I worked diligently to slog through the book Doppelganger by Naomi Klein. It was hard going, a far cry from the mysteries and puzzlers that I prefer and are much more entertaining.
So why did I do it?
For one thing, she is an excellent writer. And she’s even a better thinker. She adds depth to subjects I’ve given scant thought to.
Doppelganger, of course, means a double. Someone who maybe looks like you, maybe has a name like yours, and perhaps even talks like you.
Klein’s double is Naomi Wolf. Same first name. Often causes confusion and, when Wolf says things, many attribute them to Klein.
And that’s not a minor problem. Because Klein is an ultra-leftist and Wolf is a nut job on the far right. So it’s easy to imagine assuming Wolf’s views to be Klein’s would be somewhat disconcerting to the latter.
Apparently, Wolf wasn’t always this way, but the past few years have seen her radicalization as she joined forces with Steve Bannon to rant about Covid mask, vaccine, and closure restrictions. And that’s part of the Doppelganger problem for Klein.
What about each of us? Do we have a doppelganger? Maybe. Klein speaks of at least a couple of possibilities. I’m going to discuss them both, but please recognize I might not be expressing Klein’s views correctly, so read her book and draw your own conclusions.
That first one is the image we present of ourselves on social media platforms.
How do we appear there? Is it an honest rendition of ourselves? For example, do we mention how we yelled at our children or went to bed furious with our mate? Do we describe our insecurities and insincerities, mention we nicked a car in the food store’s parking lot and then drove off, or talk about how we sometimes feel like a failure? Do we tell about all the myriad of things we do of which we are ashamed? And let’s be honest, most of us do have things we would rather not share.
So it seems likely we present a not so true picture of ourselves, omitting warts and other negative aspects. Klein points out that what we actually are doing is creating a doppelganger of ourselves, an image we want others to know. Certainly not exact copies of ourselves. Our doppelganger looks like us, of course; consider all the posted pictures. But this doppelganger has a wonderful time on a picnic with the kids, proven by even more photos. This doppelganger does not talk about the frustration with having to keep the kids in line at that picnic. So every one of us who posts any information about ourselves on social media is creating a doppelganger of ourselves that probably is not a true picture of ourselves.
And sometimes that can be dangerous. A recent newspaper article discussed difficulties for youths because what they saw on social media was perfection in others while realizing they couldn’t possibly live up to the standards they were seeing.
Maybe it’s worth thinking about how we use social media and why we do.
Now let’s consider our second type of doppelganger. This is a bit harder to understand.
During Covid a lot of things happened that weren’t liked by the far right. And by a lot of other people also. And that opened the door for some bad stuff.
Many people were incensed by all the business closures that were mandated. I can understand it. We who weren’t impacted by loss of revenue by the closures could feel sympathy for those who were but, actually, we didn’t give it much thought.
But those businesses did. And a lot of those businesses were health clubs, workout locations, yoga studios, and the like. Those imposing the closure decisions were worrying about the effects of panting exercising individuals pushing Covid into the air. Those suffering from those decisions were worrying about surviving economically.
Now here’s where I’m not sure I’m understanding Klein properly, but I believe the reasoning goes at least somewhat along these lines.
In order to attract back business, the owners of the health facilities hatched a campaign of guilt. They attempted to shame those of us who stayed away from the gyms and other such establishments, implying we didn’t care about the importance of regular workouts. Indeed, we dared to ignore the need to form perfect bodies and were bugged about it until it became a huge guilt trip not to take action. The ultimate goal of these moralists was to say we should all create a doppelganger of ourselves of perfect proportions. And going to the gym was the way to achieve it. As a consequence, over time, there was increased animosity to the imperfect and gradually disgust, distrust, and even hatred of them arose.
A heavenly situation for Bannon, doppelganger Wolf (“the other Naomi” according to Klein), and others of their ilk. Forces were joined in the common cause of hate mongering of the imperfect. And who were those imperfect individuals? Often those in marginalized communities and minorities.
Read Klein’s book and see where I’ve misrepresented it. But be forewarned. If you fear the likes of Bannon, Wolf, and the ever-increasing power of the far right, you will find scant comfort in the pages.
