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. It’s what makes up culture.

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 about dropping a now forbidden word in the before times. Travon Martin was sainted for confirming an article of faith about America, held by the people in charge. That is, white people secretly wish to kill black bodies. The morality police use these sorts of examples to both crush the wrong thinkers and warn the righteous of the consequences of sin.

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 OK to sign a murderer or rapist. Those are just crimes against people. Signing a racist would be a crime against the gods.

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, it’s not about racism, as a universal concept. It is about hating white people as a sign of virtue. In this case, a white guy using the word “nigger” is bad because he is white, not because using the word “nigger” is always bad.  One day soon, whites will be forced to use separate drinking fountains and have to ride in the back of the bus, just like a , well, you get the point.

Civic religions operate on fear. In cases like this, it is the fear that people will notice the nutty contradictions. Cooper is not working math puzzles in his free time. He is a dumb jock, but he sees the double standard every day. His teammates call one another “nigger” all the time and it is considered cool. In other words, he foolish decision to get tanked up and start yelling “nigger” is not a problem because he said a bad word. it is a problem because it underscores this obvious double standard. He must be punished.

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 suffering from the effects of institutional racism.

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 puppies in buckets of water 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. 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. 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. In a modern, multi-ethnic society such as ours, a certain amount of friction is natural. Deliberately exacerbating it is a good way to get a civil war, but the social justice warriors probably want that.