The Importance of Deconstruction

Derrida’s writing on “Structure, Sign and Play” addresses the idea that the center is never truly present—so we must learn to deconstruct language in order to reach the truth, or to understand the meaning. During deconstruction Derrida uses binary opposites, for example nature vs. culture. Combining Derrida’s idea of the necessity of deconstruction, with Lacan’s idea that the culture, education and upbringing that we have all experienced is inescapable brought me to the issue we are each faced with on a daily basis, the media.

Many of us rely on the media to present us with an un-biased point of view—because after all that is a requirement of journalism, to present unbiased and uninfluenced information to inform the publics. Lacan’s argument provides us with great evidence that shows that no one can ever be truly unaffected by their experiences and background—which leads to biases existing everywhere, being truly unavoidable. And I’m sure we are all aware that biases exist in the media, for example Fox vs. CNN International etc. These different perspectives provide us with very different information.

This is where Derrida’s ‘invention’ of deconstruction comes into play. If we simply accept the incomplete information we receive from the media at face value, we will be left uneducated citizens and unable to truly play our role in society. We must take the advice of Derrida and understand that there is something lacking. For example the J-Lo song we listened to in class emphasizing how real she is, she went too far and we knew something wasn’t right with her message, that something was missing and it took deconstructing her message to understand that no she isn’t that ‘real’.

Well, I believe the same goes for the media. This is especially relevant with examples such as the War in Iraq and how the media misinformed the public about weapons of mass destruction; or how the public wasn’t given truthful information about the situation at Abu Ghraib. Both of these theories have proven to relate and be relevant to our everyday lives, even though this is only one example, it is a very important example that affects everyone. So possible ways of deconstructing the incomplete information we are fed from the media, is by using multiple sources to verify information etc. Once the public accepts that these biases the media holds cannot be escaped, we will begin to find ourselves better informed citizens.