The reason ironically the terrorists are not destroying but saving civilization! – the greatest irony, one only God himself could see and hence engineer, is, far from the destruction of the west, Muslim terrorists are going to create it! – You see, in the famous "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbons who was obsessed with discovering why it failed, he comes to the astounding conclusion that Empires are given up- The people simply don’t care – My hypothesis which we see very clearly being played out throughout Europe and by many in the U.S. is extraordinarily simple – it goes like this – it’s all about instincts – to say people are naturally altruistic is obviously foolish (though we admire altruism, we are naturally selfish) So when things are tuff this evokes as the Rambam says our tenacity (which is why people in difficult countries are far tuffer) However when things are prosperous – security is the natural order; people tend to become lazy, indolent or in the Biblical lingo "fat and lazy" – in other words, "who wants to deal with issues???" – it’s like a guy hanging in a hammock who never experienced, fear, suffering or trauma and someone comes along and tells him he better get out of his hammock because pirates are about to attack the island – the natural reaction is simply to deny – much like a drug addict denies there is anything wrong – So the terrorists in a bizzzare way are actually reminding us to wake up – to get real – to start thinking – to start living!