Klein on the mirror world

In this interview she discusses her new book Doppelganger, which "delves deeply into the culture of conspiracy theories and a growing alliance between the far right and people who once identified as progressive." Klein:

"When I look at the Mirror World, I don’t see disagreements over shared reality; I see disagreements about what is real and what is a simulation. [...] The Mirror World, a place where soft-focused wellness influencers make common cause with fire-breathing far right propagandists, all in the name of saving and protecting the children."

Klein goes into the case of someone with whom she's been confused, Naomi Wolf. The latter has long defended women's rights but when she started with the pandemic conspiracy theories the left gleefully bullied and de-platformed her. Hence she formed an alliance with Steve Bannon. Bannon took typical liberal issues the left abandoned, "like rightful suspicion of Big Pharma, Big Tech and the elite, and flipped them into transphobia, xenophobic and racism."

So progressives are partly to blame and need to "control ourselves and whether or not we are doing a good enough job embodying our own principles." For example during the pandemic we became mouthpieces for the CDC and vaccines, reasonable as far as it goes, but we neglected to demand the lifting of vaccine patents and thereby further supporting and enriching Big Pharma. It was also a failed opportunity to demand Medicare For All, which could have handled the pandemic and healthcare going forward far more equitably. 

And this is something I harp on continuously. Klein said:

"But I think the big takeaway from the book is, all of this is about not seeing. [...] It’s so hard to look at the reality that we are in right now, with the overlay of endless wars and climate disasters and massive inequality. And so whether we’re making up fantastical conspiracy theories or getting lost in our own reflections, it’s all about not looking at that reality that is only bearable if we get outside of our own heads and collectively organize, rebuild our social movements, so that they can offer people material improvements to their lives. That’s the only way we fight these surging conspiracies. It’s not going to be fact checkers or content moderators; it’s going to be a a robust left."