Okay, so I've read this before. I'm not sure if that counts as cheating or not, just a disclaimer.
Anyway, I love this piece. This is pretty much the early modern equivalent of The Onion and it's hilarious. It's one of the earliest pieces of truly sarcastic literature and a lot of people weren't prepared for that. More importantly, it's one of the best examples of political satire ever written.
It's important to note the political and historical reasons that Swift wrote the piece. Since the English acquisition of Ireland (circa ~1600), the Irish had been thoroughly abused by the English, Scottish, and Welsh who became their lords and farmowners. This abuse was generally ignored by your average Englisman until the early 1700s. At that time, wealthy and educated Englishmen and women began to become socially conscious, making themselves quite busy between the "Irish question" and the use of African slaves in the colonies. Of course, we all know that the "Irish question" later became open revolt led by the IRA about 200 years later.
I think, and I'm not alone, that the way Swift went about addressing this issue was truly hilarious if slightly less effective. Rather than writing a dry article that would possibly directly influence the average Englishman, he wrote a deeply sarcastic, demented piece of work that only the truly literate and well versed in bitter sarcasm would understand. Why would he write about eating little Irish children to alleviate the famine and wet wealthy Briton's appetites? That is for the reader to decide, I suppose, because I sure as hell don't know.
I think your comments on the responses of the readers are accurate. As seen in the video in class, the readers at the time thought it was a funny. I also think this symbolizes the increase of intelligence of the general public. This is most likely related to the Enlightenment's effects on logic and reasoning. However, this humorous response also supports your claim that it was slightly less effective, almost as if the readers saw right through the satire and only recognized a parody.
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