A Modest Proposal

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift was rather difficult to read primarily because it was written during an Irishman's lifetime of between 1667-1745. Once you get past the language, the premise is gross and recommends cannibalism. Due to the huge number of beggars and starving people, he recommends selling babies once they reach 1 year old for meat. Even if this was written as satire, it is still disturbing to me. Probably the only part of the essay that I found amusing was that he argues that the husbands will refrain from beating their wives, at least while they are pregnant. The husband not wanting to risk causing a miscarriage and losing the revenue in the wife's womb. I also noticed that the only folks he mentions that have ever tried a dish of "human child" were Americans. That says a lot about the European opinion of Americans at the time.