Dean Swift wanted this for the Irish? Perhaps

"Swift's essay is widely held to be one of the greatest examples of sustained irony in the history of the English language. Much of its shock value derives from the fact that the first portion of the essay describes the plight of starving beggars in Ireland, so that the reader is unprepared for the surprise of Swift's solution when he states: "A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout.  Jonathan Swift in "A Modest Proposal ..."

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I emerged from an eye appointment today to learn that the Larouche Raiders had staged an embarrassment at an AOC town hall  in which they had a young woman plead passionately for cannibalism as a means of saving the planet from the insidious effects of human population of the earth.  Was AOC smart enough to laugh at this farce?  Apparently she was not.

My learned committee members will of course recall that Jonathan Swift archly proposed in his essay "A Modest proposal ..."  that poverty in Ireland could be avoided in much the same way ..  pl

https://www.newsweek.com/eat-babies-twitter-reacts-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-town-hall-meeting-1463114

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Comments

[optimax]

They're (whoever they are) promoting insects to eat for protein. Then there will be the snobs that prefer the free range over the farm raised.

[Andrei Martyanov (aka SmoothieX12)]

Diana,

AOC can not have rational assessment on "global warming" because she has "degree" in international relations. People like AOC wouldn't last a minute against few serious properly stated scientific questions re "climate science". This is not to mention the fact that she (AOC) is stunning in her superficiality (I still cannot stop laughing from her "immigration" protest in a front of empty parking lot). This is the nature of Democratic Party which is, for all my revulsion towards GOP, clear and present danger to what is left of Republic and American statehood. These are dangerous and very cruel, due to them never experiencing any serious life difficulties, people pushing radical and homicidal agenda. Dangerous freaks.

[CK]

It takes one to recognize one?

[Bill H]

"Like" button again. :-)

[Babak Makkinejad]

All

Infanticide, practiced by hunter-gathere bands of humans,is well documented in ethnographic literature; e.g. in Australia. A way to remain in harmony with Gaia, a very harsh mistress, I am afraid.

[turcopolier]

Babak

Where on the scale of permissability between hallal and haram does does consumption of human flesh fit? Is there fiqh on this?

[optimax]

Babak

Yes, primitivism is gaining popularity. Devo was right, many are devolving intellectualy and spiritually.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Similar to Cannon Law, if I recall correctly; permitted in extremis, but is Haram otherwise.

I do not know the details, in analogous situations, the breaking of the Law is supposed to be followed by confessing repentence, prayers, and acts of charity in lieu of fines.

[Lyttennburgh]

This Commitee of Correspondence is aghast at the suggestion of cannibalism... but seems totally okay with first "option", i.e. "bomb Russia"?

[optimax]

Donate your body to the Home Town Buffet.

[CK]

McCain is dead, Hilary is aging, Bolton is probably the second "whistleblower" Bomb Russia is not an option.

[turcopolier]

CK

IMO the whistleblower group are an organized CIA effort. Most government career people are left of center. This is Brennan at work.

[CK]

You have expressed some opinions about Brennan in the past that indicate a personal familiarity with him. Do you think Brennan has the ability and the stay behind assets to pull off an impeachment of the president? How would one impede, prevent this?

[turcopolier]

CK

Yes. I knew him when he was on his first assignment in CIA. Unimpressive brooding presence with his nose jammed up Alan Feiers butt. How? Indict him as head of a seditious conspiracy.

[CK]

I admit to having 0 knowledge of Alan Feiers. So I went looking.
Iran-Contra, "Cliff Grubbs", CIA station chief in Riyadh. Responsible for the contra side of Iran-Contra for the Neo-cons during the Reagan years. Retired in 1988.
Pardoned by GHWB in 1992 for various political incivilities regarding the contras for which he was convicted in 1992.

[turcopolier]

CK
Feiers was CoS in Jeddah when I was DATT there. A more hateful man to try to work with can not be imagined. He learned life from his college football coach Woody Hayes. He schemed continuously against one and all, much like Brennan. He should not have been pardoned.

[English Outsider]

" I was immediately banned."

It's pushing it to expect anyone on the Guardian to understand irony. They're more into spin.

I had to google Strulbugs. A long time since I read Swift, is my excuse. Read him as a boy and was more interested in how they managed to tie Gulliver down. Didn't look all that secure, to me.

I suppose Swift's strulbugs could be taken as emblematic of that odd set of politicians and ideologues who in the main rule us. Because it is an odd mixture - doctrinaire progressive, neocon, neoliberal, all in one. Swift says of them They "...would in time become proprietors of the whole nation, and engross the civil power, which, for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin of the public."

Only trouble is, our rulers start young and the Strulbugs are old. So I shan't adopt the term. Clintonites, or Blairites over here, is imprecise but good enough for everyday use. But whatever one calls these odd people and the journalists and academics who industriously expound their mantras to us, "ruin of the public" sums up their activities pretty well.