27 Comments
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Lㅤ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ㅤ's avatar

i cannot tell you how excited i was seeing this email in my notifications and seeing you back!! your writing style is one of the most memorable and distinct on this platform, the social commentary here is expressed so articulately and beautifully. thank you for sharing this & hope you've been doing well :)

wenyi xue's avatar

thank u so much :) yeah it's been a while haha life kinda went crazy for a bit. I'm doing better now, hope ur doing well too! tysm for sticking around

Isabella Nesheiwat's avatar

wow. i have not read writing with this distinct of a voice on this app in so long. if you haven't read it already, i would recommend reading Borges' short parable called "Ragnarok". this reminded me so much of that piece. it also made me think of a TikTok I saw recently that started as a guy commentating on the persistence of capitalism in our daily lives, especially on apps like TT, and then was like "if you want to keep your data and stuff, buy this flash drive I recommend." it made me nauseous. we have built so many false gods for so many years. and i long for all these idols to be toppled, for someone, or preferably a group of someone's, to slam the massive reset button, but i don't know how we can do that or what even the world would look like once we have. you've given me lots to think about, and i really appreciate it. incredible work

wenyi xue's avatar

thank you so much! I'll be sure to read ragnarok sometime this week I'm rlly glad this resonated. + I think it's hard to live in the world and not be a little hypocritical but the tiktok story does push that a bit at the end of the day it usually does end up being abt the money sometimes the best we can do is try to find the humor in the irony

Isabella Nesheiwat's avatar

i think so too. i don't know what "generation" you are, but that's one of the things I love about being gen z is the amount of humor and jokes. sometimes they go too far, and sometimes i think the humor gets in the way of actually listening to what's being said, but it definitely helps. thanks again for sharing your piece! obsessed with your work

Preston J Cole's avatar

I like your monologue. I got it! The issues with politics, church, education and a billboard Gods are not unique. But not answering back — may suggest propaganda and assimilation hovering over head of society like green elephant in the room.

And yes, we need to be honest with ourselves — study world history, for the “discovery of God in a silicone chip” is designed to the tell story of the conquerer.

wenyi xue's avatar

thank u for reading :) I like ur take on it; I wrote it with a much more personal angle in mind but I think the new era does mirror conquest in different ways

Preston J Cole's avatar

@ Wenyi What are some of the ways Generation Alpha, Gen Z, millennials and Gen X mirror conquest?

wenyi xue's avatar

I was speaking less on the individual generations and more so abt how corporations act nowadays. Ofc there's still war for land and resources (which is what most wars boil down to w/ideology just being a front to get the masses on board) but the "resource" most ppl go after nowadays is money/stock options.

Nellie Martin's avatar

i was so excited to see this! and man is it soooooo good. the exhaustion and the desperation just hit to the bone. you are an inspiration and a textbook brilliant writer! <3

wenyi xue's avatar

Thank you so much :’) always makes my day to see a comment from u ty for always coming back

Nellie Martin's avatar

oh my goodness of course!!! this is a new acc actually to launch my own from a clean slate first thing i did was come sub to you <3

wenyi xue's avatar

i’m gonna cry that’s so nice 🥹 it’s so strange to me that ppl actually remember me hahaha

Amal Kiswani's avatar

You are just so talented.

wenyi xue's avatar

Amal I love you 🥹

ira's avatar

u move me always

wenyi xue's avatar

Ty Ira I miss u

erica's avatar

Oh wow.

Beautiful Ache's avatar

You’re my favourite substack writer. The infectious rhythm of your prose, your specific use of repetition, and raw childlike genius pulses in every line. Maybe the right kind of gods are the ones that have us question the futility of false gods 💟

wenyi xue's avatar

thank you so much <3 I feel honored that you enjoyed it so much!

Rubén's avatar

I hated it reading that. Thank you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca9OX9tFeEs

wenyi xue's avatar

Haha thank u

kadi's avatar

This actually pairs nicely with the contradictions inherent Christian Nationalism and "The Inheritance Trilogy" by NK Jemisin where gods can be controlled and used as weapons. What are we asking of God, what are we asking of ourselves? Why can't we want differently?

wenyi xue's avatar

Tysm for reading I'll check out the trilogy too

reneeclaire's avatar

as a high schooler, you have no idea how much i look up to you and how much i love everything you write. your style is so unique and you bring your point across so eloquently; thank you so much for sharing this xx

wenyi xue's avatar

thank u so much! that rlly means a lot to esp bc i remember being in high school + reading/writing getting me thru some pretty rough periods. Hope high school has gotten easier haha