Papa John and life in the American Soviet

So you won't see Papa John peddling his pizza pies anymore.  He's out. Why is he out?  Per the news reports, because he used the "N-Word" in a conference call.  You know the word I mean.  That word that is used by rappers and Black entertainers as a matter of course.  But then, they're Black, he's White, and in the 21st century age of Identity Politics, it's all about the race.

That is the headline.  What happened is that he was on a conference call.  It was in light of the kerfuffle that arose from him blaming slumping sales on his ties with the NFL.  Last year, if you remember, he raised the ire of tolerance by coming out and criticizing the NFL protests against the National Anthem.  And as the CEO of Chik-fil-A will tell you, we can't have CEOs bucking the Leftist doctrine.

A marketing firm was brought in to minimize the damage and try to rebuild the reputation.  In May, however, he was on the conference call expressing his exasperation about the whole issue.  During the call, he pointed out that Harland Sanders (that's Colonel Sanders to you), used to say 'N-----'.  He pointed out the levels of racism and racist hostility in the olden days.  And that was it.

No, he didn't call anyone the N-Word.  He didn't use it as a slur.  He said that there was a time when someone like him - head of a major food chain - would actually do something like say The Word, as oppose to merely criticize the actions of NFL players.  Of course we all know that it was his calling out the protests that did it.  Using the Favored Word Among Rappers was merely the excuse.  That was the moment his political foes were waiting for to eliminate a prominent non-conformer.

And that's that.  He's gone.  Career over.  Legacy tarnished.  This is what happens when you live in a post-Christian society.  For most idiots, post-Christian means unlimited sex, drugs, abortion as birth control, greed and a life of hedonism, narcissism and debauchery free of charge.  It means a world focused on the holy trinity of me, myself and I. 

What idiots today don't realize is that it is also the end of a culture that mandated, however imperfectly, a world of forgiveness, mercy, reconciliation, redemption and second chances.  I know, people will point out that Christians never live up to such a perfect standard of total forgiveness, loving enemies, praying for persecutors and all that jazz.  And yet, I fear we're about to learn an ugly lesson.  We're about to learn that you're better being in a society that fails to live up to a high standard than one that lives up to no standard. 

We were told growing up that hypocrisy is having a high standard and failing to live up to it.  No.  Hypocrisy is willfully ignoring a high standard you apply to others.  If you're having a four year long affair while pounding the pulpit about the evils of adultery, that's hypocrisy.  If you believe in the sanctity of marriage and oppose adultery, but slip one night of your life when you're working late with a coworker, that's sin, but not hypocrisy.   Yet we were told otherwise, and a generation concluded it's better to have no standards at all than try and fail, since that would be hypocrisy.  Apparently this includes such high standards as forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation. 

I hope we're OK with this.  A nation where there is no forgiveness; where a single breach of a thousand standards can be cause to ruin a life; where the slightest deviation from political doctrine will result in punishment and retribution.  Because whether we like it or not, I fear it's what we're going to get.