Wealth Bondage is now behind a firewall. With Eliot gone, the Party has just begun.
March 20, 2008
March 15, 2008
February 10, 2008
Wealth Bondage as Mennipean Satire
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?
January 13, 2008
House Rules
Posted by Dr. Amrit Chadwallah
If you are confused about the proper tone or style in Wealth Bondage, just ask. I can explain everything in easy to understand terms even if you know nothing about the literary techniques (also known as tropes) used here. Most of my students in Wealth Bondage are functionally illiterate, even the Billionaires, so don't be embarrassed. If you want to wear a mask that is fine, just make sure you use a live email, so Candidia can assess blame in the morning when we all sober up, or the cops come calling. Remember we are all under surveillance 24/7. There is a War on Wealth Bondage. We, as Fetish Action Figures, are on the front lines of Freedom. Remember, There is no 'outside' of Wealth Bondage. We are always already in bondage to wealth, if you see what I mean. So proceed at your own risk.
November 17, 2007
Welcome to Wealth Bondage, Sweetie
Achtung! (Warning!)
Have at least $10 mill, Sweetie, or get the fuck out. Posted By Order of Candidia Cruikshanks, CEO of Wealth Bondage
Submissives apply below.
October 19, 2007
The Truth Will Set You Free - Get Your Pharmakon Here
Posted by Dr. Amrit Chadwallah, Senior Adjunct in Charge of Hidden Meaning
The Author Function has returned, as if from the dead. And he has appointed me his Authorized Interpreter. The meaning is suddenly quite clear: There is a way out of Wealth Bondage, after all. It has something to do, apparently, with the gift of therapeutic philosophy. Philosophy is the pharmakon, yes, both poison and homeopathic cure, but in a far deeper way than Derrida ever grasped. He himself was caught up in his own blindness. Ironically, he was hoist with his own binaries, if you will. Philosophy properly conducted, say, by me, is the remedy that will set us free, by curing us of our bondage to our base passions, such as greed, that the market plays upon here in Wealth Bondage. I don't know why I did not see that before! How stupid of me. It is all laid out right here in Seneca. We must master our passions or we will be mastered by them! That is the truth. And the truth will set us free. I have to go tell Tom Matrullo about this. He can call off his search for hidden meaning. Eureka! We have it, Tom.
October 09, 2007
Wealth Bondage for the Sake of Wealth Bondage
Posted by The Happy Tutor
Nice to see the truth come out, or part of it. You would think the editor of Gifthub would at least acknowledge me as his mentor. When he interned here he never did enjoy beating clients for the sake of beating them. He always had to give it some moral purpose. The clients hated that. All they wanted was a good beating at a fair price. I wish him well teaching philanthropy, maybe he has found his niche. He never would have made it as a Dungeon Master in the real world.
June 29, 2007
The Cruikshanks Center for Philanthropy & Civic Comity
Posted by Candidia Cruikshanks, CEO of Wealth Bondage
Wealth Bondage is pleased to announce the grand opening of The Cruikshanks Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. Freedom is the theme. God is our constant companion. The poor are the object of our moral example. Lynne Cheney will cut the ceremonial ribbon. For me personally, the Center marks an important milestone on my Journey from Success to Magnificence.
February 11, 2007
Meaning Like Wine Spilt
Posted by The Happy Tutor
When all is said and done at Wealth Bondage, what would remain? As in Socratic conversation among friends, a memory, shared understanding, certain refinements of skill. And how would that make for immortality? Each person so touched is driven to continue the conversation with others, and so the skills, the sensibility, the culture is passed on. For this I honor those who went before. In conversation with the living, we can even awaken the voices of the dead. To be a link in that chain of transmission is a calling and the only immortality that matters. This view is what I mean, AKMA, by Faithful Interpretation. You are such an apostolic teacher. Meaning is the consecrated wine we pass in the chalice from hand to hand. And of course it spills like blood: Commemoration of sacrifice, endlessly repeated by those who bear witness even unto death whether there is another world or not. Judas who betrays the Truth has his part in the story too, along with jesting Pilate , the glib Scribes, and the rest. In our faces, in our every act, we betray more than we say. Each of us is exemplary of one thing or another. Our posterity is our congregation, Church, School, or Dumpster.
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