alexander the gay?
An Anti-Woke Poster Who Doesn't Know His History, 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 someone who does love by numbers, a controversial Lana Del Rey take, a guy who can't handle his CBD, a right-wing poster learning something new and a troubling day-in-the-life entry from a TV personality.
Monday
Eliezer Yudkowsky
The character: Eliezer Yudkowsky, X blue check user, relationship robot
The plot: People have wildly different views about what makes for a good romantic relationship, but this take is pretty fringe. Eliezer, self-described as the "original AI alignment person," seems to be focused not only on judging how much better other people are than an existing partner, but on communicating exactly what it would take for him to (scare quotes) "trade up" to a different partner.
in a world of greater legibility, romantic partners would have the conversation about "I'd trade up if I found somebody 10%/25%/125% better than you" in advance, and make sure they have common knowledge of the numbers
— Eliezer Yudkowsky ⏹️ (@ESYudkowsky) February 5, 2024
Her: I am never, ever letting you go unless I find someone 75% better.
— Eliezer Yudkowsky ⏹️ (@ESYudkowsky) February 5, 2024
Me: Works for me.
The repercussion: Not only has the original post been seen more than two million times, but there are hundreds of responses — some of which are just Eliezer continuing to post through it. If you're a potential partner for Eliezer, at least you're only a quick search away from knowing your status as a percentage.
Him, lying in a hospital bed after a catastrophic car accident leaving him paralyzed from the waist down: Thank you for loving me even when it’s difficult
— tater tot (@parakeetnebula) February 5, 2024
Me, a rational agent: Not so fast, buster. Our contract clearly states I’m entitled to a tax-free upgrade should I stumble… https://t.co/7CdIFGsWCr
one of the many problems of contemporary dating is that apps have provided the sense that someone quantifiably better than whoever is before you is always just moments away. this, I think, has been a destructive myth. https://t.co/kW4xwLIMQJ
— Magdalene J. Taylor (@magdajtaylor) February 5, 2024
From the get-go, I was crystal clear. If another dog comes along who is even 3% better than her, she’s out. Immediate upgrade. https://t.co/7CdIFGsWCr pic.twitter.com/OM7HEOSYdx
— tater tot (@parakeetnebula) February 6, 2024
Thinking about fellow human beings (especially friends or romantic partners) instrumentally as a collection of quantifiable attributes is a truly depraved way of being in the world https://t.co/D6Xa0mvuIg
— Detlev Holz (@HolzDetlev) February 8, 2024
Having this conversation with my coke dealer to keep him on his toes https://t.co/ez1n4dGeeS
— Hot Take Appreciator (@IHateNYT) February 7, 2024
Hope this finds you well! I met someone 10% better than you in Q4 but as that did not exceed our predetermined threshold I remained in our partnership. However, one month into Q1 I’ve met someone 25% better than you so I’m circling back to let you know that we are done.
— Maizie ⭐️ (@postboob) February 6, 2024
Best, https://t.co/oQnmQEQajf
Grant Brunner
Sunday
Justin Murphy
The character: Justin Murphy, hater of CBD
The plot: You ever see a tweet so dumb you are immediately forced to take a nap? Like, a take so bad that the community notes and replies are having a field day? Well, look what happened to poor old Justin, who drank a CBD-infused can of water (peach ginger flavored!) and innocently thought it wouldn't kill him. It did in fact kill him dead, and then he tweeted about it afterwards. Oh, the humanity!
Cannabis is a silent epidemic wreaking havoc on the American family.
— Justin Murphy (cath/acc) (@jmrphy) February 4, 2024
A friend brought some of these over and I drank two around 8pm.
My body completely shut down and I slept from 9pm until 10am. I slept through Sunday Mass.
How is this legal, with such innocent packaging? pic.twitter.com/8ziBXSmfYt
The repercussion: It's hard to believe this isn't just a fake post that's intentionally trolling for engagement. Like, there's no way this is anything other than a psyop involving weird accounts or someone invested in this brand or its competitors, in my opinion.
It's worth noting here that Justin made it on to one of last year's Main Character lists for a similarly ridiculous CBD-related tweet — so this guy either genuinely hates cannabis with a passion, or something bizarre is going on.
Bait everybody stand down. This is blue check engagement bait
— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) February 5, 2024
A friend brought some of these over and I drank two around 8pm.
— ❥ 𝑪𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒔 ❥ (@tonyhawktruther) February 5, 2024
My body completely shut down and I slept from 9pm until 10am. I slept through Sunday Mass.
How is this legal, with such innocent packaging? pic.twitter.com/l46ZsGjBN9
Hello police? Yeah I slept too well last night. No I’m pissed https://t.co/u2vpq4HP1o
— Caitlin (@caithuls) February 5, 2024
Did you say 12 hours of sleep?
— Petey B (@realpeteyb123) February 4, 2024
You about to make this company, very popular.
