George Walford: Teacup Ideology

The handles on teacups make it difficult to carry many of them. They don’t “nest” neatly, the pile topples to one side and you drop the lot. Teacups would be easier to carry if they did not have handles.

But teacups are not, primarily, for carrying about. They are for drinking hot liquids from, and the handles make them more efficient for this purpose. The fact, that teacups are awkward to carry, is an incidental side-effect of their fitness for their primary purpose.

The inertia of the brown (protostatic) ideological group makes it exasperatingly difficult to move. Trying to move it would be a more rewarding undertaking (and major social changes easier to effect) if it did not possess inertia. But this group is not, primarily, for being moved. It is for establishing the foundations of society, and its inertia makes it more efficient for this purpose. The fact, that to try and move it is to incur frustration, is an incidental side effect of its fitness for its primary purpose.

from Ideological Commentary 3, December 1979