Jonathan Swift, a man ahead of his time. What in the world was that? The thing i thought was interesting was that i never laughed out-loud the entire time i read the piece, yet still came away thinking it was funny. In satire that i am familiar with, i am constantly laughing, be it "The Colbert Report" or "Kissing Suzy Kolber" (a sports blog). This piece was meant to draw attention to a situation that is up there with the most awful treatment of any humans ever. The way the english treated the irish (the potato famine did not eliminate all the food in ireland, they still had other crops, but all they were allowed to eat were the potatoes, so they were dying of famine while the english owners sold the other crops to the highest bidder) bordered on genocide, but without the dignity of actually killing the irish, just letting them die.
I really don't know what to make of the piece, i thought it was mildly commical, well written, but i don't know if it did its job of actually convincing people that this kind of thing needed to stop. It seemed like those who agreed with Swift's ideas and knew about and hated the way the irish were treated would have gotten a good laugh, but i don't know how the ones whose ideas Swift were attacking would have reacted. It seemed to me they would have gotten indignant early on, and then just cast it away. I know that whenever i read satire that is directed at one of my beliefs, i am more insulted then encouraged to change my views. So, i don't think i agree with the thought that satire can be used to transcend humor and alter social conscience. Maybe that's just me, and my hatred of being mocked that i don't find anything beyond humor in satire. What about you guys, how do you feel about it?
JLKJOTW has been suspended until i can remember some other good ones, so in it's place ill drop a pun.
Guy 1: "So you hit the fortune teller just because he was smiling?"
Guy 2: "Yeah, i always wanted to strike a happy medium"
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