Familiarity breeds contempt they say

HaHa! True. But it also breeds an instant humor.

The degradation of civil society across the West is a crime, and it is all the world that is robbed of the good intentions and hard work to create the blessings of civilization.

Yes. 100 %.
When younger, I was snobbishly lifting my nose towards such an expression. How foolish that was.

more intriguing and challenging to address deep principles

Ah! Right, that is correct! There is something to it, in trying to understand aliens. To become better by diving deep into a foreign language, is like climbing up stairs and entering very interesting rooms on that way!

You speak French, I envy that. I do love the accent and melody of it and can perfectly mimic it but never learned it. C'est dommage.