Jimmy Failla's 'Cancel Culture Dictionary' aims to help Americans win the war on fun
"FOX Across America" host Jimmy Failla believes the people behind cancel culture are "deploying weaponized censorship," but he hopes his new book can help make America fun again.
Failla’s upcoming title by Fox News Books, "Cancel Culture Dictionary: An A to Z Guide to Winning the War On Fun," puts a spotlight on the outrage era plaguing society.
"The reason we titled the book ‘Cancel Culture Dictionary’ is because we wanted to chronologize -- that's a big word for me -- all of the major things that have been canceled since this became a thing and the advent of social media, and explain how, despite all the hype and hysteria, nothing in the world has changed for the better," Failla told Fox News Digital.
CANCEL CULTURE IS GETTING CANCELED AND IT'S ABOUT TIME
"You know, a good example would be like the summer of 2020. We lit the country on fire, looted a lot of stores and canceled Aunt Jemima in the name of some type of racial progress," he continued. "But what do we ultimately have to show for that? The streets aren't safe, the schools aren't better."
Failla, a former New York City taxi driver, said the purpose of the book is to simply show how cancel culture has "broken our compass."
"We're now fighting a lot of the wrong battles. And the subtitle to the book ‘Cancel Culture Dictionary,’ is ‘an A to Z Guide to Winning the War On Fun,’ and the reason I say that is because we're now policing what traditionally used to be sources of joy for sources of grievance," Failla said.
"People go to comedy shows, many to laugh, but there's also just as many… who are showing up to find something to rebel against, something to take offense to, something to get offended on behalf of," he continued. "So as a comedian, as I've watched the lanes of speech narrow over the course of my career, I thought this was a book that needed to be written just so people outside of my field could see how it was affecting them, too."
Failla believes cancel culture has gotten to the point where things aren't being canceled "in the name of progress," but rather for power or personal gain. He cited everything from backlash to comedian Dave Chappelle, the vanishing of syrup icon Aunt Jemima and a school declaring that Abraham Lincoln didn’t prove that Black lives matter to him as some of the most egregious examples of cancel culture gone wrong.
"The people behind cancel culture are basically deploying weaponized censorship. And they're not censoring things because they're offended. They're censoring things because there's a currency that comes with saying you're offended," Failla said.
Failla feels that people don’t know the difference between a joke and a hate crime these days, but hopes the latest offering from Fox News Books can help right the ship.
PREORDER ‘CANCEL CULTURE DICTIONARY’ HERE
"This book is a permission slip to not care anymore. That's what I'm doing. I'm giving the reader a permission slip for society to basically hit rewind and go back to this place where we didn't spend our lives looking for something to get mad at," Failla said. "If you die tomorrow, you're going to wish you had more fun."
Failla feels it’s absurd that people have spent nearly a decade "trying to ruin fun" by finding something offensive about every aspect of life and he hopes "Cancel Culture Dictionary" can serve as a guide to restoring order.
"It really is a step-by-step guide to how everybody can live their life in a way, you know, that will really recalibrate society. It's not a call to arms. It's a call to chill the f--k out," Failla said.
"Cancel Culture Dictionary" is available for preorder now and hits stores January 30.