Where did Bunky come from?
Bunky is the "bunkmate" everyone would love to have. No matter how bad things are going for us, things are always worse for Bunky. Even his dog let him down.

So how come we are comforted, even amused, by the adversities of others, especially when we are depressed ourselves?

Bunky reminds us things are never as bad as they seem. But where is the humor in Bunky's unrelenting suffering? Why do we laugh at Bunky?

When bear-baiting was all the fashion in some places in Europe long ago, someone said they were opposed to bear-baiting "not because it gave pain to the bear but because it gave pleasure to the spectators".

Bunky gives us access to the deeper reaches of the human condition. What we see there is not always uplifting.

There is more to this than "There but for the grace of God go I", I think. Bunky closes the loop between ordinary people who laugh at Bunky's misfortunes, as a salve for their own wounds, and neo-Nazis who paper over their own insecurities by dehumanizing others.

Who was it who said that the germ of every psychopathology resides within all of us? Pogo said: "I have seen the enemy. And it is us."