What you call exoteric and esoteric is what I’d technically call “irony,” which holds both simultaneously as you describe.
Another way to express this may be to note that signifier here is being tasked with gaming the discourse to fool the un-itiated — with the initiated aware of which signified is being applied to signal the precise meaning at any given time. That is, which sign they have intended.
You are exactly right. They do this with words like "gender", "patriarchy," etc. They have all of these words that THEY have their own definitions for and if people disagree, they are bad/unwoke.
What you call exoteric and esoteric is what I’d technically call “irony,” which holds both simultaneously as you describe.
Another way to express this may be to note that signifier here is being tasked with gaming the discourse to fool the un-itiated — with the initiated aware of which signified is being applied to signal the precise meaning at any given time. That is, which sign they have intended.
So good, thank you! Glad I found you on Substack!
You are exactly right. They do this with words like "gender", "patriarchy," etc. They have all of these words that THEY have their own definitions for and if people disagree, they are bad/unwoke.