tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post1694601050618413074..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Xi-Hung Meeting = Big NadaMichael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-38454800456176112722016-11-05T01:24:39.982+08:002016-11-05T01:24:39.982+08:00KMT hardliners, and perhaps the KMT in general, ma...KMT hardliners, and perhaps the KMT in general, may to be experiencing what is known in Lacanian psychoanalysis as 'fetishistic disavowel.' This kind of disavowel occurs when we know something but act as if we don't know it. An example of fetishistic disavowel given by political philosopher Slavoj Zizek is that of a man whose wife has died. The man talks to his hamster as if it is his wife. After the hamster dies, the man is no longer able to act as if his wife is still alive. He commits suicide. Another example of fetishistic disavowel that Zizek offers is the public's response to climate change. We are aware of the disastrous consequences climate change will cause, but we go on behaving in the same environmentally destructive fashion as we did before. This is because we know about climate change but act as if we don't know.<br /><br />On your blog, you have mentioned repeatedly that the KMT has been unable to alter its structure and ideology so as to appeal to a Taiwanese political landscape that is overflowing with green. For instance, the party has not been willing to give up the dominance mainlanders hold over it and allow Taiwanese members equal influence. In this post, you note the KMT's inflexibility with regard to its China policy. Thus, it seems possible that KMT hardliners like Hung, if not the KMT generally, are in a state of fetishistic disavowel. They know very well that the Republic of China has ceased to existed and only remains in spectral trappings that the DPP will dismantle, meaning that the KMT must change its image and way of thinking. However, they act as if they don't know this, which leads them to continue to lack appeal with voters. If the KMT was could be jolted out of its fetishistic disavowel (assuming this scenario is accurate), it would be forced to psychologically accept the need for change and act according.<br /><br />Do you see the KMT as a party experiencing fetishistic disavowel? Or is it that the KMT is in a state of delusion and is totally unaware of the need for it to change its way of thinking? Is the situation a combination of both, with some moderates in a state of fetishistic disavowel while Hung and other Deep Blues are in their own delusional world?<br /><br />-Cuttlefish <br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com