Sleep performance experts and perfectionists are about to have a blast.
it would have been easier to just say "i am a bitch" and then logged off forver
— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) February 5, 2024
Help somebody call the cops I got a good ass night of sleep help me I'm scared
— Bill Bones (@BillBoneless) February 5, 2024
It doesn’t have cannabis in it.
— mattkandela (@mattkandela) February 4, 2024
I'm so fucking high rn pic.twitter.com/MtOwZsbp9d
— dane 🇷🇺🇸🇾🇧🇫🇾🇪🇮🇷🇰🇵🇵🇸🇨🇳 (@buckadeath) February 5, 2024
Jared Russo
Monday
James McCarron
The character: James McCarron, writer, poster, Lana Del Rey enjoyer
The plot: Singer Lana Del Rey has always had a hold on online discourse — recently, for example, she posed with a firearm after taking home no prizes at the 2024 Grammys. McCarron, a writer, decided to heap some praise on the apparently snubbed artist by comparing her work to filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's, and saying that her art exists "in a liminal space of its own, cool enough to be a cultural force but too authentic for major awards bodies to give her the honors she clearly deserves."
Lana Del Rey is a bit like Kubrick in that she’s quite obviously the best of her era, but her art exists in a liminal space of its own, cool enough to be a cultural force but too authentic for major awards bodies to give her the honors she clearly deserves.
— James McCarron (@jamesjmccarron) February 5, 2024
If there was a take that's indicative of being excessively online, and makes X users sound like feral animals to those without social media, it's this one. McCarron's praise of Del Rey was clowned, even by fans of the artist.
The repercussion: From picking Kubrick as a comparison to using the phrase "liminal space," McCarron was unsurprisingly on the receiving end of ridicule from all sides of the internet.
i encourage people to learn about art outside of twitter because you will learn virtually nothing on this site. you will think you’re learning something, because people will make grand statements like this and get tons of likes, but it’s all meaningless https://t.co/BBnJA9gjck
— Joshua Minsoo Kim (@misterminsoo) February 5, 2024
https://t.co/IWAQHXg7pb pic.twitter.com/VI4K8AbVsb
— laura 🦠 (@ecto_fun) February 5, 2024
“Lana Del Rey is a bit like Kubrick” has been going through my head all day. https://t.co/n0TSsplWzu
— Miami Vice Apologist (extraction 3 #1 fan account) (@ViceApologist) February 5, 2024
https://t.co/k4sxSziSIF pic.twitter.com/Uzt2QI4EqL
— ʎǝlɹɐɥƆ (@charleyonhere) February 5, 2024
This is how a 52 year old college professor starts talking when trying hit on freshmen https://t.co/DnoWeZ6X1P
— Isaac (@GalaxyPeaBrain) February 5, 2024
the "charlie brown had hoes" of music criticism https://t.co/iDWlBkpdKk
— ABSOLUTE ROASTER (@chewacow) February 6, 2024
https://t.co/6ku90C6TnG pic.twitter.com/sBjKt14n8m
— 红色娘子军🌹 (@detachment_red) February 6, 2024
Adwait Patil
Saturday
Gregg Wallace
The character: Gregg Wallace, TV chef, reluctant father
The plot: Gregg Wallace is a British media personality best known for presenting the competitive cooking reality show "MasterChef." Last week, in UK newspaper The Telegraph, Wallace outlined his weekend routine for a segment called "My Saturday" — and soon after became the subject of both criticism and mockery.
Catching up on Gregg Wallace’s magnificently Partridgian My Saturday. pic.twitter.com/dHmKPhHk00
— Ed Cumming (@edcumming) February 5, 2024
People made fun of several parts of the piece — for example, Wallace saying that his gym lets him in earlier than everyone else — but most comments were focused on one particularly troubling section. At the 1:30pm mark, Wallace says he plays with his non-verbal autistic son for just an hour and a half before going off to play computer games alone. What's more, he appears to imply that he wasn't all that enthusiastic about having the child at all.
"Another child isn't something that I would have chosen at my age," Wallace writes. "I was always very honest with [his wife] Anna, but it's what she wanted and I love her."
"I just requested two things — that we had help in the house (so her mum moved in), and, secondly, that we had at least one week a year when we holidayed just the two of us."
The repercussion: As the responses show, people were flabbergasted that Wallace would talk so openly about not wanting a child when he has one — and the fact that he admitted to spending less time with his son than he does playing on the computer is either funny or sad, depending on who you ask.
The controversy united the UK in a way we haven't seen for a long time — because if there's one thing a British person can spot, it's a d—khead.
The Gregg Wallace chat is the only thing that everyone has agreed on in decades.
— Jas shaw (@Jas_shaw) February 8, 2024
Don’t waste this, build bridges, heal wounds, make peace. Come together, right now, over Gregg.
