Paris Hilton--Icon of a Great Power?!

That's it, Geek! Time for you to get a grip!

Sure. Perhaps the Geek is over the edge, but he doesn't think so. He's ready and willing to argue that the recent (and ongoing) frenzy over the aforementioned 26 year old blond is a perfect epitomization of the central reason for the United States' status a Great Power.

Remember, he's already on record as saying that the bottom line reality of America's position in the world is not, repeat not, it's economy, nor its nuclear arsenal, nor its capacity to project military force. While these factors are important, they are not critical.

The critical component of American power is the intangible. Particularly important is the intangible that can is seen by our enemies as our decadence, our lack of order, the absence of morality, the lack of godliness. The intangible that is seen by internal critics as materialism, infantile desire for instant gratification, a lifestyle devoid of purpose beyond the commercial, the sensual.

Certainly, enemies and critics could point at Paris Hilton as an icon for these perceived flaws in the American national character. And, the Geek wouldn't argue the point. Not because he agrees necessarily, but because it's irrelevant.

They're missing the point. The intangible which they resent, oppose, even wish to destroy is the greatest strength of this nation. It is the magnet that pulled thousands here from Europe, Asia, Latin America. It is the driver which has propelled the people of the US to accomplish so much in such a short time.

Its name? Chaos.

Chaos. The word scares some. It excites more. Both fear and exhilaration spring from the same source: the absence of controlling authority, deadening tradition or dictatorial consensus whether religious or ideological.

The old cliche, "Land of Opportunity," really has always meant, "Land of Chaos," the place of dissent, conflict, disagreement. To glance over the thousands of articles, reports, opinion pieces and blogs dealing with Paris Hilton is to read the face of chaos--American style.

The beauty of the Paris Hilton Incident is the intense, passionate disagreement. There is no central authority, religious or civil, ordering a party line, policing compliance with the line, punishing those who don't follow the leader.

Excrescences of zaniness like the Hilton Incident have always been a part of the American scene. They have always defined for the world just how limitless the boundaries of chaos are.

What is most interesting about the zany sides of American life is how differently they are interpreted by authoritarian leaders and non-authoritarian members of the larger publics. Consider for a moment how the Nazis portrayed American jazz and swing music. Or, more recently, think about how the Communist leaders from the era of Stalin on insisted on describing rock and roll.

In both cases the official line was that the music illustrated the immoral, decadent, sensual nature of the debauched and jaded Americans. In both cases, the non-authoritarian or anti-authoritarian segments of the public embraced the music at great risk because it symbolised the free, chaotic, outlaw nature of American life. In short, all the appeals of life in the US.

In the past few days, with the exception of the authoritarian controlled media of countries such as Iran, the Paris Hilton Incident has been gobbled up in all of its many internally conflicted views as a shorthand presentation of the multifaceted, many hued nature of the contemporary United States, a place where so much is possible because so little is prohibited or required.

No Mullah, Imam, Priest nor President decrees what must be said, be written, be believed about Paris Hilton or the judge who sentenced her, or the Sheriff who let her go home. No one, no matter how exalted his position, can order the mob into the street for or against Paris. No minister can order her death. No Council can order the media to ignore the story. No commissar can silence the Internet.

Chaos. To be sure the Paris Hilton Incident is chaos in miniature and over an unimportant issue, but that's what an iconic event is--a miniature that represents something much larger, much more real and infinitely more important.

There are Americans who fervently wish none of this were true. There are Americans who fervently desire that the chaos could be shoved into a small bottle labeled "Order." There are Americans who would, if only they had the power, put an end not only to the circus surrounding Ms Hilton, but to the woman herself. There are Americans who would agree wholeheartedly with Hitler regarding jazz and the Kremlin commissars regarding rock and roll. There are Americans who are in complete tandem with the mullahs and imams concerning the debauched, ungodly nature of today's United States.

This type of American has always been with us as a (so far) permanent minority. The mentality of this American was described perfectly by a great politician, Franklin Roosevelt on a cold March day almost seventy-five years ago.

FDR said, "The only thing we have to fear is--fear itself."

He was speaking narrowly of the economic depression which had settled on the nation like a foul cloud, but his words have a universality which make them appropriate today. The enemy of chaos and all the creativity it makes possible is the fearful mind.

Only the fearful mind rejects chaos and seeks the Authority of the state, of ideology, of tradition, of religion in its place. Only the fearful authoritarian seeks to place the burkah on the naked body of chaos, demands that all perceive, believe, think and act according to a presumed universal truth.

In a great movie, The Third Man, the character of Harry Lyme speaks of the distinction between the chaos of the Italian city states which produced the Renaissance from the rubble of unending wars and the orderly nature of Calvinist, authoritarian Switzerland which brought forth "the cuckoo clock."

Our chaos has produced not only breath arresting technological triumphs like landing a man on the moon and parsing the human genome but more human liberation in the past fifty years than had happened in the preceding thousand. Our chaos has resulted in not only the horrors of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles but freedom enhancing marvels such as the Internet. Sure, chaos is the cliched double headed ax. It kills. It frees. It destroys. It creates.

Chaos is our ultimate strength. If we are strong enough to embrace it.

Otherwise, we might just as well cave in to our fears. Join the authoritarians. Make cuckoo clocks.