Modest Proposal on the Basis of that of Jonathan Swifts - Assignment Example

My Modest Proposal: Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are well aware, our country is going through one of its worst economic crisis. Economists have termed it the Great Recession, next only in acuteness to the Great Depression of the early twentieth century. Unemployment has been at unprecedented levels since the 2008 Wall Street crash. And for those who are lucky enough to retain their jobs, real incomes have stagnated and are barely sufficient to make ends meet. Every aspect of American public life has been affected by the government’s inability to regulate corporations. This is particularly disastrous with respect to the financial sector, where, reckless and greedy methods of garnering short-term profit have led to a catastrophic crash in the stock markets and attendant impairments to the broader economy. But there is nothing inevitable about these outcomes. Such cycles of boom and bust in capitalist market economies are by no means laws of nature. To the contrary they are totally man made. They are specially designed and promulgated by the ruling elites of this country – the top one-tenth of the top one percent of the population. This narrow profit motive and lack of concern for the greater common good has accelerated the process of deterioration of environment. I am highly indignant about the nature of our economic system and the ethos of the political class that abets unjust practices. I am also restless to think of alternatives to the system, which we have tolerated and been complicit with for too long. As a symbol of my disillusionment with the both our lawmakers and business leaders, I have come to believe that the only meaningful change has to be propelled from below, meaning that they originate from the masses. Hence, I shall propose a novel change to our social norms which would greatly reduce the risk of economic and social crises in the future. I hereby propose that the youth of the country abstain from all sexual activity till the age of 25! I am sorry fellow students - I know how impossible a task this is for most of you! But being disciplined sexually during our teens and early adulthood will lead to great benefits for the economy, culture and beyond. I’ll explain how. At a time when the nation is going through economic slowdown, a measure of austerity needs to be followed. And there is nothing austere about activities like dating, romance and sex. In fact, these are luxuries even during a boom period for the economy, let alone during a crisis. For boys and young men, keeping their girlfriends happy and satisfied is a costly business. They have to take them out to dinners, to the cinema, buy them gifts periodically, etc, which consume valuable money. Usually, this money is not even theirs but of their parents, which makes it all the more objectionable. Another important loss is time. The amount of time young men spend in chatting with their girlfriends about apparently no particular topic is something the weak state of the economy cannot bear. Their time and energies can be better directed toward creative and constructive activities such as studying for exams, doing community work, or even yoga and meditation. The ‘savings’ in terms of money, energy and time that young men make is equally applicable to young women. Think of the multi-billion dollar beauty industry that promotes cosmetics, fashionable clothing, plastic surgery and other abominations. After all, the main reason young women dress up well and make themselves pretty is to attract the opposite sex. When all sexual activity under the age of 25 is outlawed, they would automatically lose incentive to waste valuable money on propping up their vanities. Diverting all this money into essential expenditures such as tuition fees will help extend quality education to more number of Americans. This will lead to the growth of social capital. This money could also be channeled into creating jobs in the manufacturing sector which has long lost out to foreign competition, thereby making ours a predominantly services industry. There is another powerful argument why voluntary abstinence from sexual activity is for the social good. There are numerous studies which bear out the fact that sex, violence and crime go together. Psychologically, especially for men, sex can be an outlet for violence. The increasing popularity of sadomasochistic sexual activity supports this thesis. When we consider how American college and school campuses are periodically run over by a mad gunman, it becomes clear how our country will be a safer place through restraint over sex. Hate crimes as a result of religious, cultural or linguistic intolerance are also high for a society that is supposedly ‘advanced’. Theological texts have always advocated abstinence for its moral merit. The Hindu Yogic tradition and Buddhist philosophy emphasize how control over sexual urges is of primary importance to achieve inner harmony and spiritual progress. In Christian theology, there is the central doctrine of the Original Sin. Hence, it is fairly clear why the policy of sexual abstinence for young men and women below the age of 25 is good for the society as well as for the economy. One of the main reasons behind our society’s repeated collapses into economic depression is ‘avarice’ both at the level of the individuals and the level of institutions. And cosmetics and high fashion are some of those talismanic commodities that have come to represent conspicuous consumption. Through their restricted usage reasonable savings can be made by an average American household, which will alleviate the economic crisis in two ways. First, the money saved by households can be utilized for buying other essential commodities, thereby stimulating the economy. Second, it will instill a culture of solidarity as opposed to selective individual gain, for, after all, trying to seek a partner and maintaining an interpersonal relationship has no utility for the society at large. Moreover, I would argue, that young women (including those in this class) are naturally pretty that they don’t need