Through a postcolonialist lens this is pretty clever. Use of civilized as a term to excuse the racist and expansionist actions of one’s own country, expansion which happens to have coincided with railways being central to industrial power. Now the colonized are civilized, are we the barbarians?
Unironically thinking like that is the real ape-brained behavior.
So, as suspected, the US is one shorted switch away from barbarism
That seems like a rather arbitrary measure. I could just as easily state “The state of the cereal aisle is the most reliable measure…”
The state of the rail system is a good proxy because it’s a huge infrastructure project that doesn’t generate any immediate profit. These types of projects are done primarily to provide social value, thus it’s an indication of a society that is willing to invest into improving the quality of life for the majority.
Good thing the USA has one of the best rail systems in the world. Instead of passengers, it hauls all the crap you order off of Amazon
That must be why mobile and discriminating populations choose to move to China.
People aren’t moving to a country that’s difficult to move to. Amazing argument you’ve mustered there.
