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She's Come Undone
Naomi Wolf has gone from Gore guru to pretty paranoid
(Page 2 of 3)
Since Wolf heard this story secondhand from an unnamed "citizen," it's hard to corroborate. But there was a story in Seattle—covered by the local press and picked up by the news wires and CNN—that bears a striking similarity to Wolf's twice-told tale. The "letter" in the Seattle case was a single line scribbled in the margin of the standard TSA inspection notice. A screener had taken exception to some Iraq war protest signs in a man's luggage: "Don't appreciate your anti-American attitude!" the annotation read.
While Wolf would no doubt see a conspiracy of dissent-crushing TSA thugs taking orders from on high for the precise language of their notes, a simpler explanation might be that the TSA has attracted a freelance would-be censor, with a Sharpie in his pocket and no common sense, and that story migrated from the mainstream press to her ears, with slight mutations in tow.
The official response to the incident, by the way: "We do not condone our employees making any kind of political comments or personal comments to any travelers," TSA spokeswoman Heather Rosenker told Reuters. "That is not acceptable." But they would say that, wouldn't they?
Mostly, Wolf's paranoia is good fun—yuppies freaking out about letters in their luggage, and a little feminine hysteria paired with computer illiteracy—but sometimes she meddles in more serious matters.
"Seven soldiers wrote op-eds in the New York Times critical of the war, three are dead, one shot in the head," she writes, implying the worst. A quick Google search reveals that two of the dead soldiers, colleagues and coauthors, died in the same accident—an overturned cargo truck. The soldier shot in the head was another coauthor, hit while on a combat mission when the article was still being composed. He survived, mercifully, yet tells no tales of a conspiracy to murder his comrades in dissent.
Wolf's use of their stories, and the stories of dissidents living under truly oppressive regimes, to make her loopy case for creeping fascism in America is a little tougher to take.
Finally, there's Wolf's personal persecution, related between cheers at a recent rally in Washington. Wolf is no stranger to odd alliances; after the publication of The Beauty Myth in 1990, for instance, she made common cause against pornography with social conservatives at the height of the culture wars. But strange indeed is the path that takes Naomi Wolf to Rep. Ron Paul's door.
At a Ron Paul Revolution March this past July, Wolf told the crowd—composed mostly of people waving banners with legends like "Read Atlas Shrugged" and "Mises Saves"—this story: "My daughter is 13 years old. She's in summer camp right now. She's writing me letters. I'm not getting her letters. I'm not getting half of my mail. And when my mail arrives, it's ripped wide open. I showed it to the Post Office and they said 'That's not possible.'"
When she retold the story at Borders last month, she mentioned that birthday party invitations for her daughter were now also being intercepted.
Explanation Number One: Thirteen-year-old girls are terrible correspondents and worse friends, and Wolf's daughter will be spending the next few months silently mortified that her white lies about letter writing and her social ostracism have taken the national stage as part of her mother's conspiracy theories. Explanation Number Two: The American secret police believe that vital information is contained in correspondence from teenage girls, and have confiscated all letters written in pink ink.
Your call.
While the enemies of freedom are almost unbelievably sly and ruthless in Wolf's universe, the ordinary citizen is also an intellectual and organizational powerhouse, waiting to be unleashed. One can't deny that there's a certain kind of egalitarianism here, twisted though it may be.
"Are ordinary people smart enough to run America? The data is in. The answer is yes." The American people are currently apathetic and disengaged, Wolf says, because they "intuit" a maze around them "and do not want to spend their lives walking around with fake shiny keys fumbling with doors that will never open."
Hence one of the nuttier ideas Wolf endorses in Give Me Liberty, one that has nothing to do with conspiracies. Wolf is enthused about the idea of a National Issues Day, a day (or perhaps two) where many things would be debated nationwide but nothing decided. This would "mean substance, not trivia," she writes, "since local people are unlikely to put up with one another wasting time on boxers versus briefs."
Elsewhere in the book she finds evidence for her belief in the wonder-working power of ordinary citizen engagement when she meets and talks to a "real live pro-lifer" for the first time in her long career: "I had never entertained the remotest notion that a pro-life activist might have come to her or his position through motives recognizable to me—through sincere concern for poor women, or women's well-being, or for the sincere well-being of children as a whole," she writes.
|10.13.08 @ 4:47PM|#
I understand it all now. The name "Naomi" must mean, in some obscure language, tits on a bore.
|10.13.08 @ 4:54PM|#
Naomi Klein - Disaster Capitalism
Naomi Wolf - Plain ol' Disaster
Shit, she even looks like she's about to flip out in that
photo.
