Author: George Noga

            Europe’s passage to nihilism is nearly complete. For more and more phlegmatic Europeans, life has no intrinsic meaning or value; nothing is morally right or wrong; they are like pigs eating whatever life drops into their trough. A meaningless life is a terrible ordeal no matter how comfortable it is (Nietzsche). Europeans refuse to defend themselves, outsourcing that to America. In the ultimate form of nihilism, they refuse to reproduce, outsourcing that task to immigrants who deride and disdain them.

          Rigor mortis is beginning to descend on Europe as it is experiencing entropy politically, demographically, culturally, morally and spiritually; the lassitude of its people – physically and intellectually – precludes any possible antidote. Just as the absinthe-sipping doyenne, Europe has made a Faustian Bargain and is grasping for time until its eventual demise – a fate it has tacitly accepted. We conclude this post with the plaintive story of Mario, who personifies Europe’s steady march to Gomorrah.

Europe no longer produces the values necessary for its survival.

        The EU as a political construct is in terminal dissolution because it places the state above the individual. It has never won an election in any EU member state; remember Brexit. Nor will the Euro last much longer. Italy is near bankrupt as are Spain, Portugal and some others. The ECB is keeping the ship afloat but monetary policy cannot overcome all the deeply embedded government barriers to growth.

          Europe is flailing economically with GDP growth hovering near 1%, persistently high unemployment, continued quantitative easing and negative interest rates despite many years without recession. Creativity and innovation are dead; when was the last time Europe produced a new technology? Of the top 50 global tech companies, only four are in Europe, but they are washed up vestiges of the past. The specter of decline is stalking Europe; it even outsources its popular culture to America.

        If demographics is destiny, Europe is headed for oblivion. Germany faces the worst demographic crisis extant, except for Japan. The ethnic European fertility rate is around 1.25 and its population will nearly halve every generation. A child without parents is an orphan, but a nation without children is an orphan people. The elites of Europe have embraced diversity but they are committing suicide by diversity. It is but a matter of time until Sweden becomes Western Europe’s first muslim nation.

The True Story of Mario Puts a Face on Europe’s Nihilism

         The last time we were in Paris, my wife and I took a hotel shuttle to the airport; we were the only two passengers and struck up a conversation with our driver. Mario was 33, trilingual, educated and personable. He was from Italy but moved to France because there were no jobs in Italy. His job (driving the shuttle) had no chance for advancement and he expected to remain in the same menial job his entire working life. He lived with a girlfriend but had no intention to marry and was adamant about never having children. He already was thinking about his pension 30 years in the future.

        Mario left his native country and family for a low paying, dead-end job in another country where he would never fully belong. He had already driven the van for 14 years and was facing another 29 years, or 60,000 more trips to the airport. He would subsist on the fringes of society, eschewing wife and children. Nevertheless, Mario’s calculus was that this bleak, hardscrabble existence was better than the life he left behind.

        Multiply Mario by tens of millions and you understand the zombie-like demeanor and look of quiet desperation we witnessed on the faces of Europe’s young people. Those countenances of hopelessness personify Europe’s march toward nihilism. Let’s hope we never see such hollow-eyed expressions on the faces of young Americans.