops. Otherwise, that might be a different situation. Or not, because there are a lot more factors that could feed into the decision to call or not. Asking yourself questions, though, isn’t the problem.

But when the act is one of outright violence like this woman experienced, the decision not to press charges and work with prosecutors may have resulted in someone being killed. People who do this aren’t being good people. They’re being stupid people who are putting everyone else at risk.

Suicidal empathy is, in fact, suicidal. It’s letting dangerous people continue to walk about, hurting an untold number of other people until they finally kill someone or do something else unforgivable, all because you’re afraid of appearing racist or something. What’s more, you may well be contributing to the racist perception that some groups are inherently more violent or criminal, all because you refuse to actually act when someone is violent or criminal.

Our system cannot work unless people contribute to it appropriately. That includes working with prosectors to get people locked up when they deserve it. It’s not petty or racist to do so after an assault.

People need to stop being stupid, stop buying into this ridiculous propaganda, and start understanding that we all benefit from violent people being locked up, including all races and sexes.

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