Ecology

Karl Kraus's aphorism encapsulates a key element of the fetish, a disproportionate attachment to a particular ordering or structure of desire. The fetish can be viewed as a psychological version of the figure of speech known as synecdoche wherein a part is used to represent the whole. The standard understanding of the fetish has come to be dominated by connotations of sexual perversion, but the concept of fetishistic disavowal allows a wider understanding of the concept that enables important insights into contemporary ideological processes, the political implications and consequences of which reach well beyond the merely sexual. Zizek frequently tells the story of a surprised visitor to the Danish nuclear physicist Niels Bohr who voiced disapproval when he saw a horse-shoe hanging above a door. He also argues that beyond the youngest and most naive infants, the majority of children know that Father Christmas does not exist. The only people who truly believe in Santa Claus are the parents themselves.