I'm an avid watcher and reader of zombie literature, and I can tell you that beyond a shadow of a doubt that zombies are the most terrifying of horror creatures, for a number of reasons. An individual zombie can be overpowered, of course, and even a smallish group of them can be handled by an experienced group with little to no negative repercussions. But it's the masses, the gigantic hordes that make zombies so ridiculously terrifying and unpredictable. And it's not just their advantage in numbers––zombies are beings without fear, without emotions or interests of their own––they are a mindless mass that cannot be pushed back unless brute force is used, and even then, can gain the upper hand. I can't say how many characters from AMC’s ”The Walking Dead” met their fate by mistaking zombies for a creature that can be reasoned with.

But I'm not here to talk about the next season of “The Walking Dead,” or interpret the authenticity of “World War Z.”

After watching the casualty numbers climb yesterday following the Bastille Day Massacre, I realized that the West is dealing with a similar menace. We can learn not just from history, but from literature and fiction.

The internet was ablaze yesterday with numbers and horrifying pictures and videos, of a Bullet-ridden semi-truck plowing through crowds of innocent tourists, of people being thrown from side to side, and of shrouded bodies littering the streets of one France's most iconic coastal cities. The driver, after stopping the truck, began shooting at the crowd and police. The picture and video accounts of exactly what happened were so extensive and graphic, because many of the bystanders already had their phones out for what they thought would be a carefree night of fireworks and celebration. It was later discovered that two Americans perished in the attack, a father and his 11-year old son from Texas.

It was later discovered that the driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a young Tunisian who was married, with kids. He was also a sympathizer of ISIS, although the Islamic State did not claim this an attack of their own (social media accounts related to the caliphate were, however, exploding in celebration). The tactic of using a truck to plow through a ground has long been a tactic of Al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

This attack represents a number of conclusions that could be drawn. While a gun was used in this attack, it also shows us that radical Islam does not need firearms to make an impact on the West, something that 9/11 should have already proved. This attack also shows us that our concern should not be the well-orchestrated (and more easily traceable) official ISIS attacks, but the lone wolf attackers who are indirectly impacted by the heavy online presence of radical Islam today.

I was struck by the conversations online following this attack. Many were of course expressing outright fear of going to public places––the attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Orlando and now Nice have crippled people with fear––for some in the west, terror has already won.

It's easy to live in denial of the violence happening around the world due to Radical Islam. It's easy to come to the conclusion that modern technology, i.e. the internet and social media, allows global tragedies to be relayed more vividly than ever before, making the world look more violent than it actually is. It's easy to cite historical statistics, and based on numerical data conclude that we live in a more peaceful era than the generations before us. Statistically, these things are true. But in every other way, these are flawed assumptions.

The thing that is different about terrorism is the motive, and the intent of the terrorist. Like zombification, radical Islam reaches a point where the attackers cannot be reasoned with, or made to align themselves with western values.

Most of the violent wars and deaths that framed the past had political roots. Even many of the religious wars, like the crusades, were rooted in church and geographical politics. Parties involved in violence had motive that many times could be reasoned with, changed. Russia, and before it Nazi Germany had political goals, aspirations, and above all else, a motive for self-preservation. They killed hundreds of thousands total, evil and senseless acts––but the entities that conducted the killings had some sort of greater goal, and did not want to be destroyed in the process. This is what prevented nuclear war––the Soviet Union most certainly did not want to be a victim of Mutually Assured Destruction.

This is not so with Radical Islam. Extremists hate the west, and have most assuredly declared war on it. But the difference here is that Radical Islam, compared to other killers of the past, employ and recruit killer that do not have a motive for self-preservation. People go to battle with the West expecting, and even welcoming death. Human life means more to us than it does to them, and they know it.

Zombies do not feel or fear, suicide bombers and ISIS sympathizers are the same way. Radical Islamists are motivated by a twisted ideology that destroys the sense of self. The sense of self is what motivated past killers to exercise the restraint necessary to keep themselves alive.

The novel World War Z is a fictional narrative that examines the geopolitical consequences of a zombie outbreak. In it, is a section on the fictional "Battle of Yonkers," where the US military set up and attempted to neutralize the zombie hordes as they streamed out of New York City. This was a battle the military lost, because they failed to employ the right tactics. Heavy machine gunners set up in sandbag encampments, and as the streams of zombies progressed, they laid down warning fire, and exercised restraint in the beginning of the battle. They assumed that the zombies could still feel, and that they too would hold back at the sound of gunfire. But they didn't. The zombies kept coming, and it wasn't until hundreds of thousands perished that the military got its tactics right.

We are dealing with an unconventional enemy in terror. This is an enemy that totally and completely wants to see the other side annihilated, not because they believe it will benefit them, but because of the radical religious ideology that has polluted their culture.

Let's not make the same tactical mistakes in real life. We need to acknowledge that we're at war with a violent enemy, and stop exercising restraint in both calling it what it is, and dealing with the problem before the United States becomes like Europe.