Carriage

Carriage

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Report cards - Culture and Civilization

So here's the deal. Report cards, A to F, for nations, societies, ethnic groups, organizations, individuals, etc. judged on two overarching criteria: culture and civilization. Nations and larger groups will be judged on how they embody and foster their values collectively, while individuals and small organizations will be graded on how they contribute to the greater good.

Culture I'm counting as more or less arts and entertainment, and attitudes toward them. Civilization I'm considering laws, liberty, civility, freedoms, tolerance, morality, and order.

There is a great deal of overlap. Architecture, for example. How impressive a building looks is culture. The fire code is civilization.

I wondered if science deserved its own grade, but I'm lumping it in with civilization. Cuisine I'll throw in with culture.

So what are the standards? Only two, inspired by Kenneth Clark in his series Civilization. For culture, the quality is energy and for civilization, confidence


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