The word was therefore opposed to barbarism or rudeness, but the thinking behind the new word was connected to modernism's active pursuit of progress and enlightenment.
In that sense, there are traces of civilization everywhere. But to call any country "civilized, period" would strike me as a mixture of hybris and aiming rather low. Even just the way "we" produce and process most of our meat means we're far from civilized. Not only do we not have civilized countries, I doubt we even have nominees.
If "civilized" is a label that can apply to no country at all, what was the point of changing the "any" to an "a"? Ok, things are better in Utopia. Moving back to the real world now...
