A Modest Proposal
Leonard Pitts takes position on the side with the New Yorker’s; he sympathizes with magazine because the cruelty satire inflicted upon him when defending “media accuracy”. Pitts liked the illustration published by the New Yorker depicting Barack Obama and, his wife, Michelle, he felt as though it justified and represented the fear of Obama’s presidency. The cover was representative of fears in relation to Obama’s run for presidency; Obama wearing a turban while bumping fists with Michelle and Osama bin Laden on a portrait hanging on the wall. Satire, the use of wit symbolized by irony, sarcasm, and ridicule, is only effective when it causes hysteria. Pitts stands to say that the sophisticated among us are impacted more heavily by this image because it is the sum of their fears. They are haunted by this image, the possible presidency of Obama.
In ways Pitt’s argument is similar to Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”; in this proposal Swift is discussing children of the poor being a burden to their parents and their country. In “A Modest Proposal” Swift speaks about children as if they are food to be consumed by those who are more fortunate. This grotesque image enables one to read between the lines and interpret the metaphoric writings of Swift; he is attacking the people with amiable unconcern with the unfortunate condition of the poor. Pitt’s argument, of the illustration published by the New Yorker, in comparison to Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” deal with separate issues at hand, however both articles deal with the satire, strongly expressing their opinion to their audiences.
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