A Modest Proposal For Stopping the Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For Making them Beneficial to the Public is an anonymous Juvenalian satirical essay written by Jonathan Swift and published in 1729. According to the article, the less fortunate Irish may pay off their obligation by caring for the children of affluent gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole made fun of the British government's general policies toward the Irish as well as cruel views toward the impoverished, who are primarily Irish Catholics. The phrase "a modest proposal" is now commonly used in English writing to refer to this kind of frank sarcasm. Jack Thompson, an activist, and the former attorney sent an open letter titled A Modest Video Game Proposal on October 10, 2005. According to reports, Kim Henkel, who wrote the original script for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, updated Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal for the 2012 horror movie Butcher Boys. Henkel envisaged the descendants of those who actually took Swift up on his proposal. J. Swift's words are quoted in the movie's opening.
