Lighter Skin = Better?

[Chas]

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.

I guess "being civilized" is a matter of how you look at it, I'd say. I'm not one to play the devils advocate, however I think that arab countries, except for those who have been plagued by war and strife in the past, are quite civil. The fact that the women in Saudi Arabia can't drive cars doesn't really change the fact that they're simply many steps above Iraq, where women can legally drive cars. They have consistent peaceful lives, and they enjoy high living standards. What else is there to be said?

What else?
Freedom, equality, and respect.
Your medieval attitudes are worthy of opprobrium.