Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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May 12, 2026

Crying face

by David M Willis on July 9, 2020 at 12:01 am
  • 04 - Is a Song Forever?
└ Tags: amber, ethan

Discussion (99) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    July 9, 2020 at 12:02 am | #

    🦹‍♂️🦶🪢👩‍👩‍👧‍👧🤬

    🙇🙆‍♀️🙅‍♂️🏃‍♀️💃💥🕵️‍♂️

    🚗💥🤛🏍️

    🧒🏻🚏

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      July 9, 2020 at 1:40 am | #

      Translation, please.
      Especially since the 3rd image in the first line doesn’t show up/can’t be displayed on my computer anyway.

      • McBogue
        McBogue
        July 9, 2020 at 2:05 am | #

        It’s supposed to be the “knot” emoji.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        July 9, 2020 at 5:50 am | #

        Seconding that request. I just see a bunch of error boxes because my tablet doesn’t have two thirds of the characters you used…

    • Lieutenant Dan
      Lieutenant Dan
      July 9, 2020 at 6:06 am | #

      🚏🦁

    • Shteevie
      Shteevie
      July 9, 2020 at 10:13 am | #

      Superhero, foot, knot, family, angry

      Bow/sweat, arms making ‘O’, arms making ‘X’, run, dance, POW, detective

      Car, POW, fist punching left, motorcycle

      Smirk, bus stop

      • Some Ed
        Some Ed
        July 9, 2020 at 10:18 am | #

        For the first line, I have

        something male something something angry. It’s clearly not right since there’s multiple broken images there, The rest of the lines miraculously agree with you (as in, I can’t believe I actually have all of those symbols, while missing so many from the top line. How did that happen?!? It could only be a Festivus miracle.)

      • Ana Chronistic
        Ana Chronistic
        July 9, 2020 at 4:26 pm | #

        Twitter failed me, I was using that to pick emojis

        it’s “male supervillain” in the first line, (small asian child) in the last line, but yeah

        • Ana Chronistic
          Ana Chronistic
          July 9, 2020 at 4:28 pm | #

          actually, maybe Facebake, bc I used that to make the “Asian” smirk

      • Axel
        Axel
        July 9, 2020 at 6:42 pm | #

        I read this and had to scroll back up because what the fuck is a Prisoner Of War emoji?

        but no it’s pow like Tai QC’s elbow

      • BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
        BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
        July 19, 2020 at 7:11 am | #

        Bird, hazard sign, tapir, tapir, tapir, wristwatch, tapir, upward pointing hand with partially formed sixth finger, Unwritten Sigil of A’otma, glass of milk, semicolon, tapir, supplementary private use area A character U+10FFFE, your exact car with barely legible but nevertheless correct license plate, tapir…. sheepish grin

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      July 9, 2020 at 6:46 pm | #

      You know, people used to write in hieroglyphics, but then they developed a written language with letters that made words that had meaning.  And it was generally considered by all and sundry to be an improvement.

      So why the rush to go back to an archaic system of pictures that aren’t all that clear to everyone?  We might as well say, “Who needs cars with automatic transmissions and fuel injection — let’s all go back to ‘three on the tree’ and carburetors”, or “who needs air conditioning in the summer and central heating in the winter — let’s all go back to sweating like a farmhand when it’s hot and shoveling coal or chopping wood for the furnace in the basement when it’s not”.

      • David M Willis
        David M Willis
        July 9, 2020 at 7:36 pm | #

        Hieroglyphics are basically comics, so this is a weird place to complain about ’em!

        • David M Willis
          David M Willis
          July 9, 2020 at 7:39 pm | #

          (You’re probably thinking of pictographs. Hieroglyphics were for-real a combination of images and language, arranged sequentially across a surface to tell a narrative. Again, comics.)

          • Bicycle Bill
            Bicycle Bill
            July 9, 2020 at 11:27 pm | #

            Pictographs, hieroglyphics, whatever … I didn’t use that as an example to start an argument.  But yesterday in the comments Doctor_Who posted a non-canon conversation between Amber and Ethan in which Amber replied to Ethan with a golfer symbol — which I was advised is supposed to represent “FORE” and would thus be the answer “four” to Ethan’s question about how much sleep she got.  But if you see the symbol only as a golfer and not make the connection between that, the word “Fore”, and the number “four”, you might as well be trying to read a coded message without the correct “A = (letter)” key.

      • Meagan
        Meagan
        July 9, 2020 at 9:36 pm | #

        People’s brains work differently. For some people expressing and even understanding emojis makes more sense than words.

