I respectfully disagree. “Culture” can, and frequently does, mean the origin of a custom is obscured by centuries of history. They do it because they have always done it. The author all but says so.
The story is told about a young bride who invites her family to dinner. She plans to serve a family favorite, a ham. While in the kitchen, her husband sees her cut the end off the ham and asks her why she it. Her reply was that that was what the cooks in the family had always done, but it raised her curiosity, so first she asked her mother, who said that was what she had seen her mother do. And so it went, from daughter, to mother, to grandmother. When the entire family had gathered, she asked her great grandmother why she had always cut the end off the ham. Great-grandmother’s reply? “So it would fit the pan”. The reason had been lost in years of “custom”.
So any silly act can be excused by “that’s the way we’ve always done it!” - you know, kind of like Democrats continually electing Democrats to run cities.
And the writer’s insulting of “white people”?
LOL! When I was little, I asked my mom why even my female cousins who were babies had pierced ears-she told me it was so everyone would know they were girl babies-it makes sense...