It really was not, unless complete eradication of unfortunate language usages is the goal, which it is not.
There's a constant ebb and flow of bad usage and pushback. I only mentioned it's a losing battle because I think there should be a bit more ebb and a little less flow.
I think this passes under the rule of "common knowledge", at least for anyone in the field of linguistics or literature. The writing in question, A Modest Proposal, was written centuries ago, if you read the Christian Bible you can see examples of satire that are thousands of years old.
There's a constant ebb and flow of bad usage and pushback. I only mentioned it's a losing battle because I think there should be a bit more ebb and a little less flow.