Order and Chaos

One interesting point that has been made in the various mainstream media, especially the New York Times, is that the ideological base for US foreign policy is centered around the concept of order vs. chaos. I find this quite interesting, for within many chaotic systems one can certainly find patterns of order, although frequently indeterminate in nature.

My question here is in regards to the post Gulf War II society, what is going to constitute chaos and order and the methods under which each are defined/enforced.

For example, during the early post - 9/11 days when economic doldrums became a real possibility, the implication was that although the government was in a high alert of panic (i.e. chaos) the public was to help prop up the economy through spending and to go about their lives normally despite the new restrictions (read: inscription of order).

In addition, I also wonder whether times like the present are more or less fecund for the artist/activist? I wonder how the artist as shaper of chaos or orderer of reality can intervene in the current days to likewise help shape the mainstream reality of the conception of nation, government, and many other social contracts.

Patrick Lichty
Director of the Bureau for the Dissemination of Metastructures and Media Metaphors