deconstructed

I am fascinated with the idea that God has a sense of humor. Never is this possibility more perturbing as when I am driving my car through the sea of stupidity that we call humanity. Generally, my thought processes gravitate to a question that, I believe, is at the heart of deconstruction. If God has created infinite worlds, why couldn’t he have put me on one by myself? Why must my existence be shared with so many others who only seem to antagonize my existence? Nevertheless, I am stuck here with everyone else. Ironically, without everyone else, my being is nothing. To add insult to irony, language is the only tool that has been given to me to negotiate and navigate through this sea of stupidity. However, driving is one of the facets of my being where spoken language is transcended and higher, more abstract forms of communication are involved. I refer to the communicative process of tailgating.

I am of the persuasion that tailgating is a transcendental signifier whose signified is “get out of my way.” However, the responses that have been elicited by my experiences with tailgating indicate that maybe this signifier isn’t so transcendental. My problem is that I am using myself as a standard for what is. I assume that when I tailgate someone that they understand what I am communicating. According to my radically subjective definition for the rhetorical semantics of tailgating, there is no other signified other then “get out of my way.” The irony of tailgating is that no one ever gets out of my way. This could only mean that my definition of tailgating needs to be deconstructed and ethically constructed with consideration given to the context and intention of my communication with the other. I consider my tailgating to be an artifact/sign that signifies the event of one needing to get out of my way. Nevertheless, the response to this artifact is another artifact/sign, which signifies the event of one refusing to get out of my way. My intention in communicating this sign to someone elicits an entirely antithetical response. What we get is a signifier that is in dialectical opposition to the signified. A beautiful example of différance is the result of what I think my action signifies and how the other’s response to my action is antithetical to my semantic myopia. Within this space of différance, an infinite amount of meanings for tailgating can be conjectured based on the context.

For instance, let’s imagine that the other in this case is a middle-aged female English professor, who drives an oversized SUV as a source of empowerment. When she sees a twenty-something male college student in a sports car tailgating her, she might interpret the tailgating as a variety of signifieds. She might dismiss the action as a folly of youth, and in her wisdom she will intentionally slow down for didactic reasons. She doesn’t interpret the signifier to mean “get out of my way.” She sees it as, “teach me patience.” She isn’t just constructing my definition of tailgating, she is also constructing my definition of myself as a youth. Or perhaps there is some gender contention. Instead of “get out of my way,” she understands my tailgating to mean, “Woman, subugate thyself to me by moving.” In a strict act of gender defiance she refuses to switch lanes. Once again she is constructing my definition of self, specifically that masculine side of myself. Or perhaps the meaning lies in realm of socio-economics. Let’s pretend that the English professor is driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee and the student is driving a Lexus. The signifier then comes to mean something like, “I drive a better car than you, I am therefore the dominant one on the road, and all must yield to me.” However, this meaning is complicated by the fact that both drive nice cars. Cars are ambiguous signifiers of class status, which leads to another infinitely confusing mess. The whole thing might just boil down to pure physics. “I drive a bigger car, so I will drive how I want.” “I drive the faster car, so I will drive how I want.” One thing is for sure, a lot more things are being said besides “get out of my way.” Another thing is also for sure, a lot more is being defined besides the sign of tailgating.

I could continue for pages to describe different scenarios in which the meaning of tailgating could mean a variety of different things. The result of this demonstration would eventually show that tailgating is an empty signifier. It is a vacuum waiting to be filled with meaning, and this meaning will only be created as tailgating is used as a sign in the process of communication with the other.

With that said, if you ever see me tailgating you, rest assured that I am only conducting an experiment in metaphysics. I am not saying, “get out of my way.” However, I am saying something. How you respond will fill the vacuum created by my empty signifier. So in a sense you will be defining tailgating for me, and in the process you will help me define myself. This does not necessarily mean that you shouldn’t get out of my way. Don’t limit your response to simply staying in my way. We are dealing with endless possibilities here; let’s explore them.