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    i nvited the peasants in to stuff themselves.  The ritual drove home the

    fact that the noble was on top... and the peasants on the bottom.  The

    Anglo-Saxon word for someone on the crest of a social heap--"lord"--

    was a testament to the put-down-power of the handout.  The word's

    literal meaning: "loaf giver."135

    The role of the giveaway as a hierarchical weapon goes all the

    way back to our cousins the chimpanzees.  You probably recall from an

    earlier chapter that when one of these meat gourmets is lucky enough

    to kill a young gazelle or a baby baboon, females, children and even his

    rivals crawl toward the hunter, lowering their eyes and stretching out

    their hands with palms upturned.  They whimper, squirm and cry.136

    Such is the power of generosity to elevate the giver and cast down

    those who receive.   No wonder those on whom we lavish aid are not

    particularly fond of us.

    Compassionate gestures have a purpose we seldom admit--they

    confirm our feeling of superiority, gratifying us with the certainty that

    those who receive our "help" are, indeed, below us.  This makes the

    recipients loathe us.  They'd gladly exchange the food and blankets we

    send for the opportunity to look down upon their "benefactors."137

    The fathers of our foreign policy feel that by alleviating hunger,

    poverty and disease, we can pull the pins out from under the urge to

    shed blood and make the third world love us.  The philosophy hasn't

    worked.  The abasement of the charity recipient is only one reason.

    Another: our official definitions of want bear little relationship to the

    reality of the human psyche.   We assume that humans desire food,

    clothing and shelter.  But we forget that  people crave something far

    more vital: status and prestige.138  They yearn to move up in the

    pecking order!

    Our relief agencies ship food and medicine to the poor of South

    America.  But when allowed to buy what they prefer, women of South

    America's underclass purchase something they consider more vital

    than penicillin or protein-rich nutrient.  They spend their precious

    funds on...lipstick.  Lipstick brings the admiring glances of men and

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