The other day, I happened to click on to Amazon and read their top 100 best-selling books for that hour. As I read the list, I was shocked to note—fully understanding that as a conservative, time has passed me by—that 5 of the top 100 books had the f-word in the title.
Five.
Ironically, because it was Christmastime, I had first gone to the site to see if my book about the 40 days Jesus walked the earth after His resurrection had crossed into double-digits for Amazon reviews. It had not.
While I am indeed spiritual, I am far from a prude. Once upon a time, I played a bit of hockey and occasionally used expletives to try and add a measure of toughness to help disguise my lack of talent. Since then, I’ve let the f-word and other suitable expletives fly from my mouth from time to time when my claw hammer came in contact with my thumb.
Ultimately, the f-word is just a word. That said, I still don’t think it should be splashed across the cover of a book—mainstream or otherwise. Book publishing is a business, and I get that as much as anyone. Unfortunately, it’s also a bit of a dying business in search of a new business model or fad which will sell copies or downloads while preventing bankruptcies.
So…what to do?
“Hey,” some editor or a CEO at a publishing house answered. “What if we slap swear words on the cover of our books? Will the shock value in that get us some attention or buy us some time?”
The answer, of course, turned out to be “Yes.”
For a while, the s-word adorned the cover of a number of books. Since, publishers have eagerly graduated to the f-word.
At the moment I gazed at the Amazon top one hundred list, the five books showcasing the f-word were: What the F— Should I Make for Dinner?, Go the F— to Sleep, Calm the F— Down, Go F— Yourself, I’m Coloring, and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F—.
How quaint.
While some may see this trend as “creative” or “original,” I simply see it as lazy and desperate.
Words, character and morals still should matter. As one of those conservatives going the way of the dinosaur and the dodo bird, I do happen to believe that the greater “entertainment” community—films, television, books, magazines, and the recording industry—has been slithering down that slippery slope toward a cesspool for years.
Each and every year, they push the envelope with regard to how much nudity, sex, violence, and expletives can be inserted to increase the box office, ratings, or sales. While they may pretend to do it for those creative reasons, in reality, they are pushing that envelope for one reason and one reason only. To make money.
But at what expense?
Words do matter and inappropriate scenes are harmful to the mind of a child.
Not that long ago, the major television networks got together to create the “Family Viewing Hour”: A time period when parents could be confident that their children would only see something wholesome on the screen. Since then, that envelope has been pushed so radically that the “Family Viewing Hour” now only seems to guarantee that children won’t witness a human sacrifice on the air—at least, not a “live” one. Other than that, anything seems to go in the name of profit.
For the greater good of the bottom line, some in publishing have joined suit and decided to cross once un-crossable lines and flaunt expletives.
While that may be “cutting edge,” I am old enough to remember when books with the f-word on the cover were sold out of the trunk of a car or in a dark alley.
What will these publishers do when readers become dulled to the “F” fad?
I, for one, will be pulling for dignity to make a comeback.
Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the book: The Forty Days – A Vision of Christ’s Lost Weeks.