        I am not one of them. I find emojis to be ambiguous and confusing. But I understand that many people feel that way about words, too.

      • Urainaskar
        Urainaskar
        July 9, 2020 at 10:00 pm | #

        Most things are done and refined for their efficiency. Using unique symbols and forming words with them is a good example of that. But thankfully not everything is done for efficiency, some are done for fun… Perhaps this might be one such case?

      • Michael Haneline
        Michael Haneline
        July 9, 2020 at 10:16 pm | #

        In addition to Willis’s comment on you mixing up hieroglyphs and pictographs, pictographs have the potential benefit of communicating a sentiment in any language.
        I forget which Olympic Summer Games it was, but they commissioned a graphic designer to make all the direction signs, so instead of writing “swimming” in 50ish languages, it was just a pictograph of someone swimming and an arrow, and everybody got it regardless of what language they spoke.
        Of course, there’s still room for misinterpretations. A thumbs up can mean something completely different across cultures, for example.

      • BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
        BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
        July 19, 2020 at 7:13 am | #

        One could argue that all language is nothing but an archaic system of symbols which aren’t clear to everyone. One won’t and wouldn’t argue that, but one could.

  2. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    July 9, 2020 at 12:02 am | #

    Huh, and yesterday I thought I was joking by having Amber speak in emojis.

    Although “Poop” is a perectly valid way to describe this whole situation.

    • Walky_Talky
      Walky_Talky
      July 9, 2020 at 12:33 am | #

      Poop with sunglasses……..

      Egglpant emoji?

  3. King Daniel
    King Daniel
    July 9, 2020 at 12:03 am | #

    1/5 stars

    (stupid rating system, won’t let me rate less)

    • clif
      clif
      July 9, 2020 at 1:14 am | #

      1 small asteroid /5 stars

  4. Newllend(henryvolt)
    Newllend(henryvolt)
    July 9, 2020 at 12:03 am | #

    Only difference is the people holding you captive this time Around was actually considering hurting everybody.

    • Alanari
      Alanari
      July 9, 2020 at 12:07 am | #

      I’m not sure he is aware of the difference though. He was held at knife point. That’s usually a situation where people think they are in danger.

      • Regalli
        Regalli
        July 9, 2020 at 12:24 am | #

        I think having met Sal since, he’s at least aware NOW that she’s a decent person and regrets her actions to the point of genuine awkwardness. (That said, he’s also aware now that she could cause him physical harm should she have actual cause for it.) Five years is also enough time to look back at your younger self (or someone you know’s) and go ‘oh you poor child you know nothing’. So I can see him currently drawing a distinction between Sal (capable of regret, depending on how much detail he remembers of the incident he might recognize she was terrified, in general a fellow 13-year-old,) and Blaine (who feels no remorse whatsoever and whose only regret is that he got caught, and who is a mob stooge who murdered his co-conspirator.)

        At the time, though, it sounds like he was kind of in shock during the incident/immediate aftermath? So I can buy him NOT processing how fucked up it was to be in that situation, at least not immediately. (I may have been optimistic in thinking maybe Naomi considered therapy.) Pretty sure he’d react in about the same way to Blaine taking him hostage at 13 as he did to Sal, with maybe some actual ‘why is Amber’s Dad doing this?’ thoughts involved.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        July 9, 2020 at 9:00 am | #

        He had a knife at his throat. He was in danger. Don’t minimize that.
        Sal didn’t want to hurt him, but she was freaked out and panicking. He could very easily have been hurt or even killed there. Something startles her and her hand slips. He tries to struggle and gets cut in the process.
        It’s like the “don’t point a gun at someone you don’t intend to shoot”. Just doing so massively increases the risk of harm – even if you don’t want to.

        Plus of course any trauma he got out of that doesn’t not happen because she didn’t really want to hurt or go away now that he meets her and realizes she regrets it.

        One can have sympathy for Sal in that situation without downplaying how bad it was.

        • Regalli
          Regalli
          July 9, 2020 at 10:37 am | #

          All true, fair enough. I think the fact that it seems like he hasn’t fully processed the trauma (based off what he’s saying here) makes it seem like there are a lot fewer hard feelings there in general? If it hits like an anvil now I would not be surprised, and any distinction he’d draw is less about Sal’s threat level at the time (because yeah. Either of them could have moved and it would have been bad, he was actually in more direct danger there than with Blaine,) and more about having some sympathy for Sal where Blaine merits none.