JP|10.13.08 @ 5:04PM|#
Wolf finds a variety of the basic tasks of democratic life
difficult. Things like getting a permit for a protest, finding a
decent source of news, and filing the forms to run for
office.
Fnding a decent source of news is challenging? How hard is it to
turn on a computer and go to the Net?
egosumabbas|10.13.08 @ 5:04PM|#
I actually saw that speech of hers in person. When she was
talking about her letters not arriving from her daughter at summer
camp I was LOLing at the idea that the tween was probably furiously
thinking of excuses as to why she hadn't written any letters on the
long ride home. "Mommy you HAVE to believe me! The government took
ALL OF THE LETTERS! srsly!"
Though in all seriousness, the ONE TIME I found obvious tampering
with my letters was when I received a letter from a foreign
consulate. What's more likely is that some asshole postal employee
was looking for a passport or other credentials to steal, then
hastily stuffed the contents back in. A real government conspiracy
would have professionally steamed and resealed my envelope.
|10.13.08 @ 5:05PM|#
You guys have very low standards.
Seems fitting considering her low standards for journalism.
|10.13.08 @ 5:08PM|#
I'm embarrassed to admit that I tried, made an honest attempt to
RTFA. I already knew Naomi Klein is a a couple cards short of a
full deck, more documentation of that unfortunate reality is not
really necessary. Are you going to run a series of article that
details Howard Stern's juvenile obsession with lesbian sex next? If
I never read* another Naomi Klein article at Reason OnLine, I will
be grateful.
* For the sake of clarity, no matter what, I will never read
another artilcle about Ms. Klein. What I'm requesting is to
never have to page down past one again.
egosumabbas|10.13.08 @ 5:12PM|#
@hogan:
Klein is the angrier, more socialist, but less excitable one.
Orange Line Special|10.13.08 @ 5:12PM|#
Thanks Reason, now I'll start to take NaomiWolf seriously where
I wasn't before.
Also, I'll take Kucinich more seriously due to Katherine
Mangu-Ward's strawman attempt to mock him. The first search result
for the first search to find out more brought me to this.
Some of it might sound kooky, until one realizes what sort of
weapons are under development.
But, then again, isn't mocking and drawing attention away from
important topics Katherine Mangu-Ward's job? Does the Kochtopus
have some sort of profit interest in some of the hundreds of things
Kucinich was trying to block?
bubba|10.13.08 @ 5:15PM|#
Naomi Wolf has obviously never attended a local city council meeting. Real people are fully capable of discussing all kinds of inanity in a public forum.
egosumabbas|10.13.08 @ 5:23PM|#
@Orange Line Special:
One conpiracy theory per post please. Apparently there's a
conspiracy by Reason to make fun of Kucinich THROUGH a post on
Naomi Wolf to silence the troof about chemtrails. Forgive me if I'm
having trouble following.
Also, did you see Mrs. Wolf's speech in person too?
|10.13.08 @ 5:24PM|#
As if the name Naomi didn't have problems enough, there's the
delightful antics of Naomi Campbell.
Although, Naomi Watts redeems the name somewhat.
You guys have very low standards.
No kidding. That is a hairstyle best left in the 80s, where it
should have died a swift but painful death.
|10.13.08 @ 5:30PM|#
There is no discernable relationship between the review
Katherine Mangu-Ward gives to a book and the quality of that
book.
I got to the part where Ward "reviews" a passage that wasn't in the
book, and stopped there.
I never thought I'd pine for the even-handedness and depth of
thought of Michael Young.
|10.13.08 @ 5:32PM|#
For Christ's sake, this has been debunked a thousand times: chemtrails are not a secret weapon. They are merely the excretia of Roswell rods.
|10.13.08 @ 5:36PM|#
It's true- the whole "chemtrail" thing is what International
Jewry uses to distract people from the true threat: chromosomal
damage resulting from HFCS consumption, designed to render the
plebes sterile and docile.
