Snow Ball Paper - [add deconstruction]

By analyzing a Revelation or texts based on other ideas, the reader, rather than the author, is determining the meaning behind what might be a false statement. The fundamental idea of the method Deconstruction brings out the many meanings in a text or a situation. For example; one can find a few contradictions within the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance. According to www.homeofheroes.com, the Pledge of Allegiance is recited to celebrate the “loyalty and devotion to not only a flag, but to a way of life....the American ideal.” In the chart below, www.homeofheroes.com analyzes the Pledge of Allegiance by clarifying to those who do not understand what the pledge of Allegiance actually means.

Pledge:
I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand, one Nation under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice For All.

Interpretation:
I Promise to be faithful and true (Promise my loyalty) to the emblem that stands for and represents all 50 states, each of them individual, and individually represented on the flag yet formed into a UNION of one Nation. And I also pledge my loyalty to the Government that is itself a Republic, a form of government where the PEOPLE are sovereign, this government also being represented by the Flag to which I promise loyalty. These 50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God, "our most powerful resource" (according to the words of President Eisenhower) The people of this Nation being afforded the freedom to pursue "life, liberty, and happiness", And each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle, And these principles afforded to EVERY AMERICAN, regardless of race, religion, color, creed, or any other criteria. Just as the flag represents 50 individual states that can not be divided or separated, this Nation represents millions of people who can not be separated or divided.

In the Pledge of Allegiance it states “one Nation under God”. One can deconstruct this declaration by understanding that the “50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God”. However, the truth behind the statement is completely false. One who is a conservative Christian knows not to swear under God. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 34-35, Matthew says “But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.” To the government the Nation may be a ‘divine providence of God’, but to many citizens, America is not all that heavenly for the controversies that have occurred, but that is another story. Making an oath under God is against God’s rule of swearing under him. For many years, politicians and other federal officials swear on the Bible by saying “so help me God” to make a vow of taking the responsibility and part in the United States. In Article II, section 1 of the Constitution the Presidential oath described:
“Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The oath does not necessitate the politician to pledge on the Bible or say “so help me God”. To the politicians who call themselves Christian, well they have a lot explaining to do when it comes to swearing under God.
Another contradiction found in the Pledge of Allegiance is the “Liberty and Justice”, also described as “being afforded the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness and each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle”. If America is supposed to be the land of the free, then public and private schools and other organizations would not have to force their students to teach them the Pledge of Allegiance. And if America were the land of the free to be “treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law”, then there would not have been any discrimination towards those who are judged by the court because of the color of a person’s skin or the social class from which he/she is located in. Unfortunately certain races of people spend a longer amount of years in jail, compared to other races, due to their skin color. The Pledge of Allegiance seems simple and whole when it is actually complicated and fragment and usually has power plays.

The method of Deconstruction comes from structuralism, a way of seeing and organizing a better understanding of the world and/or statement. “How doe you know reality exists if everything is perceptions?” People who are usually one-minded view situations by what they want to see, not by what is actually happening, reality. Structuralism defines the binary oppositions of what is presented in a text, privileging that one side is better than the other. Examples of Binary oppositions are short vs. tall, male vs. female, or straight vs. gay. Deconstruction is the binary opposition that fundamentally allows the categories is in what they are in, what people fit reality into. In the song “Thieves in the Night” by Talib Kweli featuring Mos Def, Most Def raps:
“I find it's distressin, there's never no in-between/
We either ni**az or Kings/
We either bitches or Queens/”
From his perspective, the binary opposition of a derogatory word for an African American is a king, which roots back to the early centuries when the term ‘Nigger’ was used against those who were black and were described to be low class slaves. The slaves were discriminated against and treated unfairly by those who are superior to them such like King and queens. The term ‘bitches’ used as a offensive word towards women that insults her temper has the binary opposition of a Queen. A Queen is described as a woman who rules over a country by birth or through marriage. She is usually admired and stands out above others, while a ‘bitch’ is considered somebody who is rude and obnoxious and an attitude like that is very low while a Queen is viewed high. The categories that are made by people’s perceptions from back in the early centuries is the terms ‘nigger’, ‘bitch’, ‘Kings’ and ‘Queens’. It is the traits in which fits into the categories of what was created by man.

In order to expose a hidden binary opposition, one would blow it up by revealing that the text shows that certain categories are false, leaky, confused, etc. One can also multiply the binary opposition by showing that there are more than two categories, displaced by a constellation of positions. By deconstructing and identifying binary oppositions, it give one a wide range of perceptions than just one narrow minded view and how the text or situation does not always have the truth behind its message, simply by revealing the contradictions that are left behind the false message.