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A Modest Proposal for Facebook: End Facebook Live
- zimpenfish 8y agoIf you're going to make a reasonably out-there suggestion like this, perhaps don't use "A Modest Proposal" because it gives your suggestion a certain context you may not want...
- lostlogin 8y agoRevealing my ignorance here, are you seeing a reference to “A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick” by (pen name) Jonathan Swift? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal
- saghm 8y agoI definitely interpreted the title in that way; it was somewhat confusing for me, as at first I assumed that the article was going to be satire (or at least a strawman) based on that
- gizmo385 8y agoAs someone who isn't the OP you're responding to, I definitely interpreted the title to be a reference to the essay. I think "A Modest Proposal" is one of those phrases where it is hard to use it without immediately connecting it to the essay (at least for some people).
- dragontamer 8y agoThe general idea of "A Modest Proposal" is to hunger by eating babies. Its one of the most famous works of satire, although it is several hundred years old. Basically, anything titled "a modest proposal" will likely be treated as satire, at least to anyone who has studied that essay. Its basically the historical English-literature version of Colbert's "Truthiness" skit. You pretty much can't use the word "Truthiness" in today's political atmosphere without invoking an image of satire. Or if I said something about Chocolate Rain, or Sneezing Pandas. Some phrases just have hidden meaning to some people out there...