Language Shapes Reality

Derrida's key insight was that language does not simply describe reality — it creates it. The words we use frame what we can think. Calling a group "freedom fighters" or "terrorists" changes everything about how we judge the same actions.

This is not word games. Medical categories decide who gets treatment. Legal definitions decide who has rights. The labels we accept shape the world we live in. Deconstruction — Derrida's method — means pulling apart texts to reveal the hidden assumptions baked into their language.