    • Michael Haneline
      Michael Haneline
      July 9, 2020 at 10:51 pm | #

      It’s just like all those times my dad would grab us roughly and threaten to put us in the hospital but then assured us later he’d NEVER really hurt us…
      Definitely erases all trauma when you find out later the person very credibly threatening you wasn’t really going to do it!
      *Crying laughing poo emoji*

  5. Chris
    Chris
    July 9, 2020 at 12:03 am | #

    You’re supposed to do that in the toilet, Amber.

  6. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    July 9, 2020 at 12:05 am | #

    As somebody who lost AND regained Internet service today, I think Amber needs to unplug, and replug again after at least thirty seconds…possibly six to seven hours.

  7. Yumi
    Yumi
    July 9, 2020 at 12:06 am | #

    Is anyone else struggling to bring up the hovertext on a phone? It usually works for me.

    • DinaWho
      DinaWho
      July 9, 2020 at 12:08 am | #

      Seconded!

      • Tan
        Tan
        July 9, 2020 at 12:21 am | #

        The hovertext today is “would not recommend, downvoted”

        (I am on desktop, so I cannot vouch for the workings or non- of mobile. Just trying to be helpful.)

        • Miri
          Miri
          July 9, 2020 at 12:36 am | #

          Thanks Tan! (Not showing up for me either although it usually does!)

        • Kyrik Michalowski
          Kyrik Michalowski
          July 9, 2020 at 12:57 am | #

          Thank you for letting those of us on mobile know.

    • P!enapple
      P!enapple
      July 9, 2020 at 12:09 am | #

      It never has worked for me

      • Amara Rezby
        Amara Rezby
        July 9, 2020 at 12:24 am | #

        (iPhone) To get it to work I usually press on the space to the right and beneath the strip. Above the hive works banner, due right of the arrow controls.

        Not today!

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      July 9, 2020 at 12:12 am | #

      It usually works for me and isn’t here, as well.

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      July 9, 2020 at 12:14 am | #

      Thank the gods I’m not the only one, I was starting to go crazy.

    • Norah
      Norah
      July 9, 2020 at 12:19 am | #

      Me too!

    • Wizard
      Wizard
      July 9, 2020 at 12:40 am | #

      I thought maybe my phone was just being uncooperative, but I guess it isn’t just me.

    • Ron again
      Ron again
      July 9, 2020 at 2:12 am | #

      It’s not just today’s strip. Previous comics also no longer show hover text when pressing the invisible button

  8. Nono
    Nono
    July 9, 2020 at 12:08 am | #

    Oh no, is Ethan gonna be mean to Sal.

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      July 9, 2020 at 12:12 am | #

      I can’t really imagine Ethan being mean to anyone.

      Maybe he’ll try to revert all her TFWiki edits, realize she doesn’t have any, and then just not know what else to do.

      • Doctor_Who
        Doctor_Who
        July 9, 2020 at 12:21 am | #

        Also, Sal was kinda instrumental in saving the day just now, so I doubt Ethan’s going to suddenly be mad at her for what happened years ago.

        • Ray Radlein
          Ray Radlein
          July 9, 2020 at 3:08 am | #

          tbf, Ethan was not around for that part, although I am sure he knows about it by now.

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      July 9, 2020 at 5:46 am | #

      Last we saw, he didn’t seem to be angry with Sal about the gas station incident. So he’d either need more time to process it, or he’d have to change his mind despite Sal having nothing to do with executing Blaine’s plan.

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/puberty/
      (And the following strip.)

  9. P!enapple
    P!enapple
    July 9, 2020 at 12:10 am | #

    Remember Ethan, this is not the new normal

  10. FLUFFY
    FLUFFY
    July 9, 2020 at 12:11 am | #

    So, I know it’s a bit late now, but THEORY TIME: Becky isn’t actually as together as she wants anyone to think, and she is in fact running on fumes and due for a breakdown that will absolutely happen if she stops to think about her life.

    • SuperZero
      SuperZero
      July 9, 2020 at 12:14 am | #

      That sounds really far-fetched.

    • Keulen
      Keulen
      July 9, 2020 at 12:15 am | #

      Becky not as together as she wants people to think? Nah, that can’t be right.

      • FLUFFY
        FLUFFY
        July 9, 2020 at 1:25 am | #

        wow, you’re right

        • Deanatay
          Deanatay
          July 9, 2020 at 9:44 am | #

          What were you thinking?

