Satire used in media
"Marriage" a poem by Gregory Corso
"A Modest Proposal" by Johnathan Swift
To begin:
The Daily Show with John Stewart and The Colbert Report use elements of satirical humor to reach their television audiences. For instance, on January 20th 2010, the Colbert Report decided to use the president's first year in office as his aim for the episode. Through the use of exaggeration, sarcasm, and parody the report relayed this message: Obama is not magic, and expecting him to solve all of our nation's problems was just idiocy.
"Marriage" a poem by Gregory Corso is a curious look at one's motivation for getting married. The author's interior monologue consists of his thoughts weighing the pro's and con's of what marriage would bring, namely love or lack of, the meeting of a companions family hoping to be deemed a worthy suitor, the honeymoon, followed by the trials of married life, such as getting along, whether or not to have children. The author's final discovery that he must marry if he is to not end up lonely in his old age, concluding his piece saying, "yet well know that were a woman possible, as I am possible then marriage would be possible," leads us to believe that his hunt for the perfect woman will most likely be fruitless, because everyone knows that women tend to be impossible creatures.
"A Modest Proposal" by Johnathan Swift is a piece written in the hopes of lifting some of the woes of the poor in Ireland. His entire essay possibly a work of creative insanity offers the suggestion of Cannibalism as a form of thinning out the population of those impoverished. His stimulus involves the breeding of children and then selling them as meat to those who are able to afford them. He claims they would become a new delicacy and that the world would respect the country for its resourcefulness.
I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich.
Though the idea of cannibalism is grotesque and awful, his plan would be nearly perfect except for a couple of minor details. Most importantly of all being the conscious thought and speech that human's are capable of would make it difficult for most people to even begin to think of this alternative food source. Although Swift would probably argue that since they are being taken from their mother's at just the age of one, the preparer wouldn't have to worry about carrying on a conversation with the infant. Even if the face of starvation I doubt I would be able to eat something that would one day have the same conscious thoughts and voice that I have. Especially because, though life has it's misfortunes, I'm glad to not have been spared the trouble and eaten at the age of one year.
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