#182 / Deconstruction

"Deconstruction" is a term in vogue in philosophical and literary circles. If you click the link, you can get a feeling for the jargon that the concept has generated.

I take "deconstruction" to be a process in which we look "behind" what appears to be the reality of a thing, to find out what is "really" going on. It's a search for philosophical and historical and economic and literary "metadata," in other words.

In Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle, my favorite columnist, Jon Carroll, discussed why other nations have tried to place limits on cars (and why that hasn't happened in the United States). Here is his take:

There's another good reason for Europe to try to reduce fossil fuels - it reduces its carbon footprint to bring them in line with the Kyoto Accords. You'll recall the United States didn't sign those accords, because we are run by oil companies and their lackeys. Also, climate change is just something they made up in Scandinavia.

When we "deconstruct" the politics of the United States, we do find that "oil companies and their lackeys" are actually in charge. The "American Corporate Flag," pictured, is that deconstruction made visible.