My experience was in media studies. Deconstruction had to do with laying bare the ideological underpinnings of one’s perceptions and experience. One could ask questions about why something “means” something and not something else. For instance, what identity or “subjectivity” does a commercial message assume about me? To what degree do I accept or resist that assumption? To what degree does the prevailing culture permit me to have a divergent understanding of that experience? This can lead to creative work that attempts to challenge us to confront these ideologies.

This might make for some interesting conversation for a while but, in the end, it doesn’t put bread on the table or stop a war.