Posted by Dr. Amrit Chadwallah 
May we not say, then, that Wealth Bondage, and Gifthub too, are Mennipean satire, a disjointed, rhapsodic, prose satire, in the tradition of Diogenes? He of the Pithos, or Wine Barrel, he of the stick, with which, like our own Happy Tutor, he beat those he insulted? Earnest jest. Where have I heard that one before? Surely, it is important to be earnest as we beggars discuss philanthropy. Someone might write a light opera on that topic, surely.
Menippean satire moves rapidly between styles and points of view. Such satires deal less with human characters than with the single-minded mental attitudes, or "humours", that they represent: the pedant, the braggart, the bigot, the miser, the quack, the seducer.
The pedant? I find that a bit hurtful, candidly. But a lot of other people here in Wealth Bondage are certainly single-minded humours characters. As a Cynic, Mennippus, was a follower of Diogenes, and wrote of him. As the founder of a tradition, we find his influence in Rabelais, Swift, Diderot, Voltaire (wrote a play called Candidia, or something like that), and Master Philip Cub*ta, Equire, Morals Tutor to America's Wealthiest Families and World Class Fool.
Philanthropists accosted from a Dumpster, surely, that is a play without footlights? Naked our Contemporary Diogenes, queries the worlds most powerful people as to their identity and role. No less than did The Fool in King Lear, or Diogenes confronting Alexander the Great, The Happy Tutor teaches us to find truth in folly, folly in truth. Some may ride on horseback before a conquering army, some may ride in a bullet proof limousine, some may live in a gated paradise where nature meets culture in Ameya preserve, some may mount the hustings to make a speech, or rise in the pulpit, dressed in robes, to tell us our duty, some may bang the gavel from the raised bench to send us to the dungeon; while some naked live on the street howling in anguish. Diogenes like a dog would defecate in the street to make a moral point. You tell me who is the "Authentic Man." We are all human. "Pull down thy vanity, Pacquin, pull down!"
The truth is a lonely outcast, the word that must not be spoken. We angels must not be animals. When the crowd presses around us in carnival, and we are at one with the body politic, then the word is made flesh and the Boy Bishop, his pants around his knees, drinks from the holy chalice to commemorate the taking of Christ's foreskin on this The Feast of Fools. "Drink and be whole again beyond confusion!" You may find yourself, but only if you get lost.
So, let us broach the wine barrel, that Diogenes, when it is empty will have a good home. Come let us drink! What is this all but a cock and bull story, a tale of the tub?
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