The Guardian has an article picking up on some of the fallout from the Derrida obituaries. It quotes, presumably for a laugh, the views of A.C. Grayling. P., who is French, commented"This grayling, he appears, albeit on this slim evidence, to be a conceited numbskull happy to reproduce the small accretions of doxa deposited in his walnut-like brain" (i'm paraphrasing). Other quotes, however, from Glendinning and Eaglestone, are not too wide of the mark:
Well, it is very difficult to summarise Derrida's thought," says Glendinning. "It, like any serious and penetrating thought, even resists summary - any philosophy that can be summed up in a nutshell belongs in one. People are troubled by a form of critique which challenges our most cherished assumptions - and so they want a caricature."
Eaglestone also points out the impatience of the modern world, the lack of time for anything complicated, and even suggests an uglier motivation, "a thoroughgoing English anti-intellectualism which leads to academics and intellectuals being despised, so any charge will stick." Modern thinkers challenge received ideas, such as the assumption that genes alone determine character, or that art can only be good for you. They are not afraid to tackle institutions on both the left and the right, which has left them with few friends. "People don't like to have their certainties questioned," says Eaglestone. "Sadly that's the academic's job."
Let me also, belatedly, recommend this post on Derrida.