Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger Is a Conspiracy Theorist. It’s a Problem.

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KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if you had a doppelganger – someone who you’re routinely mistaken for – but that double is someone whose politics and worldview are diametrically opposite of yours? That’s what happened to writer and intellectual Naomi Klein. At times in her career, Klein has been mistaken for writer Naomi Wolf, which was sometimes funny and sometimes annoying. But when Wolf evolved into a conspiracy theorist and a regular commentator on Steve Bannon’s podcast, the mix-up became more troubling to Klein, a climate activist and anti-capitalist. The quandary of having a double who stands for ideas that are the polar opposite of your own is the subject of Klein’s new book, “Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World.” We talk to Klein about her work…and her double. Guests: Naomi Klein, author and columnist with The Guardian. Klein's latest book is "Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:26.2	The writer Naomi Klein has shared the public sphere
1:28.7	with another Naomi, Naomi Wolf, for 25 years. Both had huge books in the 90s, and though
1:35.1	their careers diverged wildly, many people still confused them, so much so that Klein began to think
1:40.8	of Wolf as her doppelganger, her double. And then came COVID. Naomi Wolf began to
1:47.4	move decisively into conspiracy terrain, sliding quickly from wild tweets about vaccine passports into
1:53.5	appearing on Steve Bannon's war room. That sent Klein on a deep investigation, not just into
1:58.8	Wolf, but about the mirror world that she entered and inflamed.
2:02.1	We all know there is tons of misinformation.
2:04.5	Klein's book tries to tell us why.
2:06.3	We'll talk right after this news.
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