The idea of order, of ordering, is the principal enemy of humanity, creativity, and freedom. Even the idea of safety is secondary to the idea of order: what is considered “orderly” is what is safe. Everything dangerous is treated as a violation of order.
But what is order from the perspective of communication? Two approaches are possible.
Order as something simple, intelligible — something that explains, directs, points the way. And, conversely, order as something that unsettles the familiar structure of the world; order that provokes reflection, invites doubt, calls forth the creation of the new.
The first kind of order is communication as command, as instruction — a dominant form, flowing from above downwards. It is the order of monologue, neither expecting nor accepting a reply.
The second kind of order is one that calls for response, that longs for dialogue, that disrupts the established norm.
An image of communication grounded in the first kind of order may be found in the speech of Trump. It is the speech of the advertising slogan — simplifying, and by that very simplification exaggerating, amplifying to the point of hyperbole:
“I am the most intelligent person in the world.”
“I have stopped a hundred wars.”
“America is respected only because I am American.”
These are not verbatim quotations, but a parody of Trump’s manner of speaking. Parody strives towards a different kind of order — one that demands thought, that seeks resemblance within dissimilarity.
The antithesis of Trump’s model of communication is that of Noam Chomsky. A professional academic, he speaks in a highly ordered and lucid manner — yet Trump would not understand a single word of it. This is a kind of speech that calls one to think, whereas Trump recognises only agreement with himself, for such is the order: I am the boss, you assent.
In many religions of the Middle East, God overcomes chaos and fashions order from it. An exception may be found in the biblical account, where God does not vanquish chaos, but rather makes use of it to create an order of the utmost complexity — one in which creativity, love, and even dissent are possible: an order deeply unsafe, profoundly intricate. This is the world of Shakespeare. The world of Trump is the world of the slogan.
13 April, 2026