fact check
A TikToker Spreading ADHD Misinformation, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'
Every day, somebody says or does something that earns them the scorn of the internet. Here at Digg, as part of our mission to curate what the internet is talking about right now, we rounded up the main characters on Twitter from this past week and held them accountable for their actions.
Each day on twitter there is one main character. The goal is to never be it
— maple cocaine (@maplecocaine) January 3, 2019
This week, we've got an NBA player causing controversy, someone earnestly defending Dimes Square and a TikToker who believes most people don't have an inner voice.
Thursday
Joel Embiid
The character: Joel Embiid, professional basketball player and citizen of three different countries
The plot: Joel Embiid was born in Yaounde, Cameroon, and only started playing organized basketball at the age of 15. At 16 he moved to America, eventually went to the University of Kansas, and recently won the MVP award in the NBA. It’s been quite the journey, but he’s recently started a bit of an online tiff because of his decision to play the USA national team in the upcoming Olympics.
Joel Embiid, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, has committed to play for Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) October 5, 2023
Embiid informed Team USA executive director Grant Hill of his decision on Thursday morning, sources said, just days after the two… pic.twitter.com/W2dfW71aMs
Embiid was granted French citizenship in July of 2022, and in September also got US citizenship. He had to choose between those countries, and his native Cameroon, but ended up going with the American team in order to win an easy gold in Paris 2024.
The repercussion: Embiid’s choice to team up with other NBA superstars has been compared NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon, who made a similar choice back in the '90s, and also comparisons were drawn with Kevin Durant, who joined the 73-win Golden State Warriors, in 2016, to win back-to-back titles. Grouping up with a super team already established is the smart move, as it guarantees you winning, but has been seen by many to be treasonous, weak and quite pathetic. We have no stance on the issue, he can do whatever he wants, but did he cop out on Cameroon? You decide!
Joel Embiid in the 2024 Paris Olympics pic.twitter.com/otzBxWqVLy
— Tate Frazier (@tatefrazier) October 5, 2023
when the locals saw Joel Embiid in Fort Collins https://t.co/IgjQHWd5WR pic.twitter.com/Qliur63zQ7
— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) October 5, 2023
I'll just say it. Joel Embiid should NOT be recognized as his own nation https://t.co/ygV4JojZ4v
— Dan Clyne (@danCLYNE) October 5, 2023
.@stephenasmith on Joel Embiid committing to play for Team USA:
— First Take (@FirstTake) October 5, 2023
"Other nations are trying to act as if they're better than the USA when it comes to the sport of basketball. ... We need to show the level of commitment that those other nations ... have shown." pic.twitter.com/dVxVOoidZu
Joel Embiid joining an American super team for the Olympics instead of helping his upstart home country of Cameroon qualify is massively disappointing. I don’t respect this decision. At all. And it’s a sad story, too. Not into it. https://t.co/xG8ArHMH0B
— Late stage capitalism hater (@sarahrimmington) October 5, 2023
Joel Embiid showing up the 2024 Olympics with Team USA pic.twitter.com/GTrQgOHxGJ
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) October 5, 2023
Joel Embiid choosing to represent team USA in the 2024 Olympics is embarrassing for him and embarrassing for USA basketball.
— Per Sources (@PerSources) October 5, 2023
Other countries naturalize players so that they have a chance vs USA. Now the USA is naturalizing players for their team?
Embarrassing.
Joel Embiid… pic.twitter.com/SYLgSKHk2A
Jared Russo
Tuesday
Cancela Lansbury
The character: Steven Phillips-Horst, aka cancela lansbury, aka @gossipbabies, podcaster, big believer in oneself
The plot: Writer and podcaster Phillips-Horst's recent defense of Dimes Square was hard for people to wrap their head around. If the word Dimes Square doesn't ring a bell, I can only congratulate you. Dimes Square is a purported micro-neighborhood in New York which came to be known for its usual suspects like podcasters, artists and other online-only, partially famous people. This cohort is often referred to as the "new right" because of their ideology and affiliations.
However, while they've been written and prophesied about online, the actual cultural significance of Dimes Square is inconsequential, to put it politely.
After popular musician Jack Antonoff critiqued said scene for being forgettable, Phillips-Horst's defense of this (so-called) scene's significance drew a lot of laughs and raised a few eyebrows.
