[Peace-discuss] Empty signifier

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The late Claude Lévi-Strauss coined this term "to represent an undetermined 
quantity of signification, in itself void of meaning and thus apt to receive any 
meaning". Such "floating siginifiers" may "mean whatever their interpreters want 
them to mean" and so can "allow symbolic thought to operate despite the 
contradiction inherent in it".  Here's a leading contemporary example. --CGE]

	Ben Stein Says Ron Paul Is Antisemitic for Calling US ‘Occupiers’
	Eric Garris, December 29, 2009

On Larry King, Ben Stein said that Ron Paul calling the US “occupiers” was 
“using the same antisemitic argument we’ve heard over and over.”

Former game show host and economist Ben Stein first came into prominence when he 
worked for notorious antisemite Richard Nixon.

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2009/12/29/ben-stein-calls-ron-paul-antisemitic-for-calling-us-occupiers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AWCBlog+%28Antiwar.com+Blog%29