I'm not joking, and I know basics of history and feudalism, but I always found the definitions too abstract to grasp intuitively. Sure there is always the evil feudal lord oppressing the poor peasants. It's too hard for me to grok how that society worked, so I find it helpful to find modern structures that are close to isomorphic to feudalism for better intuitive understanding. "Ah it's like a company but each piece of land and everyone on it is automatically in it." That's a lot easier to see.