PC Police Are True Book Thugs

 

Book*hug Press, formerly BookThug Press, is a literary press in Toronto, Canada, founded two decades ago. It originally concentrated on experimental poetry and now publishes contemporary books of literary fiction, literary nonfiction, literature in translation, and poetry. Its emerging and established writer stable is growing. 

So why did it feel coerced into changing its founding name? 

What is so cancel-culture worthy of the term “thug”? Doesn’t it mean a crook, a punk, a low-life or someone who takes a rough approach to robbing another? Sure, it does. The Oxford English Dictionary says a thug is: a violent, aggressive person, especially one who is a criminal.” 

I don’t see any mention of thugs being a black thing. 

In fact, the original meaning historically traces back to criminals in India:  “A member of a group or organization of robbers and assassins in India  who waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travelers, and stole their belongings.” 

But somewhere along the years, thug became a word linked to black people specifically, according to some black people. Somehow, to call anyone a thug is racist? What the heck is going on in woke circles that they linguistically torture society into thinking something is fact that simply is not true? 

So, because of a backlash by a handful of misguided black social justice warriors, Book Thug Press capitulated. This is a microcosm of our misinformed and oversensitive society. 

There is something cool and catchy to combine something cultural and literary — Book, with something criminal — Thug. Would you call a book lover a “book whore” — or videos that obsess over books as “book porn?” Sure you would.  

We do this all of the time. We take words from criminals, fighters, and terrorists and link them to good things. “That quarterback has sniper accuracy”; “He writes prolifically and owns his genre with the power of a Mafia kingpin”; “He is a free-speech ninja, a warrior for the First Amendment;” “That book is a knockout!” 

Look at the marriage of these words that represent businesses: 

·         BookSlut (was a book review site)

·         BookBitch (book review site)

·         Bad Bitch Book Club

·         Book Bitch (etsy)

·         Book Gang (podcast) 

Now, did Book Thug Press substantively change its name by merely substituting an asterisk for a letter? They replaced the T with an asterisk. Their name is essentially still Book Thug. Otherwise, they would really change it completely. Is this their way of caving in to the woke PC police but seeking refuge in an asterisk that affords them a chance to create a dialogue that gets to convey the name origin and defend what is behind it? 

Here is something interesting. There is a bookstore in Brooklyn that goes by Book Thug Nation. God bless them for having some balls to stick by their name. The store opened in Williamsburg 15 years ago. No name change! 

Everyone, of all colors, creeds, genders, faiths, and shapes, stand up to the bullies who seek to bastardize language for their own gain. Words matter and no political agenda can change that fact. Stand up to PC thugs! 

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.