It is time to talk about “Deconstruction.” If you have been paying attention to discussions about wokeness and postmodernism (What Wes Yang calls “the successor ideology) over the last 5 years, you've likely seen this word. The term “Deconstruction” goes back to Jacques Derrida’s book “Of Grammatology” and is one of the most important concepts in all of postmodernism. If you want to understand wokeness and how it operates, you MUST understand deconstruction. It is one of the key ways that postmodern woke activists use to attack our society.
Things deconstruct themselves - they open themselves up for more & other readings ... Things are like borders or death or solutions ... They have at least two sides ... They are like traces - which are always traces of traces ... Where do you draw the line ... institute a border ... Who decides ... where and/or when ... We find ourselves in a difficult freedom ... We need BOTH knowledge & faith to make decisions/differences ... to draw lines, borders, ... We have moved beyond (the hierarchical binaries, triangles, pyramids, etc. of) Euclidian geometry ... We need a taste for extremely strange formal-structural-technological movements ...
The first Deconstructionist was Satan, who is represented as Mephistopheles, the arch negator, in Goethe's "Faust":
“I am the spirit that negates.
And rightly so, for all that comes to be
Deserves to perish wretchedly;
'Twere better nothing would begin.
Thus everything that that your terms, sin,
Destruction, evil represent—
That is my proper element.”
Deconstruction is also related to Karl Marx's "ruthless criticism of all that exists." The basic idea is that, as our societies have failed to construct a Utopia where no one ever suffers or feels less-than, they deserve to be destroyed and handed over to a Vanguard class who've read all the right books and are blessed with "revolutionary consciousness." Only once these philosopher kings have total power (as they did in Soviet Russia, Maoist China and Pol Pot's Cambodia) will we reach the Promised Land of Marxism/Socialism.
The postmodernists "Deconstruct" everything because they cannot construct anything.
Excellent essay. I'm struggling with the real lack of endgame of those on the side of peddaling wokeness though. The deconstruction of societal norms through the manipulation of meaning has to result in something besides chaos. Could I posit that it's simply a tactic to gain power? Once the armada of ships has shredded their sails and chaos has ensued, does that not leave it open for an individual or government to be that "one saving grace" that leads them to what they think is safety? "Here, grab onto this rope, I will tow you to safety." Feel free ro replace the word rope with "vaccine" or "mask" or "climate change policy"...
To quote another Lewis (Caroll this time)
"The time has come, the Walrus said, To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings.
And why the sea is boiling hot,
And whether pigs have wings."
For those who have read the poem, you know what happens next.
Looking forward to the follow up
Brilliantly articulated! Keep these coming
Things deconstruct themselves - they open themselves up for more & other readings ... Things are like borders or death or solutions ... They have at least two sides ... They are like traces - which are always traces of traces ... Where do you draw the line ... institute a border ... Who decides ... where and/or when ... We find ourselves in a difficult freedom ... We need BOTH knowledge & faith to make decisions/differences ... to draw lines, borders, ... We have moved beyond (the hierarchical binaries, triangles, pyramids, etc. of) Euclidian geometry ... We need a taste for extremely strange formal-structural-technological movements ...
The first Deconstructionist was Satan, who is represented as Mephistopheles, the arch negator, in Goethe's "Faust":
“I am the spirit that negates.
And rightly so, for all that comes to be
Deserves to perish wretchedly;
'Twere better nothing would begin.
Thus everything that that your terms, sin,
Destruction, evil represent—
That is my proper element.”
Deconstruction is also related to Karl Marx's "ruthless criticism of all that exists." The basic idea is that, as our societies have failed to construct a Utopia where no one ever suffers or feels less-than, they deserve to be destroyed and handed over to a Vanguard class who've read all the right books and are blessed with "revolutionary consciousness." Only once these philosopher kings have total power (as they did in Soviet Russia, Maoist China and Pol Pot's Cambodia) will we reach the Promised Land of Marxism/Socialism.
The postmodernists "Deconstruct" everything because they cannot construct anything.
Essentially, these people are mentally ill
What about deconstructing "deconstruction" itself? Turn the tables on it by applying it's own destructive force to it.
Excellent essay. I'm struggling with the real lack of endgame of those on the side of peddaling wokeness though. The deconstruction of societal norms through the manipulation of meaning has to result in something besides chaos. Could I posit that it's simply a tactic to gain power? Once the armada of ships has shredded their sails and chaos has ensued, does that not leave it open for an individual or government to be that "one saving grace" that leads them to what they think is safety? "Here, grab onto this rope, I will tow you to safety." Feel free ro replace the word rope with "vaccine" or "mask" or "climate change policy"...
To quote another Lewis (Caroll this time)
"The time has come, the Walrus said, To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings.
And why the sea is boiling hot,
And whether pigs have wings."
For those who have read the poem, you know what happens next.