Like Klein’s other books, “Doppelganger” is an in-depth critique of what late-stage capitalism hath wrought. And suddenly the veil was pulled back on how our world actually works.” The only reason we were able to stay home and stay safe was because other people were out there with very, very little protection delivering food, working in slaughterhouses, Amazon warehouses and nursing homes. “There’s the way we treat our elders, the way the working class is mistreated, and the mirror that was held up to the lockdown class - the people like me who were able to stay home. “We are in a moment of multiple and difficult reckonings, and COVID brought a lot of it into focus,” Klein says. Gurba’s essays, collected in ‘Creep,’ showcase an unblinking gaze at gender-based violence and other cruelties, which the author would rather be known for. In short, to borrow the title of a doppelganger movie Klein examines in the book, “Doppelganger” is about “ Us.”Īs Klein writes, we live in “a culture crowded with various forms of doubling, in which all of us who maintain a persona or avatar online create our own doppelgangers - virtual versions of ourselves that represent us to others … a doppelganger we perform ceaselessly in the digital ether as the price of admission in a rapacious attention economy.” In this economy, the one with the most clicks wins, and the one with the most outlandish take gets the most clicks.īooks Myriam Gurba took down ‘American Dirt.’ It might be the least interesting thing about her We’re partitioning ourselves up and we’re creating this double and we’re polishing it and we’re burnishing it.” “The doppelganger provides a lens that lets you look at a bunch of different things that I think are quite interesting,” Klein says, “including the way we create doubles of ourselves in order to perform ourselves online, whether it’s in a video game as an avatar or an idealized beautiful person on Instagram or a mom influencer. On both a personal and a political level, the Naomi conflation went from periodic annoyance to existential dilemma. Wolf and her easily agitated cadre, which now included right-wing firebrands Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon, were hitting the COVID conspiracies hard, and describing a dark fantasy version of real-world crises. The pandemic quarantine meant more hours online for just about everyone, including both Naomis. Then, gradually, the social media echo chamber grew deafening. I’d stumble across somebody online who was very angry at me for something, and it took me a minute to realize that it wasn’t me they were angry at.” “It was a periodic annoyance, no big deal,” Klein said in a recent video interview. wanted to spread the virus and launch a military takeover!) to COVID-19 (The vaccines can shed! The government is eavesdropping through your vaccine passports!). More and more people were confusing the prolific capitalism critic with Naomi Wolf, the author of “ The Beauty Myth” and erstwhile feminist star who has become a fount of conspiracy theories on everything from Ebola (The U.S. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.Īt first Naomi Klein thought it was kind of funny. Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World
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