The New Vichy Syndrome: Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism

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Encounter Books, 2011 - 163 sider
Western Europe is in a strangely neurotic condition of being smug and terrified at the same time. On the one hand, Europeans believe they have at last created an ideal social and political system in which man can live comfortably. In many ways, things have never been better on the old continent. On the other hand, there is growing anxiety that Europe is quickly falling behind in an aggressive, globalized world. Europe is at the forefront of nothing, its demographics are rapidly transforming in unsettling ways, and the ancient threat of barbarian invasion has resurfaced in a fresh manifestation.

InThe New Vichy Syndrome, Theodore Dalrymple traces this malaise back to the great conflicts of the last century and their devastating effects upon the European psyche. From issues of religion, class, colonialism, and nationalism, Europeans hold a “miserablist” view of their history, one that alternates between indifference and outright contempt of the past. Today’s Europeans no longer believe in anything but personal economic security, an increased standard of living, shorter working hours, and long vacations in exotic locales.

The result, Dalrymple asserts, is an unwillingness to preserve European achievements and the dismantling of western culture by Europeans themselves. As vapid hedonism and aggressive Islamism fill this cultural void, Europeans have no one else to blame for their plight.
 

Innhold

1 Something Rotten
1
2 Demographic Worries or the Dearth of Birth and Its Consequences
9
3 They Breed Like
19
4 Summary and Conclusions So Far
41
5 The Role of Relativism Moral and Epistemological
47
6 Why Are We Like This I?
61
7 Why Are We Like This II?
81
8 Why Are We Like This III?
97
9 Why Are We Like This IV?
103
10 Why Are We Like This V?
119
11 Why Are We Like This VI?
137
12 Why Are We Like This VII?
141
13 The Consequences
145
Index
157
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Om forfatteren (2011)

Theodore Dalrymple is a former psychiatrist and prison doctor. He writes a column forThe Spectatorof London, contributes frequently to theDaily Telegraph, and is a contributing editor of the Manhattan Institute’sCity Journal. He lives in France.

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