  11. BBCC
    BBCC
    July 9, 2020 at 12:12 am | #

    Sympathetic face. 🙁

  12. Mra
    Mra
    July 9, 2020 at 12:12 am | #

    I hope Linda does not try to confront Amber while she is still like this,

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      July 9, 2020 at 12:30 am | #

      … Honestly, I kind of do provided she’s still at the hospital when it happens. Linda may not change her mind in response to the public shaming that would ensue (because Ethan would get the Warners, or they’d overhear, and I cannot imagine them taking well to her trying to get one of their son’s best friends expelled – the best friend he got injured saving from the father they already know to be a garbage bag – on his supposed behalf, for things the garbage bag father did,) but she sure as hell would have to change tacks in response to it.

      • CE
        CE
        July 9, 2020 at 5:47 am | #

        Yeah, I really like to think that the Warners would go full Mama/Papa Bear over Amber right now. Tho tbh I imagined them doing it to Naomi, but Linda is also deserving. (The idea of the two of them getting angry scares me.)

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      July 9, 2020 at 5:38 am | #

      “Middle finger lollipop eggplant middle finger.”

      -Amber when that happens, probably

  13. Endplanets
    Endplanets
    July 9, 2020 at 12:13 am | #

    Thanks Mike for ruining being taken hostage!

  14. Hornet
    Hornet
    July 9, 2020 at 12:17 am | #

    Does this mean that they are each “The Daphne”?
    (Yes, I KNOW that Amber is closer to being “The Velma”, but, that’s too close to being cliche’.)

  15. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    July 9, 2020 at 12:18 am | #

    Hopefully Amber’s emoji speak doesn’t last too long, I imagine she’ll need more articulate communication in the near future. Especially if Linda decides to confront Amber directly, although that seems unlikely at the moment.

    Also, what has happened to the goons working for Blaine? Are they also arrested and thus missingnout on midterms? Or did they get away scot free?

    • Ray Radlein
      Ray Radlein
      July 9, 2020 at 3:10 am | #

      We know they didn’t get away, because we saw Malaya talking to the cops at the scene about the one who tried unsuccessfully to flee

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      July 9, 2020 at 4:30 pm | #

      Does Linda really deserve better than emoji-speak, though? I like the idea of her being a complete asshole to Amber and Amber just not even looking at her or saying anything remotely articulate.

  16. Rabid Rabbit
    Rabid Rabbit
    July 9, 2020 at 12:27 am | #

    When’s the first time Amber was taken hostage? I mean, at the convenience store, it was pretty clearly only Ethan. Sal even specified “A hostage” when she grabbed the kid. What am I forgetting? (Assuming we agree that her being kept hostage for years by her dad, both literally and psychologically, don’t count.)

    • StClair
      StClair
      July 9, 2020 at 12:35 am | #

      Just because Ethan was the only one grabbed and directly threatened with stabby doesn’t mean that Amber was not also present and menaced.

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      July 9, 2020 at 12:37 am | #

      Ethan was the one held at knifepoint, Amber and Ethan both clearly consider her also a hostage in that situation since she was so close by and Sal wouldn’t have responded well to Amber trying to do anything – including leave. There was also no reason but proximity for Sal to grab Ethan over Amber – had she been so inclined (and also not a terrified 13-year-old in far over her head, obviously,) she could have attacked either or both of them.

  17. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    July 9, 2020 at 12:32 am | #

    Reported.

    • clif
      clif
      July 9, 2020 at 1:11 am | #

      Reported?

      • Reltzik
        Reltzik
        July 9, 2020 at 1:35 am | #

        (As a social-media thingie Amber might communicate in, not something here in the comments that I actually reported.)

  18. synnerman
    synnerman
    July 9, 2020 at 12:48 am | #

    Is Ethan about to sidekick up?

    Put on the mask Ethan.

  19. Council
    Council
    July 9, 2020 at 1:07 am | #

    Poop emoji’s still kinda positive

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      July 9, 2020 at 8:21 am | #

      It promotes new growth!

  20. Lee
    Lee
    July 9, 2020 at 1:19 am | #

    Yeah, ‘Poop’ seems about right. There’s times that’s about all I can articulate, too.

  21. Bagge
    Bagge
    July 9, 2020 at 2:19 am | #

    Thumbs down

  22. Opus the Poet
    Opus the Poet
    July 9, 2020 at 3:41 am | #

    Facepalm, facepalm, poop.

  23. Wayne Farmer
    Wayne Farmer
    July 9, 2020 at 4:06 am | #

    Amber, when the walls fell.

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      July 9, 2020 at 5:32 am | #

      Mike, his eyes open!

      Amber in the basement.
      Amazi-Girl in the basement.
      Amber and Amazi-Girl at Becky’s apartment.
      Amber and Amazi-Girl on the van.

