Naomi Klein

They say everyone has a double somewhere in the world. Naomi Klein discovered hers just as the Covid-19 pandemic was ramping up. Klein is well-known as a smart, left-leaning social activist and writer. She was dismayed to find that people were confusing her with Naomi Wolf who is also a writer but started espousing conspiracy theories starting in 2014. In the early days of the pandemic she was vocally against lockdowns, vaccinations and masking. Frequently, Wolf's statements were attributed to Klein who had no difficulty with following pandemic restrictions and getting vaccinated. This started Klein to do a deep dive into research about the world her doppelganger inhabited. Klein calls Wolf "the Other Naomi" or sometimes just "the Other" throughout the rest of the book. Her thesis is that society has become so deeply fractured along political and ideological lines that it's like there are mirror images. I can't possibly do justice to the book in a short review but it was fascinating to follow Klein's thoughts. Subjects range from Nazis to autism to Israel and Palestine. Although the book was released before the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, Klein was remarkably prescient in discussing the area.

Klein may have gotten a tad obsessed with Wolf. Her husband, Avi Lewis, once found her doing yoga listening to a podcast of an interview with Wolf. On the other hand, know thy enemy is usually sound advice.… (mais)