Social Media ... It's Not For Everyone (Blogpost 8)

A brief read through of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” might leave you with the impression that Swift was a sick and twisted individual who enjoyed cannibalism and advocated for others to join in with him. Okay, so you can pick up your jaw from the ground and continue reading this blog post. Swift was no cannibal and he did not advocate for cannibalism. What he was arguing for were steps to prevent famine from continuing and overpopulation from occurring within Ireland. His method for argument, however, left some of his readers (including the Queen of England) to misinterpret his whole argument.

Swift utilized irony and satire in his argument to the point that he confused people into believing that he was a cannibal. The proposal begins with Swift describing the fate of those children living in poverty. He describes how these children spend their time and limited energy searching for food. However, to rectify the issue at hand, at surface level it appears that Swift is advocating that children be raised as a source of food for the wealthy. Swift further proceeds to detail all the benefits that eating children will have in a society. He states, “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for the landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children” (NA 2635).

In his “A Dissertation Concerning High People and Low People”, Henry Fielding’s aim is to “… articulate ideas that run through all his treatments of social hierarchy” (NA 2437). In other words, he is making a social commentary on the hierarchal society of the time. What is fascinating is that he employs wit, and subversion of terms, to make his argument valid. One would assume that by high people, Fielding is referring to the wealthy, and by low people, he is referring to the commoners. However, Fielding states “High People signify no other than people of fashion, and Low People those of no fashion” (NA 2438). To clarify what Fielding means by fashion, Fielding has stated that “Fashion is the science of appearance, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be” (Fielding).

You would have to read Fielding’s entire dissertation to fully understand his argument. However, Fielding is arguing that the division in society caused people to have public personas which conflicted with their private personas. Fielding argues that the steps to go higher, or lower, are all the same distance apart for everyone. I believe that if Fielding, or Swift, were on Social Media, today, that there would be a lot of people offended by what they share. Swift would have people reporting his statuses and posts often because they would not be able to comprehend his level of satire and wit. Fielding would have people sending angry comments on his posts because they disagree with his opinions on the divisions in society. It is a great thing that Social Media did not exist in the time that Swift and Fielding were living.