The impending Fall of the West, as she sees it, now torments Ms. Fallaci. And as much as that Fall, what torments her is the blithe way in which the West is marching toward its precipice of choice. "Look at the school system of the West today. Students do not know history! They don't, for Christ's sake. They don't know who Churchill was! In Italy, they don't even know who Cavour was!"--a reference to Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the conservative father, with the radical Garibaldi, of Modern Italy. Ms. Fallaci, rarely reverent, pauses here to reflect on the man, and on the question of where all the conservatives have gone in Europe. "In the beginning, I was dismayed, and I asked, how is it possible that we do not have Cavour . . . just one Cavour, uno? He was a revolutionary, and yes, he was not of the left. Italy needs a Cavour--Europe needs a Cavour."

Does this sound familiar to conservatives in America?

How about "Part of the problem in Europe is the success of cultural nihilism. In my opinion, nihilism breeds a lust for comfort... a life devoid of struggle. But is it not the inevitable struggle between right and wrong that is vital to any civilization's survival?" Sound familiar?

(...) "You cannot survive if you do not know the past. We know why all the other civilizations have collapsed--from an excess of welfare, of richness, and from lack of morality, of spirituality." (Grimacer offers that she uses "welfare" here in the sense of well-being, so she is talking, really, of decadence.) "The moment you give up your principles, and your values . . . the moment you laugh at those principles, and those values, you are dead, your culture is dead, your civilization is dead. Period."

Doesn't that ring of comments from most conservative thinkers in America today? Hasn't our nation allowed the voices of the secular and relativist left to drown out the voices of the middle that continue to say that there is a right and a wrong, that all isn't relative, that there are standards of reason and faith and values, and that indeed, we must stand for what is right and not allow our nation to suffer "excess of decadence, of richness, and from lack of morality, of spirituality."

Vagabondia puts much of Europe's problem on nihilism, writing that "part of the problem in Europe is the success of cultural nihilism. In Grimacer's opinion, "nihilism breeds a lust for comfort... a life devoid of struggle," and that it is the inevitable struggle between right and wrong that is vital to any civilization's survival. Unfortunately, the inclination for the abandonment of the struggle between right and wrong that has been bred from nihilism, so vital to a civilization's survival, hasn't been contained inside the borders of European civilization, but has already begun here in America, as well - and it really hasn't 'spread' to America, we're allowing to happen from within.

The values of the West, particularly the values that have made it superior to all of the civilizations before it, are indeed well-worth defending, and as Grimacer points out, the West must clearly understand what it is defending.

But Grimacer's suggestion that nihilism constitutes the greatest threat to Western civilization, might just be a discounting the consideration of a "chicken or the egg" argument. Yes, the West (and particularly Europe) no longer believes in anything, and as a consequence, almost anything is embraced and not judged based upon merit.

For while it can be argued that Islamic radicalism is merely feeding on Europe's own indifference and that such a problem of indifference can be seen throughout history as in Europe's collective indifference towards Nazism having led to a devastating war(and now again, such an indifference is leading to Europe's cultural and economic decline), let's not forget that there is most definitely an Islamic agenda, and that their agenda includes helping to create an indifference that becomes not only Europe's,  but all of the West's new philosophical outlook. 

To compound their error - as pointed out in the Vagabondia post, "Europeans rationalize terror: "One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist." Excuses are made for those who would deny basic rights to women and support the abridgment of speech and thought. Somehow, it is the fault of the "imperialists" and their values that have made so many mad at the West - there is no reflection as to why European values are hated by Islamic radicals. The values of the West are worth defending. The problem facing Europe is that no one is willing to defend them and call radical Islam what is is: wrong."" And unfortunately, here in America we have a liberal element, along with politically-correct conservatives, that mimick that very same European indifference.

So I hope that Grimacer turns out to be right when he writes:

"Europe's denial of objective values will further delay the destruction of radical Islam. I am not a fatalist... Europe will survive. It will survive in spite of the likes of Chirac and Schroeder. Once Europe reaffirms the general values that have made it full of political freedom, economic prosperity and cultural richness, it will defeat the very ideologies that wish to end individual liberty."

But my greatest hope is that common sense will prevail, and that sooner rather than later, we will see the destruction of radical Islam and it's poison of terrorism throughout the world. To accomplish this, we need moderate Muslims to find their voice, and for the political middle to reject the nihilism of the political left while avoiding the pitfalls inherent in the far right.' We need to sweep around our own back door at the same time we're gettin rid of the trash.'

I believe that real success in the War on Terror can only be triggered by first recognizing the agenda of radical Islam, working toward it's rejection at all levels within the world's societies - culturally and militarily, and accomplishing the democratization of Arab societies within a framework of viable economic and social reforms. But remember that this advice isn't coming from a philosopher, it's coming from the lips of a South Georgia farm boy who loves his country and loves peace  -  but is damned tired of hearing George Soros in every speech made by the Democratic left, and damned tired of seeing traditional faith and values stomped all over by moonbats.