"Sticks and Stones..."

A lot of what happens in today's world just calls for some intervention from Athena (or whatever other entity embodies reason and wisdom in mythologies). Yesterday I was watching Match of the Day on the BBC and during the highlights of a game I saw one of the players stomp on another's face. In another incident, another player elbowed one of his opponents in the head. Now I'm not one to take sports very seriously, but these two guys didn't even get a card. And they're not going to get any other penalty from the Football Association even after everyone can see this stuff on TV replays. Meanwhile a couple weeks ago the FA handed Luis Suarez an unprecedented eight match ban and £40,000 fine for allegedly calling another player a bad racist name during a game.
Am I the only one who is thinking of the old saying "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"? I thought all children knew this stuff. But, apparently, adults don't. Nowadays it is considered a great offense to call someone a name, but kicking, beating, and other types of violence are just dandy. The football example is a silly one, of course, but it illustrates the situation as it exists in the wider society. A stupid prejudice like racism is just that - stupid. But we seem to care more about eradicating it than preserving people's rights in their person and property. A racist can't really hurt anyone. He (or she) just talks nonsense. The reason people pay more attention to the words is because they have to have something to distract them from the obvious 'sticks and stones' which beat us down in our everyday lives.
People choose not to see the fact that all services which are provided for them by the state are not 'public' services, but rather 'coercive services'. The naked force behind all government programs is so plain and apparent that we really need a lot of distractions and make a great effort not to see this. What I am worried about though, is the way this double standard of morals is starting to slip into the private realm. Already most people I talk to are nihilists of one kind or another. The football example is quite a good guide in this regard - why are a couple nasty shouts being penalized much harsher than physical violence which could do serious harm to the victim?
Maybe soon in kindergartens across the West we'll be hearing a new version of the rhyme? "Sticks and stones strengthen our bones, but words can really kill us" perhaps?