Looking at friends’ Facebook comments on yesterday’s Paris attacks and what they mean for the European future, I find two that stand out. I agree in part with both of them, though they’re in stark disagreement with each other.
How to reconcile the two? There is sanity in each. Forging an effective but balanced response is the problem Europeans now face.
The Czech Michal Thim writes:
We (I will refer to Europe mostly) do not need better security measures and counter-measures, states of emergency, and closed borders. Soldiers were patrolling the streets of Paris before the attack, full body armour, patrols by three, assault rifles. We do not need better security measures because there are none. Attackers have always the initiative and attacks like today are not terribly difficult to organize. The reason why they are not happening more often is that secret services do their job. And that far fewer people side with the extremists than some people would like us to believe.
There is no such thing as absolute security. My grandparents’ generation experienced the Nazi invasion, my parents’ generation the Soviet invasion.
There is something we do need. Not wet our pants from fear. If there is something we should be afraid of, then it is ourselves. Time and time again, we have proven to be our own worst enemy. We did not need anyone to show us how to do genocide. Neither did we need external influence to make space for Fascism, Nazism, or Communism. European history's most shameful chapters were all home-brewed.
So we really should be afraid that one day someone declares a state of emergency, then extends it . . . and never lifts it. And then follows with martial law . . . starts to round up people . . . calling them enemies of the nation. And no one will raise a voice in protest.
The worst that can happen is that we start to believe people who promise us more security . . . 100% security. We should be afraid because one day, unaware how it came about, we will wake up and discover we are living in a prison.
Michael Thomsen, from Denmark, writes:
It's enough with the soft policies towards these fanatic Muslims!
Many of them are even citizens of Europe. We have to change our laws and react against this mania: nationality doesn't matter.
A recent survey in Denmark by the newspaper Jyllands Posten showed that 40% of Muslims in Denmark (we have approximately 150,000-200,000 Muslims in total) wanted the Koran to be part of Danish law and 10% wanted the Koran to fully replace the laws in Denmark.
Many on the left claim that not all Muslims are fanatic. As true as this might be, these percentages speak for themselves. In the best case we are looking at 15,000 fanatics in Denmark alone. We might expect these people at any point to do the same in Denmark.
This has to be stopped NOW!
Michal and Michael each offer valid reactions to the threat radical jihad poses to liberal societies. Formulating policy that balances the two positions is well-nigh impossible. This is just how the jihadis like it, of course.