Critics invent straw opponents to sustain a sense of being embattled

Evidence

Even if the “Nathan” with whom Kogan debates exists — and I’ll be honest with you, I’m finding it hard to believe that he does — his function is a fantasmatic one (in the same way that Lacan argued that, if a pathologically jealous husband is proved right about his wife’s infidelities, his jealousy remains pathological): for popists to believe that their position is in any way challenging or novel, they have to keep digging up “Nathans” who contest it. But, in 2007, Nathan’s hoary old belief that only groups who write their own songs can be valid has been refuted so many times that it is rather like someone mounting a defence of slavery today — sure, there are such people who hold such a view, but the position is so irrelevant to the current conjuncture that it is quaintly antiquated rather than a political threat. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1210

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains ‘fantasmatic function’ via the pathological jealousy analogy — an opponent can be real yet still serve an imaginary role.
• XREF: connects to: Straw man arguments attribute unstated claims to opponents — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 274; Hostility toward rivals is expressed by attributing unrecognisable, repulsive opinions to them — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1493; Denying sole-cause status is a straw man that lets media off the hook

Broader Connections

• Hostility toward rivals is expressed by attributing unrecognisable, repulsive opinions to them #exemplifies (0.92) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1493
• Straw man arguments attribute unstated claims to opponents #expands (0.90) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 274
• Denying sole-cause status is a straw man that lets media off the hook #exemplifies (0.85)