OLS,
Why do you never respond to your critics?
|10.13.08 @ 5:36PM|#
J sub D,
Wolf, not Klein.
Whatever. Wolf, Klein or Judd, Naomis all run together. Apparently,
that reefer the drug czar convinced me to fire up in an earlier
thread is having a noticable effect on my comprehension skills.
|10.13.08 @ 5:38PM|#
And in case that's not clear enough, LoneJagoff, I'm calling you
out right here, right now: explain your AnnoyingUse of
OddPunctuation.
If you don't respond immediately I will assume the aliens have
gotten to you, as well.
|10.13.08 @ 5:39PM|#
That is a hairstyle best left in the 80s, where it should
have died a swift but painful death
Feathering. It's called feathering. And it's proof that she's
crazy.
Cool Cal|10.13.08 @ 5:40PM|#
Camille Paglia had a pretty entertaining excoriation of Wolf once. Though I think the best fate would be a Timecop-style meeting of the two Naomi's where they just fused together and instantaneously dissolved into some type of primordial ooze before evaporating away.
mark|10.13.08 @ 5:41PM|#
Ok, so she's a little hysterical. I've only listened to Mrs. Wolf speak and found nothing that I haven't read about already. She talks of troops deployed at home, FEMA camps, North American Union, fascist executive orders. I'm not a conspiracy theorist (no alien coverup, or 9/11 coverup) but I think these things should not even BE an issue in this country. The fact that these activities are going on can make anyone a little on edge, especially if you spend your whole life dwelling on them.
|10.13.08 @ 5:52PM|#
two Naomi's where they just fused together = Howard
Stern's juvenile obsession with lesbian sex
J sub D, Cool Cal: We have a match!
egosumabbas|10.13.08 @ 5:54PM|#
@mark:
The problem isn't the fact that the feds do weird things and
assault civil liberties. The problem is using secret cabals to
explain why this is all happening. It is neither "troof" nor is it
useful. It also discredits any legitimate critique of government
excess as sounding insane. We all know that guilt by association is
a logical fallacy, but it doesn't mean that statists aren't
effective in exploiting it.
|10.13.08 @ 5:55PM|#
For Naomi
Whenever I hear the phrase "male gaze,"
I imagine a giant, veiny penis
with an unblinking eyeball
hanging from it like a drip of semen
that never falls...
waddling along on its swollen balls,
swinging its semen-eye to and fro,
judging women on breast-size and accessories.
Then I realize it is my giant penis
torn loose and I'm riding it--
one hand gripping tight the circumcision scar,
the other rubbing the smooth patch
where it once was,
in rhythm to the high keening
of objectified women.
I gaze at you
Naomi
I leer at you
Naomi
I stare at you
Naomi
And all Naomis, all Naomis I've yet to find
|10.13.08 @ 5:58PM|#
I would just like to remind everyone that "Naomi" is "I Moan" backwards. Take that how you would like.
|10.13.08 @ 6:02PM|#
judging women on breast-size and accessories
And accessories? Sounds more like a queer
eye.
Or does "accessories" have some other hidden meaning I missed out
on in Patriarcheology 102?
voxpo|10.13.08 @ 6:07PM|#
The American people are currently apathetic and disengaged,
Wolf says, because they "intuit" a maze around them...
This is close to how I see task of trying to start a business in
the U.S.
|10.13.08 @ 6:18PM|#
I'm sure that the reason government websites are impossible to
use is due to some grand conspiracy and not because they hire
incompetent, lazy developers.
I have no doubt that plenty of our masters in Congress and the
White House would love to rule our lives in a more totalitarian
way. Unfortunately for them, they aren't the ones with power, the
bureaucrats are. And they can't get voted out of office.
Kolohe|10.13.08 @ 6:29PM|#
No kidding. That is a hairstyle best left in the 80s, where
it should have died a swift but painful death.
Ironically, that same hairstyle (or at least vestiges thereof) has
propelled one woman 70 electoral votes and a 72 old cancer
survivor's life force away from the presidency of these here united
states.
Franklin Harris|10.13.08 @ 6:31PM|#
She's crazy but I'd hit it.
So, basically Naomi Wolf is the left-wing version of Sarah
Palin.
Paul|10.13.08 @ 6:36PM|#
So, basically Naomi Wolf is the left-wing version of Sarah
Palin.
