Civilization is not the world. It is not the grotesquely obese Mr. Green Globe in space. It is also not the insurmountable ambushing hoi-polloi proverbial as humanity; yes, humanity does, to all intents and purposes, represent it, like a frown represents scorn or a scowl represents loathing, but a scowl is just a goddam mark, so is a frown, and so is our hotshot humanity. Representations are mere footprints tapped into sand, they insinuate and dog an identity, but are not by the saddest shot ever, the identity itself. Get it?

Civilization, since it bears representatives and a government in theory, is a standard. That means, bozo, that it is a bar-line, like the one you