A point by point comarison of South Park and a modest proposal

Looking at legendary satirical work, such as Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal", you would hardly think about the similarities it has with more modern satire, such as South Park. This may seem like a extreme jump in styles of writing, but the two are actually very similar. If you first think about how both satires expose inequities and problems in society, you will begin to realize these similarities. As the title of satire implies both Swift and Stone and Parker (the creators of South Park) hide behind a cloak of comedy to voice their grievances toward society. You will also notice the use of sometimes extremely shocking material to catch and captivate the attention of their respective audiences. Now you may have notice one huge discrepancy in the comparison of these two; Swift was talking about the starvation and suffering of the Irish people, and South Park seems to focus on less, dare we say, important topics.

Jonathan Swift, by Charles Jervas (died 1739). See...

Jonathan Swift, one of the foremost prose satirist...

Bust of Jonathan Swift near his burial spot in St....

I plan to dispel any doubt on the fact that Swift and Parker and Stone are similar in more ways than you would think, and I plan to do this by first showing their stylistic similarities; next, I will how their intentions are one in the same, and finally how South Park addresses issues that are no less important to society today than starving Irish people in the eighteenth century.

The ability that both Swift and Parker and Stone have to point out the flaws in society by exaggerating these flaws and exhibiting them in a shocking and blunt manner. The most obvious example of this in modest proposal i s the eating of children to both curb over population and create new revenue for Ireland, but there are also more subtle instances throughout Swift's essay. When...