As I was preparing Friday Night dinner I had sudden flash of it looking like a new born child. Sick, I know but it reminded me of the Jonathan Swift essay 'A Modest Proposal'.A political satire written to address the Irish child over population issues using current events it is a sickeningly great read. Swift makes reference to George Psalmanazar who was a con-man in the early 1700's. Psalmanazar fabricated that he was from Formosa (present day Taiwan) and wrote books to perpetuate his claims, which included descriptions of a culture that supported cannibalism. Swift also mocks the Catholic church which at the time had just signed the Act of Settlement in 1701, thus settling the succession to the English throne of the Sophia of Hanover, the elected choice. This resulted in criticism towards what Swift refers to as the Papists (anti-Catholic). By mocking the oppressors who would dehumanize the poor beggars that are threatening to overtake the country Swift follows the rules and structure of Latin Satire.
Latin Satire, according to the Latin Satirical Writing Subsequent to Juvenal By Arthur Harold Weston: "may deal with topics and problems and thoughts of every day life as in Horace and Persius and as a rule wherever it mentions names mention them more as representatives of types embodiments of the qualities under discussion than with any special feeling of personal bitterness in mind"
The picture I took above also reminded me of the painting by Derrick Guild:
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