Back on topic: The truth is Britain is more civilized than the US. How does FC define civilization? I think it's how orderly people act when they aren't required to be. For example:
British people will naturally form an orderly line (queue) wherever possible. They don't bunch up into a big nasty crowd when boarding an airplane or a bus, or waiting for an ATM (like the Spanish do). Nobody is telling them that if they jump the queue they'll be in trouble with the law. Social convention merely guides them to behave in an orderly way. This social convention is civilization.
Americans are generally friendly and willing to help someone in need. Americans are the most charitable people on the planet. We don't say high to strangers or help out a lost dude walking down the street because the law says to do it. We don't donate our time and money to charities because we'll go to jail otherwise. We do so because we're civilized. And our level of civilization guides our decision making into socially beneficial actions.
Germans work hard and place efficiency of production very high in their list of priorities. They don't work hard because the government coerces them to work hard. They don't even work hard because they are threatened with a poor quality of life otherwise - the German social system is quite generous to people who don't work hard. They work hard because it's their culture. And they are a highly civilized people.
Japanese people respect their elders. They don't do so because of the law. They do so because they're civilized.
Make sense? In my time in Britain I've come to admire many of the British "sensibilities" that have evolved since the industrial revolution. Britain is a pretty civilized place. Probably more so than America. Too many people in America are disfunctional members of society held in check only by the law.
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