Whitney Phillips

@phildorroll Thank you! We wrote/we able to write (thanks, MIT!) the preface two days after the election...an interesting exercise...

🎶🎶 It's the most / Wonderful time / of the year... 🎶🎶 @NiemanLab Predictions for Journalism 2025 season! Today feat. @semaforben, @wphillips49, @KendallTrammell, @sguzik, @louiegilot, @rkellett, Brian Moritz, Alice Marwick, and Margarita Noriega! niemanlab.org/collection/pre…

@neilturkewitz Thanks for reading and your comments -- and yes, "good television" is such a big part of it, we're talking about that in my 2024 Election class next week!

@wphillips49 🙏🏼 for this wonderful essay. So-called “liberal media” has, like its right wing counterpart, embraced the polarization framing because its manufactured simplicity sets up engaging theater. We don’t live in the Age of Information—it’s the Age of Engagement. And it warps/stinks.

There's no question that the US is politically stuck, but is polarization the right frame to describe it? Here we reflect on the VIBES of partisan sorting and how buying into a clear left-right binary causes all kinds of political problems (and weirdness) populardemonology.substack.com/p/is-polarizat…

JD Vance’s election denialism helps highlight that the apparent *secularism* of MAGA is as equally suspect as its Christianity. What he's promoting is a quasi-faith centered on an invented liberal devil that draws from a different sacred text entirely. populardemonology.substack.com/p/religion-wit…

Hurricane conspiracism is just part of the demonological frame; here, reflections on how claims about illegal voting push existing Great Replacement narratives into a quasi-religiosity

It's good that so many people have highlighted the dangers of Project 2025. The Republican Party Platform also deserves scrutiny for overlapping in key ways with P25--but can't be repudiated by Trump, it's HIS platform. w/ bonus Lindsay Lohan reference. populardemonology.substack.com/p/project-2025…

It was very interesting to reflect on the question: what would I say about amplification issues in 2024? My answer (before it became a political talking point with a very different focus) was that, oh god, I don't know, amplification is so much WEIRDER now?

Each are already guiding Trump's attacks on the Harris-Walz ticket; on Fox & Friends this morning, he tossed around a series of anti-liberal attack lines, collapsing communism with trans issues and drawing from all three frames discussed in our piece foxnews.com/media/trump-th…

The vague sense of liberal/leftist threat has three connected rhetorical frames. Conspiracism is one of them, but it is not the most powerful -- or the one most in need of media literacy efforts. Mark Brockway and I explore those rhetorical overlaps here: populardemonology.substack.com/p/the-three-fr…

Relevant as the accusations about Walz' liberalism/leftism fly: What exactly does that mean? Here we highlight the placeholder quality of accusations of leftism & the rhetorical power of a shapeshifting liberal enemy populardemonology.substack.com/p/what-the-hel…

Reflections on the underlying cause of Trump and Vance’s weirdness: a preoccupation with a shapeshifting liberal devil of their own creation. Latest from me + Mark Brockway populardemonology.substack.com/p/desperately-…

God was a recurring, even constant, point of discussion at the RNC. An equally central figure enjoyed much less fanfare: the liberal devil. Here my co-author Mark Brockway and I explain why we shouldn't overlook the devil when talking about God open.substack.com/pub/populardem…

@damianradcliffe @uoregon @UOsojc Here the focus was on conspiracy theories about Trump...the line gets fuzzier when the left-leaving theories aren't about Trump himself but rather take aim at nebulous groups that the right also targets, like journalists! But I still don't think "BlueAnon" captures the dynamic

@damianradcliffe @uoregon @UOsojc It absolutely is! I don't love "BlueAnon" because while there are important similarities in conspiracy theories coming from both ends of the political spectrum (notably serious institutional mistrust), there are also important differences that get flattened by the pun

Trump shooting shows conspiracy theories not confined to right wing > great to see my ⁦@uoregon⁩ ⁦@UOsojc⁩ colleague ⁦@wphillips49⁩ quoted in this piece, and an important reminder that misinformation and conspiracy theories are universal theguardian.com/us-news/articl…

It's always fun to reflect on writing practices, and in this @nerdybookclub post @rmmilner and I get to talk about reading practices too -- and how working on our latest book for teen readers helped us re-learn approaches to both @CandlewickClass nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2023/03/29/re-…

It explores how wellbeing impacts online sharing and offers tips for sharing information strategically, avoiding accidental harms, and understanding network dynamics -- and features an interconnected cast of fictional teens to illustrate each idea. Excited to share it!

New book announcement! Available March 14, Share Better and Stress Less from @Candlewick and co-authored with @rmmilner is a digital ethics guide for middle grade students (though it focuses on issues relevant to all age groups) penguinrandomhouse.com/books/724647/s…

@BostonJoan Ahh this is kind, thank you -- just messaged, I miss you too + boy howdy we have lots to catch up on!