So why did I do it?
For one thing, she is an excellent writer. And she’s even a better thinker. She adds depth to subjects I’ve given scant thought to.
Doppelganger, of course, means a double. Someone who maybe looks like you, maybe has a name like yours, and perhaps even talks like you.
Klein’s double is Naomi Wolf. Same first name. Often causes confusion and, when Wolf says things, many attribute them to Klein.
And that’s not a minor problem. Because Klein is an ultra-leftist and Wolf is a nut job on the far right. So it’s easy to imagine assuming Wolf’s views to be Klein’s would be somewhat disconcerting to the latter.
Apparently, Wolf wasn’t always this way, but the past few years have seen her radicalization as she joined forces with Steve Bannon to rant about Covid mask, vaccine, and closure restrictions. And that’s part of the Doppelganger problem for Klein.
What about each of us? Do we have a doppelganger? Maybe. Klein speaks of at least a couple of possibilities. I’m going to discuss them both, but please recognize I might not be expressing Klein’s views correctly, so read her book and draw your own conclusions.
That first one is the image we present of ourselves on social media platforms.
How do we appear there? Is it an honest rendition of ourselves? For example, do we mention how we yelled at our children or went to bed furious with our mate? Do we describe our insecurities and insincerities, mention we nicked a car in the food store’s parking lot and then drove off, or talk about how we sometimes feel like a failure? Do we tell about all the myriad of things we do of which we are ashamed? And let’s be honest, most of us do have things we would rather not share.
So it seems likely we present a not so true picture of ourselves, omitting warts and other negative aspects. Klein points out that what we actually are doing is creating a doppelganger of ourselves, an image we want others to know. Certainly not exact copies of ourselves. Our doppelganger looks like us, of course; consider all the posted pictures. But this doppelganger has a wonderful time on a picnic with the kids, proven by even more photos. This doppelganger does not talk about the frustration with having to keep the kids in line at that picnic. So every one of us who posts any information about ourselves on social media is creating a doppelganger of ourselves that probably is not a true picture of ourselves.
And sometimes that can be dangerous. A recent newspaper article discussed difficulties for youths because what they saw on social media was perfection in others while realizing they couldn’t possibly live up to the standards they were seeing.
Maybe it’s worth thinking about how we use social media and why we do.
Now let’s consider our second type of doppelganger. This is a bit harder to understand.
During Covid a lot of things happened that weren’t liked by the far right. And by a lot of other people also. And that opened the door for some bad stuff.
Many people were incensed by all the business closures that were mandated. I can understand it. We who weren’t impacted by loss of revenue by the closures could feel sympathy for those who were but, actually, we didn’t give it much thought.
But those businesses did. And a lot of those businesses were health clubs, workout locations, yoga studios, and the like. Those imposing the closure decisions were worrying about the effects of panting exercising individuals pushing Covid into the air. Those suffering from those decisions were worrying about surviving economically.
Now here’s where I’m not sure I’m understanding Klein properly, but I believe the reasoning goes at least somewhat along these lines.
In order to attract back business, the owners of the health facilities hatched a campaign of guilt. They attempted to shame those of us who stayed away from the gyms and other such establishments, implying we didn’t care about the importance of regular workouts. Indeed, we dared to ignore the need to form perfect bodies and were bugged about it until it became a huge guilt trip not to take action. The ultimate goal of these moralists was to say we should all create a doppelganger of ourselves of perfect proportions. And going to the gym was the way to achieve it. As a consequence, over time, there was increased animosity to the imperfect and gradually disgust, distrust, and even hatred of them arose.
A heavenly situation for Bannon, doppelganger Wolf (“the other Naomi” according to Klein), and others of their ilk. Forces were joined in the common cause of hate mongering of the imperfect. And who were those imperfect individuals? Often those in marginalized communities and minorities.
Read Klein’s book and see where I’ve misrepresented it. But be forewarned. If you fear the likes of Bannon, Wolf, and the ever-increasing power of the far right, you will find scant comfort in the pages.
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