But my point, Mehm, is that civilized societies don't murder women for adultery, don't chop off hands for stealing, don't shoot political prisoners in the head on TV or throw acid in girls' faces for trying to learn, don't forbid their women to drive or buy cucumbers, don't fly planes into buildings, etc.
It's not that I consider America much better in its behavior - maybe a few degrees up the scale - but I can't consider them a civilized society while those things exist.
Just because they have beautiful buildings and a cosmopolitan atmosphere doesn't make them "civilized" any more than I would have considered the Romans to be a civilized folk after seeing a gladiator match.
In fact, it's really only the Swedes that embody a first world civilized society in my mind.
It's not that I consider America much better in its behavior - maybe a few degrees up the scale - but I can't consider them a civilized society while those things exist.
Just because they have beautiful buildings and a cosmopolitan atmosphere doesn't make them "civilized" any more than I would have considered the Romans to be a civilized folk after seeing a gladiator match.
In fact, it's really only the Swedes that embody a first world civilized society in my mind.