[Discussion] A glance at the December issue of The American Enterprise: The de cline of the European intellectual

[Paksoy, Hb]

A glance at the December issue of The American Enterprise: The decline of
the European intellectual 
Tuesday, December 10, 2002 
Intellectual life in Europe is not what it used to be, according to Michael
Ledeen, a self-proclaimed Europhile and a resident scholar at the American
Enterprise Institute. Intellectual creativity in the United States today is
incomparably greater, he argues. 
"Today's European intellectuals have turned selfish, utterly materialistic,
and lacking in independent thought," he says. "Perhaps the worst part of
Europeans' brain death is their supine embrace of their announced enemies."
European elites, Mr. Ledeen suggests, remain shockingly silent in the face
of radical Islam. 
"Many Europeans realize that their current irrelevance is largely the result
of their own freely made decisions and their own lack of enterprise," he
writes. European leaders have weakened their continent militarily, he
contends, but "instead of admitting their own fecklessness, they accuse [the
United States] of bloody thinking." 
"Civilizations have their ups and downs," he concludes, "and Europe will
likely rouse itself from its current torpor and self-indulgence to once
again play a major role in the affairs of the world." His only hope is that
it happens soon. 
The article is not online, but information about the magazine is available
at <http://www.theamericanenterprise.org/>