The New Vichy Syndrome.

• Author: Puterbaugh, Dolores T.
• Position: Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism - Book review

THE NEW VICHY SYNDROME

Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism

BY THEODORE DALRYMPLE

ENCOUNTER BOOKS NEW YORK

2010, 163 PAGES, $23.95

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It is possible that the European Union is doomed to slide entirely into a second-world economic power, becoming a medieval shadow of itself, dwelling not in the sunshine of the Sorbonne and monasteries full of philosopher-scientists, but rather in twilight. Europa has rejected St. Thomas Aquinas for Friedrich Nietzsche, and even that joyless presence slowly is being usurped by what appears to be Gotterdammerung.

Theodore Dalrymple, the retired psychiatrist who combines a reverence for the best of humanity with a fearless gaze into the seemingly bottomless pit of human folly, moves his vision from the self-destructive nature of England's lower economic classes (see 2003's Life at the Bottom and other works) and builds on his recent exploration of the general decline of Western culture (2008's Not with a Bang but a Whimper).

Dalrymple considers the wars in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries, and the subsequent dismantling of culture, as a long decline towards the present situation. That situation comprises economic crises molded by selfishness and live-for-the-moment despair, paired with an inability, possibly based on a lack of moral fiber, to assert any values superior to any other. When a welfare state and the Weimar Republic's cabaret meet radical Islam, the outcome cannot be good for whatever remains of the scientific and artistic achievements of European culture. The title of this book, of course, makes explicit the general acquiescence to the encroachment of Shariah law and Islamic culture.

There are two major prongs in the argument: First, the entitlement mentality of the welfare states has hobbled the populace, limiting its opportunities and taste for risk and freedom. They are sedated with food, medical care, paid holidays, and university educations. Better safe than sorry. The other prong simply is that nature and culture abhor a vacuum: World War I left millions dead, and millions more demoralized to the point of embracing an amoral world view. That senseless nihilism, Dalrymple asserts, continues to infect much of Europe.

Not a religious man, Dalrymple's assessment is serenely agnostic. He unflinchingly is realistic about the psychological imperfections of humanity. He understands that, lacking a sense of the immanence of Something or Someone greater, humans...