What do you think?
Rate this book
A Modest Proposal: A Plan for the Golden Years
In a scathingly funny update of Jonathan Swift's greatest satire, one of France's leading philosophers observes that modern society is burdened by numerous questions of care for the elderly. How to pay for their staggering medical bills? How to ensure their ethical treatment? How to simply house them all? It's more than the resources of our culture can handle, says Règis Debray-and it's making life difficult for everyone else. So, he makes a "modest proposal": What if we just got rid of them all? In the grand tradition of wicked satires of Swift, Voltaire, Moliere, and Orwell, Debray outlines a plan so devilish and absurd the only response is laughter. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, he declares an end to all the world's problems if we would only do this one little thing . . . that a corrupt culture may essentially be doing already anyway.
- GenresFiction
100 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Régis Debray
283 books111 followersIntellectual, journalist, government official and professor. He is known for his theorization of mediology, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in human society; and for having fought in 1967 with Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in Bolivia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 12, 2011
I hate so many things.
This is part one of two of things I hate that I don't think I've ranted about already in previous reviews.
Baby-boomers. Hate them. Not as individuals but as a group. You didn't stop a fucking war, you didn't invent rock n' roll. You're a bunch of fucking self-centered egomaniacal infantile consumers. I can't get my bile really going anymore, but at one time I could go on and on about how fucking annoying my parents generation was (is?). These days I actually don't find myself getting annoyed by them. Generally.
A Modest Proposal, a satire written originally by Jonathan Swift, re-worked by this French veteran of '68 with the same idea used a year later by Christopher Buckley in Boomsday.
The basic premise is that old people should be done away with because for socio-economic and medical reasons they are living longer, sucking on resources and contributing nothing to society, so kill them!
Stuck in the middle of this satire though is a somewhat lengthy diatribe against the generations younger than the baby-boomers and how 'mean' they are that they are no longer paying much attention to the self-important wind-bags from the 1960's. The book steps out of 'satire-mode' and enters into generational whining that isn't very becoming and because of the shift in tone of these passages makes the reader (me, I could be wrong though) think that this is the 'message' the author is really trying to press. The message is, it's not fair that we are getting old. We are the rock n' roll generation and we even if we are old and decrepit we still desperately want to be sexy and fuck you to younger people who have what we want so I'm going to rail against the 'cult of youth', which is rich coming from a generation that has produced just monstrosities of aging such as Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler. The implications from this satire in the middle pages seem to shift from something important (what are we as a society supposed to do as larger numbers of the population age) to annoying whining in the mode of Jim Miller in Flowers in the Dustbin or how I feel that Greil Marcus comes across in Lipstick Traces (most people disagree with me on this one, and most people have never read the former book, but I'd recommend the last chapter of Miller's book for the epitome of baby-boomer whining).
When the book goes back to be a satire I found it to be somewhat enjoyable but nothing that I felt blown away by.
My hatred seems really weak here. I wish I could summon Greg from ten years ago to write this, my hatred has dulled and I have a feeling anyone reading this might wonder if I'm using the term a little loosely. I hadn't even thought of my old baby-boomer annoyances in a long time but this book sparked a little something in me.
The next part of this two part series will be about a particular brand of 'yuppie' environmentalists (who also generally happen to be baby-boomers or inspired by those dirty hippies). Stay tuned.
This is part one of two of things I hate that I don't think I've ranted about already in previous reviews.
Baby-boomers. Hate them. Not as individuals but as a group. You didn't stop a fucking war, you didn't invent rock n' roll. You're a bunch of fucking self-centered egomaniacal infantile consumers. I can't get my bile really going anymore, but at one time I could go on and on about how fucking annoying my parents generation was (is?). These days I actually don't find myself getting annoyed by them. Generally.
A Modest Proposal, a satire written originally by Jonathan Swift, re-worked by this French veteran of '68 with the same idea used a year later by Christopher Buckley in Boomsday.
The basic premise is that old people should be done away with because for socio-economic and medical reasons they are living longer, sucking on resources and contributing nothing to society, so kill them!
Stuck in the middle of this satire though is a somewhat lengthy diatribe against the generations younger than the baby-boomers and how 'mean' they are that they are no longer paying much attention to the self-important wind-bags from the 1960's. The book steps out of 'satire-mode' and enters into generational whining that isn't very becoming and because of the shift in tone of these passages makes the reader (me, I could be wrong though) think that this is the 'message' the author is really trying to press. The message is, it's not fair that we are getting old. We are the rock n' roll generation and we even if we are old and decrepit we still desperately want to be sexy and fuck you to younger people who have what we want so I'm going to rail against the 'cult of youth', which is rich coming from a generation that has produced just monstrosities of aging such as Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler. The implications from this satire in the middle pages seem to shift from something important (what are we as a society supposed to do as larger numbers of the population age) to annoying whining in the mode of Jim Miller in Flowers in the Dustbin or how I feel that Greil Marcus comes across in Lipstick Traces (most people disagree with me on this one, and most people have never read the former book, but I'd recommend the last chapter of Miller's book for the epitome of baby-boomer whining).
When the book goes back to be a satire I found it to be somewhat enjoyable but nothing that I felt blown away by.
My hatred seems really weak here. I wish I could summon Greg from ten years ago to write this, my hatred has dulled and I have a feeling anyone reading this might wonder if I'm using the term a little loosely. I hadn't even thought of my old baby-boomer annoyances in a long time but this book sparked a little something in me.
The next part of this two part series will be about a particular brand of 'yuppie' environmentalists (who also generally happen to be baby-boomers or inspired by those dirty hippies). Stay tuned.
February 14, 2023
Not as good as Swift... but still an interesting read.
February 12, 2008
In this scathingly funny satire, one of France’s leading philosophers observes that modern society is burdened by numerous questions of how to care for the elderly. How to pay for their staggering medical bills? How to ensure their conscientious treatment? How to simply house them all? It’s more than the resources of our culture can handle, says Régis Debray—and it’s making life difficult for everyone else. So, he makes a “modest proposal”….
In the great tradition of the irreverent satires of Jonathan Swift, Debray outlines a plan so devilish and absurd that the only response is laughter. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, he declares an end to all the world’s problems if we would only do this one little thing—something a corrupt culture may already be doing anyway.
In the great tradition of the irreverent satires of Jonathan Swift, Debray outlines a plan so devilish and absurd that the only response is laughter. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, he declares an end to all the world’s problems if we would only do this one little thing—something a corrupt culture may already be doing anyway.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews