Satire In A Modest Proposal

People are defensive about what they believe in. No matter how open-minded they claim to be or how little support they actually have, they will still cling to their beliefs. This makes it hard to discuss controversial topics, but one solution to this issue is satire. Satire uses absurdities and humor to disarm people, making them more open to the item being discussed. Although this practice was fairly common in the past, it has become exceeding abundant in our modern day, with satirical shows like The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight, and The Colbert Report. For example, the satirical piece A Modest Proposal by Johnathan Swift addresses the tense social conflict between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant English. Because he is addressing the English, being blunt about his defense of the Irish would make the audience defensive and unresponsive to his argument. However, by taking the opposing position to the extreme, he makes his audience more receptive to his own position. In order to keep poor Irish children from

Klepper plays the stupid yet well-meaning conservative character, who, upon hearing that only good guys with guns can stop mass shootings, decides to go get a gun and become said good guy (The Daily Show with Trevor Noah). By using comedy throughout Klepper’s training for crisis situations, The Daily Show disarms its audience. The audience is too busy laughing at Klepper complaining that he couldn’t shoot the target’s crotch or whining that he “wasn’t ready” when shot by the mock attacker that they don’t think directly about their beliefs being criticized (The Daily Show with Trevor Noah). Therefore, when Klepper himself comes to the realization that there must be a better way to stop gun violence, the audience agrees; after all, no one would want someone like Klepper charging in guns blazing in any