Thinking inside the box

In spite of this trope having played itself out long ago, there are still many people who insist on thinking outside the box.

The problem with claiming to think outside the box is that thinking outside the box persists in using the box as a referent, a magicians slight of hand to get people to look at the box as being over there somewhere and never notice the extension cord connecting it to the new, firmly outside of the box idea being presented. If you are placing the new in relation to the box, you have not escaped the box. You are still trapped firmly within the context of the box.

Besides, thinking too far outside the box is as apt to get you medicated as wealthy. And the commitment involved in the former is probably much more manageable for most people.

Here at MoosePlum we make no pretense of thinking outside the box. Instead we dedicatedly and aggressively think firmly inside the box. In this we join many noble personages.

For instance, marketing professionals, seasoned politicians and related statisticians. They specialize in putting everything into boxes, little boxes made of ticky-tacky, which they then put on hilltops, just so they can more effectively do their jobs without having to consider us as ourselves. After all, that much thinking would be hard. By thinking inside the box, they succeed in convincing themselves of things so far outside the box as to have no remaining sense of referent at all to the rest of us.

Or maybe cats. Cats love to think inside boxes. They are true masters of it. Nothing assists them with the contemplation of life, kibble, and world domination like a nice new box to curl up in to pretend to nap.

And Napolean? New evidence indicates that famous pose was because he had a tiny finger box hidden there, just large enough for one finger, that would assist him in thinking inside the box when the situation called for it without drawing too much attention to his comfortable pragmatism and self-assured conservatism.

We at MoosePlum are so firmly committed to thinking inside the box that we have taken some really exciting new boxes and cut them up to make party hats out of them. Now we can put them on our heads to block out the daylight, close our eyes, and think really deep and creative thoughts. We may appear to be napping, but trust us, we are having profound ideas. Respect that and don’t disturb us. Amazing things will come of it.