I spent 90 minutes with the son that I didn't really want, and then it's off to the computer for two hours of strategy games
— dan hett (@danhett) February 5, 2024
truly the prick's prick isn't he https://t.co/nVfRv8eC2K
spend a lot of time worrying i’m not a good enough dad, that i’m not enriching my daughter’s life enough, that i can’t conceal my bad habits adequately, that i’m insufficiency masking my mental illness around her, then i read stuff like this & i’m like ah probably doing okay tbf https://t.co/AOWPbJYJxe
— Dan Douglas (@dandouglas) February 6, 2024
The Gregg Wallace thing needs to make people look at how women's work is invisibilised by society. GW puts his success down to daily gym sessions, manifesting, journalling, reading etc - meanwhile, this is only possible because his wife and mother-in-law do absolutely EVERYTHING
— Shambolic Neutral - Thad And Proud🦦 (@BradfemlyWalsh) February 6, 2024
Gregg Wallace doing his share of childcare. pic.twitter.com/fS10CctxPN
— John Smith (@JohnSmi21372434) February 7, 2024
https://t.co/8rxQNDg0Us pic.twitter.com/ojzVm941jI
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) February 5, 2024
Annoying marrying a professional chef who decides he’ll only cook for you once a week but refuses to have a takeaway. Constantly delivering bean soup through a hatch in his computer game room where he hides from your autistic son. pic.twitter.com/fUB2G61cOU
— Gus The Fox (@GusTheFox) February 6, 2024
Gregg Wallace’s son talking about every Saturday 3pm https://t.co/HTeTJ7i4m6 pic.twitter.com/1g59nwg7hd
— Andy Ha (@AndyHa_) February 6, 2024
I’ve always had ‘that’ feeling about Wallace without having anything tangible to pin it on but having read this I can say with clarity and certainty the man is a self-centred arsehole of the highest order. pic.twitter.com/vRukpWLutw
— Balderdash (@notDcfcBoss) February 5, 2024
Play with son Total War Saga pic.twitter.com/C0OFAFvNy8
— Average Human Teessider (@utb_smith) February 6, 2024
Gregg Wallace at exactly 2:59pm on Saturdays. pic.twitter.com/HaTMkpusLF
— Estebantz (@ActingTheGom) February 6, 2024
Mrs Wallace's Saturday pic.twitter.com/iyA6x90KsX
— Michael Volpe OBE (@NoisyMV) February 7, 2024
Darcy Jimenez
Monday
@EndWokeness
The character: @EndWokeness, right-wing X account, not a history expert
The repercussion: No one's expecting anything profound from an X user called End Wokeness, but this take is a real stinker all the same.
In Netflix's new documentary about Alexander the Great, there's a scene showing the Macedonian king getting intimate with a man — and Mr. End Wokeness wasn't best pleased. "Within the first 8 minutes, they turned him gay," he wrote.
Netflix made a new documentary about Alexander The Great. Within the first 8 minutes, they turned him gay. pic.twitter.com/y56b4eDkjb
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 5, 2024
The repercussion: People wasted no time letting this right-wing poster know that a documentary depicting Alexander the Great's relationships with men isn't part of the great "woke" agenda. The conqueror's sexual orientation has long been the subject of debate among historians, but it's pretty much agreed upon that he had relations with the opposite sex — as did many other people of Ancient Greece.
End Wokeness better brush up on his history next time he wants to take his complaints to the internet.
Alexander actually had intimate relationships with men.
— Jonas (@realjonaswd) February 5, 2024
I don’t think it was Netflix that made him gay.
— Damin Toell (@damintoell) February 5, 2024
this is extra good because like ancient greece being gay is like very complicated and based on power and not actually homosexuality but alexander the great… he was just actually gay https://t.co/zaZ0wEPgKb
— dauntless declan (@ganseyfromme) February 6, 2024
"End Wokeness" aka Don't ever read a book.
— GardensandGuillotines (@GnGuillotines) February 5, 2024
Hey man, I'm sorry you had to learn this way
— Tony (@realtonysm1th) February 6, 2024
Netflix didn't "turn him gay." While we can't say with certainty that Alexander and Hephaestion were lovers, it's a semi-common view among historians with some support from ancient texts. And we have even more evidence for a romantic relationship between Alexander and Bagoas. 1/6 pic.twitter.com/1juDyhqHAT
— Bad History Takes (@bad_histories) February 6, 2024
Buddy... have you ever looked into WHY olive oil was so popular with the Greeks and Romans? https://t.co/AEzzjhngrm
— Sge Pig Daddy's Boar Studs (@bolinthomas) February 5, 2024
Darcy Jimenez
Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, which featured a baffling movie take, some thinly veiled racism, a controversial opinion on "anti-social" behavior and a couple that's worryingly committed to the barefoot lifestyle.
[Image credit: YouTube]