I love jack anton*ff's music but he is wrong about dimes sq... the post 2010's greater downtown nyc social scene is responsible for seismic shifts in art, fashion, music, comedy—dis, HBA , eckhaus latta, arca, talk hole.. also red scare is undeniably a pivotal cultural objet
— cancela lansbury (@gossipbabies) October 3, 2023
The repercussion: People did try to give the benefit of the doubt to OP and presume it was a bit, but it definitely wasn't.
I know it’s impossible for New Yorkers to see how little impact they have in the world outside of New York but the only people who listen to red scare outside of the city are rich girls in other big cities who are afraid to tell their friends they’re racist
— quack a roonie (@megathonex) October 3, 2023
If Red Scare is such an undeniable pivotal cultural object then why has it never come in ahead of the 2006 Amanda Bynes comedy She's the Man on Google Trends at any point in the last five years https://t.co/n6tB00SVOV pic.twitter.com/TLrLsaxrLW
— Jonathan (@jonathanmb32) October 3, 2023
new york bohemia has always had an outsized sense of its own wider importance, but at least in the past the cultural exports they could point to included i dunno the velvet underground or basquiat or kathy acker and not gossip podcasts for upper middle class millennial racists https://t.co/bNRrhfJukk
— Jess Harvell (@cheaptrickrules) October 3, 2023
I haven't gotten over how hard he whiffed here—with almost every discrete element, too—from the first clause on down https://t.co/5L1GsqA9UZ
— Jack Denton (@jackwdenton) October 4, 2023
Agreed. Just incredible that Antonoff could have forgotten mlorpp, Schmargle, Hacky Packy, ScrubADub Pod... https://t.co/k0K7uWEgP1
— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) October 3, 2023
incredibly funny tweet for so many reasons but u gotta respect including ur own podcast no one’s ever heard of in the list of ‘seismic shifts’ https://t.co/eBIjnxeqYi
— no earthquake (r/coasterlover mod) (@no_earthquake) October 4, 2023
Adwait Patil
Wednesday
@letsrewire
The character: @letsrewire, TikTok user, spreader of mental health misinformation
The plot: This week, someone on X shared the below TikTok post of a person claiming not only that neurotypical people "don't use any brain power" to do tasks like showering or brushing their teeth, but that they also are completely void of an internal monologue.
The TikToker claims that most people don't have an inner voice or think to themselves, which is simply untrue, according to research that indicates many of us engage in self-talk on some level. Having a voice in your head isn't inherently harmful or an indication that your brain is functioning abnormally.
at some point we're gonna have to deal with these """adhd influencers""" before things get even weirder than this because.... the amount of likes and positive comments this has.... like tiktok is making people SICK! pic.twitter.com/UUc7lYOQSW
— joanie (@laracroftbarbie) October 4, 2023
The repercussion: It's great that mental health is so openly discussed online, and that people have more resources and welcoming, understanding communities than ever before — but people on TikTok, and the internet in general, have developed a frustrating and frankly harmful habit of pathologizing normal behaviors. This helps no one, and X users sought to make this clear.
it's crazy how adhd went from "we are under diagnosed" to "if you don't have adhd you're a sim without a soul"
— joanie (@laracroftbarbie) October 4, 2023
Tiktok is ahead https://t.co/Mqpbcm1zqg pic.twitter.com/Mrhd9F9g5R
— Megi (@reaIsnowhite) October 5, 2023
the world is actually super easy unless you have ADHD :)
— P.E. Moskowitz (@_pem_pem) October 4, 2023
"i still can't believe this is true" she should really lean into that instinct imo
— Andy (@plainly_andy) October 4, 2023
What is happening on mental health TikTok https://t.co/lvnh7mvpZC pic.twitter.com/FtE24Nvnpf
— Ellie Anderson (@ellieanderphd) October 5, 2023
I do think there’s a type of person online who attributes all their human complexity to some label (neurodivergence, Gifted Kid Burnout, a specific flavour of white queerness) and as a result thinks anyone who doesn’t share that is a blank slate with no inner life or depth lol https://t.co/Zro7NyWih8
— Matilda ♋︎ (@matildae22) October 5, 2023
the desire to classify oneself as more oppressed/atypical in order to justify one's (legitimate) struggles sets up a binary in which most of the world is NOT oppressed and thus not deserving of care. thus, identity-based ~progressivism~ is revanchist and regressive at its core :) https://t.co/0E9LHIu7bp
— P.E. Moskowitz (@_pem_pem) October 4, 2023
Darcy Jimenez
Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, featuring a a nonsensical copyright infringement case, someone who thinks life's easier if you're ugly and a new robocop for New York.