But with bigger hair.
Kolohe|10.13.08 @ 6:39PM|#
One conpiracy theory per post please. Apparently there's a
conspiracy by Reason to make fun of Kucinich THROUGH a post on
Naomi Wolf to silence the troof about chemtrails. Forgive me if I'm
having trouble following.
No, this is a positive development; and I suppose I owe an apology.
I had accused him of monomania with his relentless postings on the
tight circle of CriminalAliens/ForiegnInfluence/NorthamericanUnion.
But here he is able to discourse on a conspiracy theory that has
nothing to do with the MexicanGovernment nor aliens (well,
terrestrial ones at least)
|10.13.08 @ 6:41PM|#
Feathering. It's called feathering. And it's proof that
she's crazy.
The fact that you know that is proof that you're... overly familiar
with women's hairstyles. ;-)
Sug,
Whenever I hear the phrase "male gaze,"
I imagine a giant, veiny penis
Way to make use of that English degree. That was both poetic and
gross.
|10.13.08 @ 6:49PM|#
So, basically Naomi Wolf is the left-wing version of Sarah
Palin.
While both kill listener's brain cells, Palin kill large game
as well. I get the feeling that despite her surname, Naomi would be
helpless if confronted by a Mus
musculus.
Paul|10.13.08 @ 6:49PM|#
the ordinary citizen is also an intellectual and
organizational powerhouse, waiting to be unleashed.
So I was watching "Ow, My Balls!" a few weeks ago, and I
learned there was this election thing coming up.
|10.13.08 @ 6:51PM|#
WRT Naomi Wolf, the first and most important question in my mind
is, "Would anyone who responds to this thread be willing to bang
her?"
Have we addressed this question yet?
* reads thread *
Ah. Yes, I see that we have.
|10.13.08 @ 6:53PM|#
FWIW, I like her hair.
Hairstyle should reflect personal style and preference, and not be
restricted to a paticular decade.
And yes, she strikes me a nutty.
Paul|10.13.08 @ 7:02PM|#
Taking this article at face-value, it almost seems like Wolf is
going through the kind of transformation that people who finally
get sober after a long, serious addiction to drugs, go
through.
All of a sudden, she's seeing things with a 'new clarity'. People
like this, I've concluded, should remain on the drugs.
Vanessa|10.13.08 @ 7:49PM|#
Wolf is pretty, but has never been stylish. She's basically had
the same hairstyle for about 20 years, and it was already outdated
at the time of *Beauty Myth.*
Camille on Naomi's hair and presentation of self:
"Meanwhile--in fact, I couldn't believe Playboy put this in--they
cut my whole philosophy of feminism to leave space for my theories
about Naomi Wolf's hair! I'm saying that without her hair she would
never have gotten attention at all. There were a million books like
that, The Beauty Myth--a lot of books. It was only her hair that
gave her cachet. People remembered her hair, and the male reporters
thought she was hot, and she spent a lot of time sticking her boobs
in people's face. She's done this seductive number on men for her
entire career. Her primary style of approach is seduction."
Whole thing:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/29737.html
religious person|10.13.08 @ 8:05PM|#
In 2006, Wolf was in therapy for writers block. During one session she says she inhabited the persona of a 13-year-old boy and saw Jesus. "I absolutely believe in divine providence now, absolutely believe God totally cares about every single one of us intimately," she told Glasgow's Sunday Herald.
There's a name for that fallacy, like having a bad witness testify
on your behalf, two wrongs don't make a right, something.
Whatever. Get the hook, Reverend, she's not doing us any
favors.
MJ|10.13.08 @ 9:20PM|#
"Wolf is enthused about the idea of a National Issues Day, a day
(or perhaps two) where many things would be debated nationwide but
nothing decided."
I wonder about people who enthuse about such things. How would such
a thing work and b e organized? Why would people pay attention? I
expect she likes the concept because she's disappointed that more
people are not animated by the things she's interested in.
Mike Laursen|10.13.08 @ 9:43PM|#
But here he is able to discourse on a conspiracy theory that
has nothing to do with the MexicanGovernment nor aliens (well,
terrestrial ones at least)...
It's so wondrous to see our little acorn sprouting up. Stretching
out tender new shoots that will someday become weighty and gnarled
boughs of delusional paranoia.
