The introduction frames Personal Demons through the contemporary figure of “Ziz,” a trans rationalist cult leader whose fusion of artificial-intelligence paranoia, syncretic theology, and political violence crystallizes broader transformations in liberal personhood. Drawing on Michael Rogin’s account of political demonology, the book argues that the collapse of neoliberal institutional...
The interlude offers a series of fragmentary reflections on “waking” as a dominant metaphor of late-liberal consciousness, tracking its circulation across conspiracy culture, psychosis, political radicalization, prestige television, videogames, and popular music. Moving between analyses of Robocop, Severance, The Leftovers, Westworld, 9/11 trutherism, Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted...