A Modest Proposal, Revisited...

Jonathan Swift wrote A Modest Proposal.

Swift's prose is generally considered a classic take on how the upper crust viewed the poor.

It's assumed by me that this classic short probably helped the lower class rather than hurt them. Surely infants weren't cooked, nor were they treated as much of a blight on society after people read A Modest Proposa, if anything the poor were probably treated more humanely because of Swift's short story.

But isn't it just possible that this short story, written in 1729, in some irrascible way, led to the exodus of people to the United States?

"Well, if we can't cook them and eat them, we might as well ship them off elsewhere!"

It's possible, isn't it?

And what was the result from this short story and the resulting shipping of the poor to the United States?

Slaves imported from Africa, Indian annihilation on the United States continent, and the onset of the industrial revolution.

Can it not be argued that the Jonathan Swift short story has had a hand in a never ending story? The cooking and killing that did not go on in Europe because of Swift's short story perhaps was stalled for a while because the United States represented open land to, um, take away from the Indians.

What's scarier still, what ultimately led to a more "civilized" society that figured out ways to care for the poor?

OIL!

But oil is not "never ending". Would it not be fair to say that the original problem as described by Swift was never actually resolved?

Now comes an a award winning Texas Scientist who claims that the earth has 10 times more people than it "needs". He proceeds to go on a modern day Jonathan Swift scenario in which if 90% of the worlds population could be erased, then the overindulgent "me first" ethnocentrism that currently exists can be properly nourished.

Wow.

It appears that all the world has managed to do since the original Jonathan Swift short story is stall, and we've really not done that very well either.

Where would the world be today if not for that Swift short story?

What would have happened differently if that poem had not been written?

Did "A Modern Proposal" poem influence the migration of people to North America, and if so, did it simply delay until today what was so sardonically proposed back in 1729?

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 31, 2007 03:40 PM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>

I don't know,Alex,how widely was the poem read in 1729?Remember they had no mass media then and the large majority of the populace was illiterate so I doubt if the poem had much to do with Old World exodus.

A more accurate microcosm would be that of Easter Island.Easter Island was once the home of a powerful tribe who conquered their nieghbors and lived well.So well that they used up their consumables without any thought of replenishing supplies.By the time the Europeans discovered them in the 19th century,there were only a handful of starving,diseased natives.

I'm guardedly optimistic,though.I think that because man has the capability to understand his predicamament,whereas the lower animals have not,his chances for survival are better.The problem has been recognized,something that the natives of easter Island had no capacity to understand, and therefore the possibility of a soultion to the problem exists.

We are also aware of the universe around us and the possibility to expand beyond our dying planet.The future of man lies in his ability to not only adress the problems of his environment,but also in his ability to move to a new one.

You bring up an interesting point.

Just how effective was any classic prose that was written 300 years ago? But didn't town crier's exist to act as a 1940's version of the radio in which a small group would cluster around the radio and listen in a breathless fashion?

I believe the printing press had already been invented, no? I seem to recall that "A Modest Proposal" did have a profound impact even when it was first released.

Your account of Easter Island is fascinating to me. I'd like to know more.

You have to keep in mind,too,Alex,that the majority of people,the masses who made the exodus,were illiterate.Which is one of the big reasons they left the Old World in the first place,the possibility of a better life.If impact was made,it was made among the elite,the educated,the religious community.If anyone would've been motivated by the story,it would've been the royalty and the upper echelon of society(there were those of that class that left too),who may have been motivated by it.They would've been a minority.

The overwhelming majority of people were looking to get away from over crowding,disease,war,poverty and other ills that plagued the O.W.One of my ancestors,for example,left Bavaria in the 18th century because he was the middle child.This meant he got zip of his dad's property when he passed on.Furthermore,since Europe was constantly at war with itself,more than likely he would've been drafted and become cannon fodder.

There was a documnetary on Easter Island on the History Channel the other night.It was on lost civilizations.

Quote:

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Originally posted by oldasdirt:
You have to keep in mind,too,Alex,that the majority of people,the masses who made the exodus,were illiterate.Which is one of the big reasons they left the Old World in the first place,the possibility of a better life.If impact was made,it was made among the elite,the educated,the religious community.If anyone would've been motivated by the story,it would've been the royalty and the upper echelon of society(there were those of that class that left too),who may have been motivated by it.They would've been a minority.

The overwhelming majority of people were looking to get away from over crowding,disease,war,poverty and other ills that plagued the O.W.One of my ancestors,for example,left Bavaria in the 18th century because he was the middle child.This meant he got zip of his dad's property when he passed on.Furthermore,since Europe was constantly at war with itself,more than likely he would've been drafted and become cannon fodder.

There was a documnetary on Easter Island on the History Channel the other night.It was on lost civilizations.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">But that's what I'm talking about! A Modest Proposal forestalled by taking land away from the Indians and the industrialization of the world.

But when the oil runs low, then what?