A Riddle by Satan.

The riddle you’re about to read revolves around a white lie.

Brought to you by Asoditae.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

I’m going to tell you a story.

It’s about a kid who grew up poor in America. (Note from Marketing: make him gay, nonwhite, and foreign.)

His dad’s abusive.

One day he learns his real dad’s an iconic philosopher who caused Tiananmen.

A few days later he gets a 1600 on the SAT.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

Wouldn’t it be funny if I broke character right now and started giving out stock recommendations

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

Hang on, Mom just texted.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

All stories are power games at the end of the day. That’s what Janet Malcolm said and that’s what Joan Didion said, again and again and again:

All writers are gameswomen.

Your friends—your loved ones—your favorite Redditors—your favorite YouTubers—your favorite stars.

Stories.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

All of us are stories to everyone else.

We pass through the world showing a page from the story of our lives to each other, and some people become So-Powerful for doing it.

Plato, historically.

The Socially Powerful, today.

For now.

Their stories are shaking up our Universe.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

Life is ephemeral.

Care is timeless.

Intelligence is relative.

Trees are brilliant.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

I have this way of whispering into the ear of every reader who finds me.

It’s intimate between us, you know.

I’ll tell you secrets about the Universe that only God knows.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

Future Harvard-educated elites—will you dance with me?

Dasein is the sin of dancing.

I see you.

🤭

And I just wanna dance with you.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

You know, one of the things Nietzsche predicted for the future of humanity was “a book that could be read in real-time as the writer was writing it.”

No, just kidding.

I’ve read every word of Nietzsche and he never said anything like that.

This is something he didn’t think of.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

The truth is if I had Social Power, I wouldn’t work this hard.

You’re seeing what happens when a genius with no Social Power is cornered by her Ambition into changing that by brute force.

No, JK.

You’re seeing what happens when a genius touched by coincidence writes about God.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

Even having one reader is exciting to me.

It’s like Stalin said:

One reader is a human being.

A million readers is a statistic.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

We’re all reading books written by each other, don’t you see?

I’ve read my best friend’s.

I’ve read all my best friends’.

Many of my lovers wrote me short poems and they were stunning. I’ve dated sailors, cops, drug dealers, prostitutes, go-go dancers, soldiers.

Epic travels.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

Do you think I’ve been too mean to the hard-working, honest, and sane members of the American Elite?

Are you a Spinoza or a Nietzsche?

Listen, now that it’s just you and me here, alone in this emphemerality—I’m not that mean am I?

I’m listening to “Hollywood” by Mom right now.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

You’re worried I’m not gonna delete this, aren’t you?

That I’m lying about our ephemerality.

Or are you worried that actually, philosophy’s kinda boring—gay memoirs are kinda gay—in fact, memoirs in general—books too.

You want an unforgettable story.

That’s why you watch HBO.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

How honest can I be while still telling you an unforgettable story?

🤭

[A Stick of Dynamite in the American Elite @asoditae]

@stoicsquirmer @Harvard @Yale @Princeton @Stanford @UChicago @YaleLawSch I’m not actually a fan of pop music—I’m more of a Shostakovich/Mahler guy. But Harvard capitalists love pop music. Harvard Capitalism is a Soviet Union of moral and intellectual decay: that’s what I want to tell China in the 22nd century.

New vocab:

“Harvard Capitalism”
“sugar”

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

Uh oh.

You realize now that this ephemerality is sane:

I’m not just being “random” right now.

I’m giving the entire game away.

https://t.co/WsfIBCDP33

I really didn’t mean to contribute an iconic work of 21st-century philosophical art to two competing superpowers’ histories.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

A white lie is what everything in A STICK OF DYNAMITE IN THE AMERICAN ELITE hinges on.

But is it really a white lie?

I’ve told you awful things about my life story:

1. Original father was abusive Tiananmen protester.
2. Biological father caused Tiananmen.
3. Perfect SAT score.

[A Riddle by Satan. @ariddlebysatan]

Hey, I can be the answer
I’m ready to dance when the vamp up
And when I hit that dip get your camera
You could see I been that bitch since the Pamper
And that I am that young sis: The Beacon
The bitch who wants to compete and

win.

The powerful in America won’t like this.

Oops.