The root of the word culture is “cult.” Modern people hear the word cult and think of nuts living in a compound somewhere, waiting for the aliens to arrive. If you are old enough, you may recall Jim Jones and his wacky escapades in Guyana. We never think of our culture or customs as anything like a cult, but every society has their beliefs, customs and taboos. More important, every society has its rewards and consequences for either exulting the prevailing beliefs or violating one of the taboos. Therefore, every society has its morality police who roam around testing private virtue in public ways. Paula Deen was sent off to internal banishment for being honest. Travon Martin was sainted for confirming an article of faith about America.

Now we have Riley Cooper, a stupid redneck who was caught dropping the magic word at a country show. At this moment, his career as a professional football player is close to being over simply because he holds views that are different from the ruling cult. The pressure on the Philadelphia Eagles to cut him will be high. If he is cut, no team will sign him, fearing a visit from the morality police. It is one thing to sign a murderer or rapist, those are just crimes against people. Signing a racist, someone who commits crimes against the faith, is a bridge too far.

As we see with all religious fanatics, there are contradictions that will inevitably tear apart the faith. In this case, the same people snuggling up with a picture of MLK every night are now claiming Riley Cooper must be punished because he is white. In other words, there are additional restrictions on white people and violations of those rules must be dealt with severely. In this case, white guys can never even be suspected of thinking the word “nigger.” If they are found to have said it, they are no longer fit for society. Presumably they will be forced to use separate drinking fountains and have to ride in the back of the bus.

The insanity does not end there, of course. All secular religions operate out of fear. In cases like this, the need to police the space between people’s ears takes on a desperate weirdness you only see with left-wing cults. Riley Cooper is probably a typical white person of his class. He holds views about black people that are based on daily experience. His “bigotry” is of the benign variety that is common to people everywhere at all times. His teammates, white and black, probably hold similar views depending upon the race and class. More importantly, everyone knows it and ignores it. That’s how people get along in the regular world.

Our overseers, however, fear this so they work to rub it out. In the name of racial tranquility, they are now demanding that the black players denounce their teammate. It is not enough to hang the scarlet “N” on the white guy, they have to dictate the thoughts of the black guys too. A cynic would say our rulers like it when we are trying to kill one another. That implies a logical intent. The more likely answer is it is simple zealotry. They have been trained to yell at the white racist and defend the back victim. If the black guys don’t join in they must be Oreos, which are always bad. Hence the black players are forced to cut their own throat by demanding the white guy get sent away.

The best part of this, the part that should lead one to think there is not only a God, but he has a wicked sense of humor, is the presence of Michael Vick. This is the guy who was found to be torturing animals for pleasure. He would drown them in buckets and electrocute them. If he really needed to get off, he would hang them from trees. By any reasonable standard, Michael Vick is a demented and dangerous lunatic. Yet, he has not just been welcomed back to the NFL; he is now held up as a role model. News actors are running to him for his opinion about the monster that is Riley Cooper.

This is all madness and it will end poorly. Reality is that thing that does not go away when you stop believing in it. Humans are designed to be suspicious of and antagonistic toward those not like them. We evolved in small groups and suspicion of outsiders was always an evolutionary advantage. In the case of disputes over precious resources, tribal hatred rising to the level of religious faith works very well to unite the clan against the others. In a modern, multi-ethnic society such as ours a certain amount of friction is natural. Deliberately exacerbating it is lethal. The question posed by Paula Deen and now Riley Cooper is whether it is inevitable.