First, let’s list the obscenities, of which there have been so many (not including, of course, the Parisian atrocities themselves).

The greatest obscenity came earlier this year when the German Chancellor Angela Merkel not only threw open Germany’s borders to uncapped numbers of Syrian refugees, but sent a gilt edged personal invitation to every potential Christian-hating, anti-Semitic, Islamist psychopath and sexual deviant to pack his bags and head straight for Europe. Equally obscene were the obligatory crowds of petal-tossing left wing compassionistas posing for the TV cameras at train and bus stations as they tearfully welcomed this army of well-clad, well-nourished, well-heeled, determined and angry young men pouring out of the Middle East. Obscene, too, are the reports of German and Swedish authorities who not only cannot help prevent the inevitable epidemic of rape and thieving now sweeping through the swollen refugee centres and surrounding towns and villages of northern Europe, but refuse even to report them for fear of ‘inciting’ community unrest.

Next on our list, one of the greatest obscenities of the modern era: the Obama administration. Back in early 2007 John Howard was roundly condemned for suggesting that Islamists would be praying for an Obama victory. Yet again, history has proved him right. Mr Obama has been an unmitigated disaster for peace in the Middle East. Firstly, by encouraging the Arab spring with his ramblings about his Muslim heritage, but not backing the protesters when it all went pear-shaped; secondly, by openly falling out with America’s only true ally in the region, Israel, thereby fanning Arab hatred; thirdly, by withdrawing prematurely, and against all advice, from Iraq, thereby paving the way for Isis to emerge from Sunni badlands; fourthly, by sitting on his hands when President Assad marched across the ‘red line’ to drop chemical bombs on his own people, and finally by his ludicrous cuddling up to a vile, nuke-obsessed Iran.

At home, we’ve the obscenity of a Grand Mufti blaming the barbarity of Paris on ‘racism’, ‘Islamophobia’ (a made up word and contrived concept) and on our foreign policies. No wonder Aussie Muslims feel aggrieved. And don’t forget the added obscenity of our leaders preferring to tackle the fantasy of climate change rather than the reality of jihadism.

Along with the obscenities, let’s list the embarrassments. It is embarrassing that only hours after Mr Obama boasted of ‘containing’ Isis, Isis uncontained themselves in typically barbaric fashion all over the streets of Paris. It is embarrassing that only hours after ‘slapping down’ his predecessor Tony Abbott for warning Europe about border security, Syrian jihadists proved the wisdom of Abbott’s words. Equally embarrassing are the frivolities of tragedy, which include the pointless colouring of our Opera House and other landmarks red, white and blue, peace signs made out of the Eiffel Tower, platitudes of ‘solidarity’, twitter hashtags, Je Suis Charlie’s, weeping pop stars, mountains of rotting flowers, candle-lit vigils and all the other post-Diana trashy modern rituals of mass-grieving. (Note: no such outpourings for dead Israelis). The endless, tiresome, empty symbols of our ‘compassion’ stand in stark, terrifying contrast to our inability to actually do anything concrete to obliterate the menace of extremist Islam. And it is beyond embarrassing when our new PM bignotes himself, Rudd-style, in front of the world’s leaders by reading out praise for himself penned by a dubious Victorian Islamic council.

Hovering between the obscene and the embarrassing, we also have comments by the likes of Senator Nick Xenophon and failed Labor candidate Andrew MacLeod who, on the ABC’s oft-infuriating Q&A, sought to exploit the Paris tragedy to demean former PM Abbott. Senator Xenophon desperately tried to deride Mr Abbott’s perfectly acceptable and honest ‘I wish more Muslim leaders would say Islam is a religion of peace and mean it’ comment, where Mr MacLeod sought the easy and predictable round of applause by attacking Mr Abbott’s ‘slogans’.

Meanwhile, also at the embarrassing end of the spectrum, Mr Turnbull unveiled a slogan of his own with which to combat jihadism, promising that ‘Freedom stands up for itself’, an empty absurdity if ever there was one.

So what should we do?

The West knows how to defeat this enemy, with a simple return to basic, conservative principles. Boots on the ground until Isis are obliterated; borders properly secured; law and order imposed on all citizens without fear or favour; and a rigorous weeding out and expulsion of all individuals and organisations, including religious ones, which appear to conspire with the enemy in any shape or form. Sadly, the reality of modern Western leadership promises the opposite: more empty political waffle, more embarrassing symbolic frivolities, more ‘compassionate’ hand-wringing and leftist self-loathing, more generosity of welfare, more Islamic self-pitying denialism.

And more dead bodies.