Naomi Klein: Tackling the “Doppelganger”, Disinformation & Lies

This show is made possible by you!  To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate Politics abhors a vacuum. Without credible explanations for the things that bewilder and exasperate us, people become susceptible to extremist conspiracy theories, hate and lies. So how does truth survive? In her brand new book, "Doppelgänger: A Trip into the Mirror World”, award-winning journalist Naomi Klein, (author of No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, et al), describes being confused with Naomi Wolf, author of The Beauty Myth, as Wolf morphed into a conspiracy-minded anti-vaxxer during the Covid pandemic. In an era of all important "personal brands", Klein became absorbed in the deep fake, double worlds surrounding and sometimes coming to represent her online. Right-wing conspiracies feed off Left-wing silences, she concludes. In this far-ranging interview from her home in British Columbia, Canada, Klein describes listening to hours and hours of conspiracist Steve Bannon's podcasts, and researching doppelgängers in history and literature, in order to uncover why we have shadow selves, and how disinformation and conspiracy theories gain power. Join Laura Flanders for this charming conversation as Naomi Klein challenges us to overcome divide-and-conquer individualism if we are ever to tackle our real-life, systemic crises. And Laura shares a few thoughts on learning from our elders about the pre-digital age.<br />“[I think that] the pressure we're putting on the self . . . is part of why we're seeing so many people crack. I don't think the self can support the amount that we are putting on it: It's our income. It's our retirement. It's our safety. It's our lifeboat . . . And it's an illusion because we cannot protect ourselves from the forces that we're up against . . . Our only hope of protection is through collective work and collective movement building.” - Naomi Klein<br />“Very often we think that the solution is deplatforming . . . What I've seen is that it's actually kind of supercharged the movement. People wear it as a badge of honor . . . I am less interested in how we control speech and much more interested in how we drain conspiracy culture of its energy, of its power.” - Naomi Klein<br />Guest:Naomi Klein: Journalist & Best-Selling Author, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, The Shock Doctrine, No Logo, This Changes Everything & On Fire Full Episode Notes are located HERE.  They include related episodes, articles, and more.Music In the Middle:   “Connections” featuring lyrics  by Reg E. Gaines and music by Calvin Gaines, courtesy of the artists. And additional music included- "In and Out" and "Steppin" by Podington Bear The Laura Flanders Show Crew:  Laura Flanders, Sabrina Artel, David Neuman, Nat Needham, Rory O'Conner, Janet Hernandez, Sarah Miller and Jeannie HopperFOLLOW The Laura Flanders ShowTwitter: twitter.com/thelfshow Facebook: facebook.com/theLFshow Instagram: instagram.com/thelfshow/YouTube:  youtube.com/@thelfshow ACCESSIBILITY - This episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel