Chapomatic

An interesting observation set inside a gripe about the BBC mindset. In the middle of this essay (worth reading) comes a section that resonates:

Obviously all institutions have to be watched pretty closely. Although their justification lies in the service they provide, their fundamental objective has always been self-preservation. Without their critics, 10-year-old children would still be going up chimneys, women would not be able to vote, and sheep-stealers would still be being hanged. Nevertheless they are all that stands between the civilised world and the chaos of anarchy or the violence of tyranny.

It would have been more than reasonable for us to have opposed specific abuses by institutions; homosexual acts were decriminalised during my BBC years, which we all applauded. But the focus of our hostility was the institutions themselves.

Institutions are made of people. People, being human, will screw up every thing they touch; but that said, they still are made of people. Institutions are better understood when one knows the people in the institution, to better know how the institutional culture is built. Then one can better deal with, support, or destroy the institution as necessary.