Naomi Klein on rightwing populism + social media. Let’s go!

Three stars seems harsh. This book was really insightful. I just hated the way some things were framed and I can’t let it go.

The glue of this book was its doppelgänger and Alice in Wonderland metaphors—
✨ doppelgänger: how Naomi Klein (lefty Queen) gets interpellated as Naomi Wolf (90s feminist turned rightwing pundit). An analogy for how right populism is a doppelgänger for left populism, explored via the major works of doppelgänger fiction. Cool!
✨ “through the looking glass”: how Klein framed her investigation of the alt-right and its surprising constellation of ideas + conspiracy theories.

And it’s the Alice in Wonderland stuff I had beef with. Because, imagining another realm for rightwing populists to inhabit and then using portal metaphors to ‘travel there’?
👉 The most alienating way to un-alienate ‘us’ from ‘them’. And the most othering way to critique rightwing othering.

Not to mention,
▪️portal fantasy metaphors imply a metaphysical dualism, obscuring how right & left populism share the same ontological ground (same economy, media structures, literally the same planet). Call it the same ‘material conditions’ (Marx) or ‘logic’ (Hegel)—it’s this shared ground that matters
▪️ it was mystifying and kinda conspiratorial? I loved her argument that the conspiracy-heavy milieu of rightwing populism benefits the capitalist and authoritarian powers that be because of how “look over there!” distracting they are, by offering simplistic and fake solutions to real problems. But it also made me wonder how culpable this book is in that very distraction… because it, too, was mystifying (were we being for real with all the shadow-self psychic landscape stuff or just invoking Freud for the vibes?), offering self-admittedly too simple descriptions of some of the real issues covered. So, does this book also benefit the capitalist and authoritarian powers that be?
▪️ and the too-neat division was false. Which Klein acknowledged—in the epilogue 🤦🏻‍♀️ The nonfiction equivalent of ‘and it was all a dream’ (very Alice)

But there were two exceptions, the best parts of the book, imo. The explanations of:
✨ the fascist roots of the autism-phobia of anti-vaxxers
✨ the warping of Never Again and her visit to Gaza (pub date: Sept 12, 2023 👀)

The Alice metaphors paused for these topics because they were personal for Klein. Which makes sense, the portal fantasy idea didn’t fit for topics so personal since there was nowhere "to go". But I wish this had been proof for her that this metaphor didn’t fit for the other topics either.

Still, the popularity of this book is much deserved! And I always feel like I like Klein's second books on a topic better than her ideas' first iterations so I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.