20. Jonathan Swift proposed eating children to solve both a famine and a population problem
The English/Irish satirist Jonathan Swift once presented an essay, entitled A Modest Proposal, in which he scathingly recommended that the Irish poor sell their children to the wealthy as food, thus solving several problems in one step. “A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food…” he wrote, regardless of how it was cooked. The satire, which attacked the wealthy and aristocracy, led them to respond with attacks on Swift, with many accusing the writer of being serious in his proposal rather than presenting his ideas as satire. The work remains as an example of the power of satire to address societal problems, often cited by writers and journalists.