      • Fogel
        Fogel
        July 9, 2020 at 8:56 pm | #

        Wayne Farmer & Needful Doer: Thanks! You have made me VERY happy.

  24. thumb
    thumb
    July 9, 2020 at 7:27 am | #

    so very poop

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      July 9, 2020 at 8:56 am | #

      As the day wears on, Amber gradually works her way up to doge memes.

      such mike
      many injure
      very sad
      wow

  25. Geneseepaws
    Geneseepaws
    July 9, 2020 at 7:28 am | #

    why does Ethan – in panel 4 – remind me of F**kface?

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      July 9, 2020 at 11:31 am | #

      I think it’s his expression; the furrowed brow and mouth line are very Fuckface-esque.

  26. Alan in DC
    Alan in DC
    July 9, 2020 at 8:11 am | #

    I’ve never seen Amber this unhinged in resting mode. Girl definitely needs extensive therapy and should have been getting it since right after Daddy moved out.

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      July 9, 2020 at 10:44 am | #

      It’s less ‘unhinged,’ more ‘completely and totally drained.’ Coming up with words and describing how Mike’s parents are right now is a lot harder than she’s up for, so: Emotions, relying on their mutually understood meanings to convey subjects that would take more words. Unusual but I can see it.

      (Then again, I’m autistic and this strikes me as a step between ‘overwhelmed by emotions past the point of words’ and ‘straight up nonverbal due to stress.’)

      She does ABSOLUTELY need a competent and supportive therapist, though, and probably should have started seeing one right after the convenience store incident.

  27. JepMZ
    JepMZ
    July 9, 2020 at 8:27 am | #

    What does left looking eyes convey again? 👀

    • Merle
      Merle
      July 9, 2020 at 9:54 am | #

      Discomfort, awkwardness, guilt, avoidance.

      The mouseover text for yesterday’s comic is <_< <_<

      • JepMZ
        JepMZ
        July 9, 2020 at 1:57 pm | #

        Oh!!! So avoiding eye contact. It must have been this emoji 😒

  28. U24P
    U24P
    July 9, 2020 at 8:53 am | #

    “Wow, if I had a nickel for every time I was held hostage, I’d have two nickels – which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.”

    • HMH
      HMH
      July 9, 2020 at 9:19 am | #

      “I’m not an expert on mom-shaggin economic, but if I had a nickel for every time I was held hostage, I have it on good authority I’d have shagged two dudes’ mom’s by now.”

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      July 9, 2020 at 9:47 am | #

      He snogged Mike at least twice, so he’d have lost those nickels by now.

  29. HMH
    HMH
    July 9, 2020 at 9:20 am | #

    wow so apparently i treat traumatic situations in much the same ways that both Walky AND Ethan do

  30. Jim
    Jim
    July 9, 2020 at 10:08 am | #

    To be fair, the first time was accidental – but the second time was intentional on the part of the hostage-taker, which really makes it suck that much worse.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      July 9, 2020 at 10:31 am | #

      Not really accidental – not sure how you’d take someone hostage accidentally.
      Not premeditated, perhaps.

      And I doubt the trauma from the experience is really any less if it wasn’t planned.

      • Sam
        Sam
        July 9, 2020 at 4:39 pm | #

        It was less actively malicious and less planned out and from what we’ve seen on Ethan’s part, the first time doesn’t seem to have traumatised him much or he was mostly over it even before talking to Sal as he seemed to believe Amber was overreacting and being a bit paranoid when she learned Sal was nearby and tried to warn him.

        The POTENTIAL trauma isn’t any less but I don’t think it really hit him until now how much the first time actually sucked until it happened a second time whereas before it was kind of just ‘this bad thing that happened’ for him while Amber was heavily traumatised by it.

  31. bcb
    bcb
    July 9, 2020 at 12:47 pm | #

    Downvoting? Now THAT is truly evil!

  32. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    July 9, 2020 at 3:43 pm | #

    don’t put your fingers on your glaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasses

  33. Dave the Inverted
    Dave the Inverted
    July 9, 2020 at 5:04 pm | #

    Ethan in panel five: “This might as well happen.” – John Mulaney

  34. Juanoku
    Juanoku
    July 9, 2020 at 11:28 pm | #

    It’s hard to take this seriously with Amber taking like that

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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 8min
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 4h
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 4h
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hey, FANTASTIC FOUR got an Eisner nomination for best ongoing series!! I think this news is... really great! Fantastic even :0
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 20h
oh no, new content over at the nsfw patreon joe introduces joyce to fingers that aren't breaded chicken www.patreon.com/posts/joe-fi...
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 21h
I may have to pin this
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908. "You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
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