cosmetics or haute couture to enhance their appeal. They are great as they are! I believe that my modest proposal will bring about a culture of camaraderie and solidarity among our citizens. Indeed, based on the success of the Occupy Wall Street movement, it is not outlandish to imagine a similar movement for sexual abstinence among the youth. We owe it to ourselves and to the rest of humanity to create this revolution, restore a functioning economy, and also make the country safer to live in. As a society a culture of peace should be of paramount importance to us for the very survival of our species depends on it. The question confronting us is whether we will act wisely and leave a better place for our grandchildren to live in. Or we will destroy ourselves through imprudence. I am no doubt that all young men and women in this class are supporting my proposal. I am sure they will exercise great mastery over their sexual urges and desires for the betterment of the country. Wouldn’t you all my fellow students!! Comparison between My Modest Proposal and Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal: There are several differences between the classic pamphlet ‘A Modest Proposal’ by Jonathan Swift and its modest imitation by yours truly. Firstly, the literary skill and astuteness of logic employed by Jonathan Swift is superior to that of mine. Swift was a litterateur par excellence and he possessed knowledge in political science, economics, law, history and literature. Such depth in knowledge is clearly evident in the pamphlet. Moreover, the most alluring aspect of the work is its dark satire and its wry, sarcastic sense of humor. It is with humility that I admit that neither my knowledge, nor my skill or sense of humor measure up to that of the illustrious counterpart. Yet, I’ve tried to capture the spirit and essence of Swift’s early 18th century masterpiece in my own work. What follows is a comparison. Both the works address a pressing social problem of their respective time periods. The ongoing economic slowdown is comparable in scale to the problems of acute poverty in early 17th century Ireland. Although the United States is the most prosperous nation in the world, it also has sizeable population living below the poverty line – a condition exacerbated by periodic economic depressions and recessions. Hence, in many ways, Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ is applicable word by word to the American case. It is difficult to imagine what sort of reaction the American press would give if the famous pamphlet were to be released today. But ‘shock’, ‘outrage’, ‘insensitive’, ‘perverted’ would be the likely descriptions for it. On the other hand, the proposal written by me does not contain any inhumane or shocking idea like treating babies as culinary delicacies. Its basic attack is on an individual-centric consumer mindset that fosters personal sexual opportunity at the cost of the common public good. Hence my proposal might be brushed aside as a right-wing propaganda. It will receive all the contempt that such literature is known to get historically. In this sense, contemporary reactions to the two written in question will be different. The most striking feature of Swift’s work is its brilliant sense of humor. The gloomy subject matter of poverty alleviation in Ireland is presented within a veneer of dark humor. It also has elements of satire and sarcasm – directed against intellectuals who supported the Monarchy’s actions. It adopts the essay format for serious academic discourse but in a spoofy fashion. There are numerous references to economists, intellectuals and scholars from other disciplines. This way, Swift was trying to create credibility to what is essentially his personal viewpoint. It is a very clever artistic tactic with its own brand of subtle humor. In fact, it is the humor content which is largely responsible for the enduring appeal and fame of the work. If the issue of poverty reduction in Ireland was addressed in a straight forward manner as academic criteria would require, then the pamphlet would have hardly gained an audience. My essay too proposes an impossible idea – sexual abstinence among the youth. Its humor derives from the fact that young people would find it highly objectionable and in practice never able to achieve that goal. It is hoped that the reader would see subtle irony in how this proposal was meant to remedy an ailing economy and a fissured society. Although I tried to maintain a light-hearted tone for my essay, similar to Swift I kept focus on the primary task, namely, to propose means for solving ongoing problems facing the nation. The lengths of the two works are also different. While Swift’s masterpiece is an essay running to more than two thousand words, my modest imitation totals less than a thousand. This is a measure of the thoroughness and robustness of argument articulated by Swift in relation to my own. Swift approaches the issue from various angles and satisfactorily offers solutions (in the logical sense and not a humanitarian sense) to commonly occurring problems. But, in the end, despite the differences in analytic rigor, range and breadth of research, literary richness, flourish and humor, there is a key similarity between the two essays. It is that they both address a pressing social problem that needs an urgent and lasting remedy. In terms of offering a constructive solution though, with due respect to Jonathan Swift, I would argue that my essay does a better job. While converting babies into delicious food items is an idea meant to provoke outrage, my proposal for reducing economic distress and also simultaneously saving the environment is both plausible and feasible. It is a different matter, of course, whether my idea will see light of day. But if the audience in this hall all assent then we’ve made a start! Works Cited: Swift, Jonathan, A Modest Proposal, Published in the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1729. Smith, Charles Kay (1968), "Toward a Participatory Rhetoric: Teaching Swifts A Modest Proposal", College English (National Council of Teachers of English) 30 (2): 135–149. Read More