Why We Like Satire Even When Things Don’t Change
In 1729, A Modest Proposal shocked a staid and stiff England. Readers were immediately repulsed by the anonymous author’s suggestion that people eat children in order to stop children from starving. They rose up and demanded that action be taken to stop the immense poverty sweeping Ireland. Aristocrats and scholars, the primary targets of A Modest Proposal, quickly threw money and workable solutions at the problem. That satire, one of Jonathon Swift’s many masterpieces, produced sweeping changes.
We’ve had a three-hundred-year drought since then.
So why do we keep reading satire?
Book Birthday: A Vote for Jesus Releases Today!
A Vote for Jesus, an old-fashioned political satire that confronts modern politics, releases today. While bookstores unfortunately remained closed due to COVID-19, print and ebooks can be ordered through Amazon, … Continue reading
John Briggs Books 