By
Obododimma Oha
The
expression, “The triumph of chaos,” has a number of assumptions, among which
are:
(1) There is
a “normal” situation that we identify as “orderly;”
(2) There
is an existing situation that departs
from the normal, and we define it as “chaos;”
(3) There is
a kind of conflict between order or orderliness and chaos, with the former
looking for ways to win;
(4) If chaos
wins at the end, in the future, we can call it “The triumph of chaos;”
(5) That
chaos has won is a lamentation that may be an exaggeration or prophecy of fear
of an impending doom.
Those in
literary studies who monitor the behaviours of tropes in texts see the case in
(5) as a kind of hyperbole, but ordinarily it is a warning. It is a regrettable
thing that chaos has won over orderly behaviour. We want order, in personal and
community lives. We love orderliness and have to look for ways of installing
and protecting it. If we see disorder coming, we scream and run, or we fight it
back. We don’t like chaos; it reminds us about darkness and uncivilized living.
Farewell or pass the other way, chaos. Do not enter this life and this homestead and this society!
When one
talks about the triumph of chaos, perhaps one already sees or imagines the
conflict as already begun. And some strategies are helping chaos to win,
including self fighting against self without knowing it. What fight is that severe
and more devastating as that which goes on in texts and as texts? Language is a
weapon, for defence and assault. Texts in language are weapons and may be
modified and refined to fight terribly. Yes; texts are weapons.
Some weapons
fight for chaos. Some weapons that fight for chaos do not know it, but are
carrying on, expecting our applause.
Doing
whatever one likes, however one likes it, is a way of fighting alongside the
troops of chaos. That means that one does not care or thinks that one is above
regulations or statements about what belongs to chaos and what belongs to
order. Or somebody that does so is falsely thinking that it is freedom but it is
the open door to chaos. So, someone who wishes to do what they like, how they
like it, is not free and is beckoning on
chaos to take over and be the slave master.
A simple
illustration. Going to school is not just a preparation to have some skills
which one could give later and be compensated in employment. It is also a
journey to decency, to being more civilized. In that case, schooling does not
entitle the student to living anyhow and being above the law or being
uncontrollable. That you are a student does not mean that you can walk in the
middle of the road, unless you are a disciple of chaos. School has to join
parents in bringing up somebody who is decent, rational, and cannot walk in the
middle of the road listening to music from earphones or in a virtual chatroom! The road is the room; maybe a bedroom even!
But chaos
cannot triumph. Not yet. It will fight it out with orderliness and deserve the
victory. It will lose sorely. It will lose, even though it is killing innocent
people, sacking communities, renaming such, thinking order is tactless and only
watching. Order will strike back in a resounding way. The best thing is for chaos
to tuck in its tail and run. Order is coming and will be thorough. Order will
reclaim its own. Order will enter the heart and sit on the throne.
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