Extra Credit - Satire

Satire is a form of literary writing that many authors use. When using satire,things in our society are usually ridiculed and shown to the world in a different light. Satire doesn't only create humor about the subject, but it can also create social criticism using different words as help fix problems in the society. Today's forms of satire can be found in many places including sae isn't something that has come out recently, its been around for an extremely long time. One of the earliest examples of satire is The Satire of the Trades. It is an Egyptian writing from the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. The readers of this text were students, tired of studying. It argues that their lot as scribes is useful, and their lot far superior to that of ordinary men. Some scholars thought the text was supposed to be serious but this was the beginning of satire.
For many writersand movie producers satire is used as one of their main weapons. H.L. Mencken, a social critic, said that “one horse-laugh is worth then thousand syllogisms” in the persuasion of the public to accept criticism. You could say that satire is trying to “correct” social behavior. “The reason satirists don’t just write moral stories encouraging people to good worth, and the reason they feel warranted in showing his anger and fury at the common faults and vices of men is that the satirist's world is not a world of basic good accidentally gone astray, where every man would seek good if he know how or were shown the way, but rather it is one of fools who either claim to possess virtue already, or who have already rejected it, claiming that vice is (or is as good as) virtue. “ (Robert Harris). What this quote is saying is that you can’t just show naive man facts and try and make him change but you can show him the same thing but in a satirical way and he thinks that maybe change could be possible. He gets to figure out the idea of change by himself.
Often time’s authors use satire to get their ideas across to others. Satirical authors often mock society in the way they feel it would be in the future, if actions the society takes goes to far. Satire does have a flaw though. Sometimes the only people who understand the meaning of satire are the people who agree with the satire’s criticism. If a person doesn’t agree with the satire’s criticism they might see the text as unsophisticated or stupid. An example of this scenario is the television show South Park. This show is said to be one of the greatest form of satire that was a production in the history of television. Many people think that South Park is hilarious and they love to watch it but others find the show stupid, and immature. Satire can raise valid points about society but its nearly impossible to point out an error that is normal in a culture when many people are so fixed in their culture. So to many satire becomes wuite irrelevant when bringing up social problems. Satire is definitely essential to a free society. Satirists often are forerunners of error in a society. Satirists end up exposing “evils” that we commit every day. For example, a person being mislead in an advertisement and still buying that product. When people do this they end up giving advertisers power to keep misleading consumers. Satire still being around also shows how free of a society we have. We have the ability to point out a flaw in such a manner where it makes fun of the flaw. Luckily we have the ability to criticize powers that people don’t understand. Satire hardly has the ability to be a force of change in society because it is so limited but not everyone has to hear a satirists “voice” for their ideas to be heard. Because society can change because one person heard or read something.
Satire is definitely also a form of persuasion. The tone satirists use can often be read as persuasion or irony. It can plant a seed in a persons’ head and make them think.The text has an underlying meaning that sometimes a person can understand and sometimes a person just cant read between the lines. Satirical televisions shows are getting to be extremely popular now-a-days. Many satirical shows include; David Letterman, Saturday Night Live and the Colbert Report. Televisions seems to be the easiest way for satirist to get a point across because it is understood with humor involved. Another famous satirical work is A Modest Proposal by Jonathon Swift. In his writing he expresses the need for the people of Ireland to start eating children of the poor. He explains that by eating these poor children, it will let the wealthy people and their children thrive along with the community. Swift is trying to promote the consumption of one-year-old children to eliminate the growing number of poor citizens in Ireland. He uses an extreme form of irony to point out the inhumane conditions in colonized Ireland.
Satire can be extremely entertaining for people a days, and it also tries to voice an opinion on problems in society today. Satire can use irony, sarcasm, ridicule, to expose folly. Satire can be seen as a way for people to explain their concerns about something and maybe someone might read or see what they have to say and decide they believe in the same cause. Satire is definitely something that isn’t a recent thing, its been around for an extremely long time. Satirical writers try to shine light on things that many people might never have brought up but they put a humerous twist on it. It makes it almost easier to read and understand. Even though satire doesn’t  ve a great impact on society it does bring up problems that are usually not shown and shows them in a different light, whereas they would usually be shown hidden.

Blog Entry #3

Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal", uses a satirical writing style. Swift talks about the problem in his home country of Ireland. During the early 1700s, famine and poverty were both an issue.  He is writing to the government and persuading them to make a call to action to solve the problem of starvation and to help cut down the population of the homeless. The government doesn't seem to be listening or even attempting to make any effort to fix their problem. This leads Swift, to show people "what's up", writes an essay introducing the idea that the people of Ireland should begin to eat babies, from one to two years old.  The idea itself is unethical, but is drastic enough to get the attention of the government so hopefully they'll do something about it. His idea of eating babies would provide food for those who are hungry and limit the number of mouths that will need to be fed later on in life. By using cannibalism as an example on a way to fix the issue, Swift explains his reasons and makes it sound completely reasonable and not out of the ordinary. He states that from a source he heard that "a young healthy child well nursed, at a year old, [is] a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled" so at least we know a child would taste good. The thought of eating another person makes me not want to eat anything. Although the taste itself should be enough, he then says that "a child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone... [it] will be very good on the fourth day." A baby is capable of providing multiple meals which would greatly help the famine problem for many families. It would also serve as an entertaining dish during dinner parties and could also be seen as a delicacy to other countries. Swift then take his idea to another level when he says that the babies' skin could be used to "make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen." Harvesting the children would be considered fashionable as well. This is absolutely disgusting to me, but with the point he is trying to make, it seems humorous. His idea will overall benefit those woman/"breeders," too in which they will be paid eight shillings per annum for selling their children to be eaten and will also be reimbursed for the money they spent on the first year of nursing them to plumpness. Swift has the courage to state that the country's stock will increase by fifty thousand shillings per annum because of the marketing of baby meat and then the country would also gain the "profit of a new dish." This food would most likely bring new people to shacks and restaurants and the cooks could make it a more sophisticated and expensive plate by adding certain spices and flavors to the baby meat. Very blunt, he said marriages and life in the home would be dramatically improved for the men because they would no longer have any want to beat their wives while pregnant becuase it would damage the little bundle of cash inside of them. Swift says the reason we cannot eat children of an older age, is that boys become lean and hardened and have then have consistency of leather. Girls, wouldn't be an issue with tastiness on the other hand, but they are the ones set to be the breeders and so must be kept around once they have passed the age of eating. Throughout the essay, Swift refers to a number of well-trusted people from America, London, and various other places that have given him solid insight on the taste and profitable part of eating babies. He never actually states their names, but that's probably because they're made up people. He uses these fake sources to give himself credibility on the issue, and maybe also wants the reader to think that the information given by these people was given discreetly and they do not wish for their names to be shared due to such a touchy subject. In the fifth to last paragraph, he gives a "counter argument" which, seems to most likely be his actual argument and includes solid ideas for solving the problems of his country, which doesn't include eating babies. The way he writes this paragraph is very accusatory towards the government and gives the feeling of "You should actually pay attention to me bacause I have actual solutions and ways to help this country. All you have to do is listen." He says that no one should speak to him of these "expedients" until they have some attempt to put them into practice.  Fot the crazy idea of eating children, Swift finally explains that he has no intention of putting that into practice. The reader reads plainly that it was not his intention and he could not even contribute to the idea if he wanted to due to the fact that he has a nine-year old child and a wife that is done being a child "breeder".