Before reading A Modest Proposal, I was prepared for the worst. After looking over the assignment, I was somewhat worried to start the reading simply because it had to do with cannibalism, something we as individuals do not talk about on a daily basis. I appreciated the fact that Jonathan Swift didn’t go into graphic detail for his argument. In all reality, the reading was not what I expected it to be. After completing the reading for last week’s assignment, I felt awful. Though cannibalism is not something that I necessarily believe in, I do feel that the author took a good stand in delivering why he thought that cannibalism can help out our economy. The word cannibalism has a bad reputation and I was surprised that what I had just read actually made sense. This could actually help our economy. However, being a believer of human life, I do not feel that it is fair to just make a child “plump” so that you can enjoy them in the future. It is true that we do this with some animals (without consciously thinking about it) but I believe that some animals were put on this earth for many reasons, one of those reasons being as a food source for humans.
After thinking about this article for a long while, I came to the realization that this could actually help out our economy but at the same time, women would be valued simply as “food producers.” Knowing that women are the soul providers for children, it would be sad to see what a women’s role would be as soon as she is no longer able to produce babies. Do you think women would be treated differently if cannibalism of children became a way of life?
Arens, W. The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology & Anthropophagy.
3 comments:
i think women would definitly be treated differently. they would be just like the dairy cows of life. they would be chained to a wall, and pumped full of pills to grow nice fat babies. umm food babies...
I didn't really think to look at Swift's work from the quality of the argument he's making. I'm glad you noticed that and appreciated the fact that he didn't go into graphic detail despite the strange content of his proposal. And yes, I am also thankful he didn't go into graphic detail, but really? Boots and gloves out of the baby's skin? Gross.
this idea would never work. then again, if aliens took over and used humans for food it would, but as we are the dominant species, we would never eat ourselves as mainstream food.
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