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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Thank you! The word is the impossibly spelled/improbably pronounced synecdoche!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Thank you again! I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on the book!!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

This is so nice, thank you! They were great questions and I appreciated the space to reflect. What a weird time this is

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Reposted by Whitney Phillips

Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

In @404media.co, @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social looks at @whitneyphillips.bsky.social's Data & Society report "The Oxygen of Amplification" and the lessons it holds for dealing with extremists and manipulators in today's "amplification renaissance.” www.404media.co/we-have-lear...

404media.co

We Have Learned Nothing About Amplifying Morons

“Looksmaxxers” are losers and freaks, but we let them steer the culture when we adopt their terminology.

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

That is a dynamic we talk about in the book yes!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

I'd be so curious to hear more about your experiences but don't want to put you on the spot! For now, again, this is so appreciated, thank you for reading and posting about the book!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Oh thank you Chris! I'm just seeing this message and the responses -- I actually just submitted the full follow-up manuscript to the press, which is why I wasn't checking inboxes/notifications due to overwhelmed editing brain, what a nice surprise to see this! I'm so glad the book resonated

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Awesome, thank you!! I'd love to know what you think!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

It was so great talking with you, thanks Hagen!! (also the @adriandaub.bsky.social book you recommended was so unbelievably helpful!!) (that should also be a thank you aimed at Adrian himself, I have scribbled excited notes from cover to cover!)

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

I got to have a great conversation recently about Evangelical political influence and the strange global flows of anti-liberal demonology, thanks @ausnahmsweise.net! (the audio interview is in English)

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Yeah there were a couple times in this where things like trollish style was being framed as nascent/emergent within conservatism and I caught myself saying "...New?" Michael Bluth style ("...Her?")

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

That's really cool! Send me an email to UO address and we can schedule something!!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Oh goodness do I have thoughts on that! That conversation is also part of this book, related to the popularization of demonology. I'd be happy to chat about it sometime if you wanted!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Oh interesting! Our follow-up book (which will be finished this summer) looks at what happens when demonology becomes POPULAR i.e. jumps those walls and starts traipsing through everybody's gardens which is...disorienting to think and write about. What's your dissertation topic?

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Hey thank you! What was the focus of the comp list?

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Hey awesome! I'd love to know what you think about it

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

If anybody is puzzled why Mike Johnson's celebratory BBB speech included references to scripture, the radical woke leftists, "common sense," trans people, and why we need to fight the godlessness of Communism/Marxism, have I got a book for you: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255227...

mitpress.mit.edu

The Shadow Gospel

When people talk about the chaotic, increasingly precarious political landscape in the United States, they often blame polarization and the culture wars. In ...

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Oh awesome, thanks for ordering! (and for your patience with the mixup!)-- I'd love to know what you think!!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Well, it depends on what you/a person thinks threatens those things. Not every use of those terms is demonological; it is when the threats are attributed to a nebulous definition of "liberal" that is actually a bunch of disconnected things lumped together and made to seem partisan

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

The piece also highlights how corrosive *demonological* Christianity ("Revelation Lite," where the point is to fight the liberal devil and that's it) is to theological Christianity and how corrosive *demonological* conservatism (same thing, devil devil everywhere) is to ideological conservatism

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

An excerpt from my new book w @markbrockway.bsky.social that highlights the three different modes of demonological thinking. For example pro-family, pro-speech, pro-America talk sounds positive/common sense but is ultimately pointing to the liberal devil thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/how-demonolo...

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

How Demonology Won the 2024 Election

The rise of a “shadow gospel” reveals how deeply the language of demons and deliverance has shaped American politics.

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

But no rush/pressure, only if something seems immediately relevant or easy to link. I'm always curious about how people are engaging with/framing these issues around the globe -- we're facing similar challenges and sometimes the approaches are similar, sometimes very different. Always interesting!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Oh that's really cool! Thank you, I'd be interested to know what kinds of conversations you're having/what those discussions focus on, how they translate into educational contexts, what the fights are about, etc. Do you have any recommendations of folks to follow or things to read?

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Tack för delningen! (Jag pratar inte svenska men det gör översättningsappen!)

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Hi I've been meaning to reach out!!! Thank you, how are you doing? I cannot wait to read yours!!!!

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Oh that's really cool to hear, thank you! What kinds of things have you explored?

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

It is you who are lovely and smart! Big big hug to you & thanks

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Ooh thanks for the intro!! Lots of fun with the devil here

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Thank you!!! And nice to see you here (I'm new as of today)

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Eek thank you!! What a wild project this was, I really didn't set out to write a book about the semi-secular devil, or about the legacy of Cold War anticommunism, but here we are

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

The other very important point to note is that the book has little red devil horns on the spine

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

In addition to upending conventional accounts of political polarization, the politics of resentment, and the culture wars, the book provides a novel framework for understanding DEI panic, attacks on trans existence, and the attempted gutting of the federal government and higher education.

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

What emerged–promoted intensely by rightwing and Evangelical media–was a pervasive anti-liberal demonology that detailed the alleged threats liberals pose to conservatives, the family, God, and America (at least, particular kinds of conservatives, families, Christianity & understandings of America)

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Whitney Phillips @whitneyphillips.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Today my new @mitpress.bsky.social book with Mark Brockway publishes! It explores the historical forces that gave rise to a shapeshifting, amalgamated figure of the liberal devil mapped onto a very broad conceptualization of “the left” and the Democratic Party mitpress.mit.edu/978026255227...

mitpress.mit.edu

The Shadow Gospel

When people talk about the chaotic, increasingly precarious political landscape in the United States, they often blame polarization and the culture wars. In ...

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