She's Come Undone

Naomi Wolf has gone from Gore guru to pretty paranoid

Katherine Mangu-Ward | October 13, 2008

(Page 3 of 3)

Life outside of cable news, Wolf's previous natural habitat, is indeed a marginally better place. But boxers versus briefs? That's never going to go away.

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. These days, Wolf can't seem to stop writing. Her previous book, The End of America, which chronicles the "fascist shift" we are now experiencing in the United States, came out barely a year ago. It looks as if her faith has been rewarded.

Wolf has always sensed powerful unseen forces pressing in on her—the male gaze; the patriarchy; the state; in one memorable instance, the groping hands of Yale éminence grise Harold Bloom; and now Jesus. The democracy thieves (whoever they are) join this cast in a book much like her previous efforts: confusingly argued, historically illiterate, and yet strangely mesmerizing.

"The web sites that are supposed to teach citizens how to participate, how to lead, are in Latin, you know?" she said at Borders. "And I, like, speak the vernacular." And on the written page she does—fluently. After reading her colorful, rambling, paranoid account of her wrestling match with modern American democracy, the optimist in me can't help but wonder: If Naomi Wolf finds it almost impossible to successfully stage a rally or run for office, perhaps the system is working pretty well after all.

Katherine Mangu-Ward is an associate editor of reason. This article originally appeared in The Weekly Standard.

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|10.13.08 @ 4:47PM|#

I understand it all now. The name "Naomi" must mean, in some obscure language, tits on a bore.

Hogan|10.13.08 @ 4:51PM|#

She's crazy but I'd hit it.

|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.

Harold Bloom|10.13.08 @ 4:57PM|#

I'd hit it.

|10.13.08 @ 5:02PM|#

You guys have very low standards.

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 @ 5:06PM|#

Just because she's paranoid doesn't mean...

|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.

Hogan|10.13.08 @ 5:10PM|#

Wolf vs. Klein. I admit I regularly confuse them.

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.

|10.13.08 @ 5:17PM|#

J sub D,

Wolf, not Klein.

|10.13.08 @ 5:20PM|#

Matthew,

Does it make a difference?

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?

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.

JsD,

LOL.

|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 @ 5:50PM|#

Atabrat

One's blonde, the other's brunette.

|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!

|10.13.08 @ 5:53PM|#

Thanks, Matthew. That helps.

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.

Paul|10.13.08 @ 6:16PM|#

I still think she and Gore are an appropriate matchup.

|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|#

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|#

Why are pro-torture deviants from the Weekly Standard writing for Reason?

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|#

"If you gaze long into a gaze, the gaze will gaze back into you."

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.

|10.13.08 @ 6:54PM|#

Sigh. As nutty.

|10.13.08 @ 7:00PM|#

SugarFree, you are disturbing my calm.

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.

|10.13.08 @ 7:05PM|#

Paul, or they end up transferring from one addiction to another, a la Bennett.

Speaking of Ow My Balls!|10.13.08 @ 7:15PM|#

"And yes, she strikes me a nutty."

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

|10.13.08 @ 7:53PM|#

Hilarious! This made my day.

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

|10.14.08 @ 1:35AM|#

lol. her name backwards is Flow I Moan

also i think her hair is hawt

|10.14.08 @ 1:56AM|#

Truthers = America's Trolls

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.

ed|10.14.08 @ 7:20AM|#

I doubt one in a thousand Americans know or care about Ms. Wolf.

|10.14.08 @ 8:50AM|#

Stevo,
Fucking hilarious.

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.

|10.14.08 @ 1:30PM|#

Vanessa,

Thanks for posting that Camille Paglia interview!

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.)

|10.27.08 @ 2:40PM|#

Sue wrote: "This not hysteria,...".

Too right. It's paranoid delusion...

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