Paul|10.14.08 @ 12:24AM|#
inhabited the persona of a 13-year-old boy and saw Jesus. "I
absolutely believe in divine providence now, absolutely believe God
totally cares about every single one of us intimately," she told
Glasgow's Sunday Herald.
Told you.
Sandra Lash|10.14.08 @ 1:11AM|#
Some of my intellectual boyfriends tell me that I resemble
Naomi, but I'm even better and wetter in my literary leather. Come
watch me think of you while I touch myself in this youtube
video.
Sandra Lash
Does Reason
Justen|10.14.08 @ 5:17AM|#
Here's a conspiracy theory for you: the fact that her writer's block therapist didn't notice and attempt to treat her deeply seated paranoia is proof that the Scientologists are right about psychiatry.
Atlanta Matt|10.14.08 @ 9:22AM|#
So I'm curious, what is her stance on gun control, seeing as
she's afraid of a tyrannical government? I always wondered that the
same people who are afraid of "King George" rigging the elections
and declaring himself president for life are the same ones who want
the government to have a monopoly on deadly force.
Because, you know, we little people can't be trusted with dangerous
things.
|10.14.08 @ 9:53AM|#
Historical Coup d'Etat
1) Mein Kampf/Project New American Century
2) 3rd Reich/43rd Administration
3) Reichstag fire/9-11
4) Austria (Anschluss)-Czechoslovakia (Munich
Agreement)-Poland/Afghanistan-Iraq-Iran
5) Enabling Act/Patriot Act
6) 'Discriminatory Laws'/NSA & FISA surveillance
7) People's Court/U.S. Attorney dismissal
8) 'Night and Fog'/Guantanamo Bay
9) S.S. (Schutzstaffel)/Blackwater
collapsing economy
[Mefo bills/Federal Reserve bailout]
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936
suspending elections
[Reichstag Congress dissolved/?]
http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0403a.asp
declaring martial law
[Berlin, John Warner Defense Authorization Act]
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/
assembling detention
[Action T4, REX 84]
http://www.freedomfiles.org/war/fema.htm
assuming dictatorship
[Night of Long Knives, NSPD-51]
http://www.ww4report.com/node/3940
Globalizing currency
[Third Reich reichsmark/North American Union Amero]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7854
Subsidizing operation
[Union Banking Corp/Security and Prosperity Partnership]
http://www.watch.pair.com/bush-nazi-link-3.html
Schwing!|10.14.08 @ 10:25AM|#
Sounds like Miss Hyphenated-Surname is jealous of a woman who is able to mingle with various ideologies without becoming torn and confused.
Salvius|10.14.08 @ 1:51PM|#
My favorite quote, because it is so (I suspect) unintentionally
revealing:
I had never entertained the remotest notion that a pro-life activist might have come to her or his position through motives recognizable to me-through sincere concern for poor women, or women's well-being, or for the sincere well-being of children as a whole.
To people like Wolf (at least before she had this epiphany), those
who disagree with her do so not because they are mistaken, or
deceived, or even just proceeding from different assumptions, but
rather they disagree because they are evil.
|10.14.08 @ 3:12PM|#
It occurred to me that my typo from yesterday, "Strike me a nutty," sounds like some kinda Scottish S&M term.
|10.14.08 @ 6:20PM|#
Nutrasweet: Beautiful, in a dark and twisted way. Would have been perfect as a Haiku.
|10.16.08 @ 10:39AM|#
I've heard from others that it's difficult to run for office
completely unknown and independent. And the usual complaints of
bureaucrats being less than helpful - no reminders are sent out to
make sure you get your docs in on time.
And certainly if you piss off the 2 parties here in Chicago they
have lawyers to challenge your signatures, your paperwork, etc. All
of which is done in the open at hearings, not some invisible force.
Some nobody is hardly worth the time for an organized conspiracy to
try to keep down.
|10.23.08 @ 8:13AM|#
Naomi Wolf cares about this country, and if she is correct, and legislators were threatened with martial law if they did not pass the bailout, then I fear that Bush will carry through with his executive order to declare martial law Nov. 1, and suspend the election. He has deployed troops IN AMERICA, people, for CROWD control. He has had journalists arrested at the RNC convention. He will not give up power. This not hysteria, this is Bush's America (and ours.)
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