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NYC Mayor Eric Adams's Robot Cop, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'

Darcy Jimenez
Darcy Jimenez
NYC Mayor Eric Adams's Robot Cop, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'
Another day, another step further into a dystopian hellscape.
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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.



This week, we've got a nonsensical copyright infringement case, someone who thinks life's easier if you're ugly and a new robocop for New York.



Saturday

Humans of Bombay

The character: Karishma Mehta aka Humans of Bombay, artist, photographer, litigator

The plot: Back in November 2010, photographer Brandon Stanton created Humans of New York, or HONY, a photoblog that documented city dwellers with a photograph and accompanying caption of a story they wanted to share. Initially what began as a passion project turned into a global phenomenon and brand, and it spawned countless other "Humans of…" pages.

One such page, Humans of Bombay — based on the Indian city of Bombay, which is now called Mumbai — quickly followed suit, and since starting in 2014 grew into a large social media account. Earlier in September, Humans of Bombay filed a copyright infringement suit against another page called People of India, saying their work was a "substantial imitation."

It took less than a second for people to chime in and explain why Humans of Bombay suing for copyright infringement was ironic.



The repercussion: Even after Stanton himself politely commented on the matter, Humans of Bombay doubled down by sharing their infringement complaint online, making things even messier. The overall sentiment was quite rude, considering the tone-deaf approach Humans of Bombay initially took, and people didn't hold back on roasting the account and its founders.



Adwait Patil



Saturday

@schizarella

The character: @schizarella, X user, repeat offender

The plot: This take comes from X user @schizarella, who, as it happens, also featured in last week's roundup — so they’re either a certified member of the Main Character club, or they're just saying annoying things to provoke a reaction online. Either way, they're on the list this week.

@schizarella shared a TikTok of a woman recording herself being visibly nervous as she pumps gas at a station, with a caption that reads "POV: you’re a girl pumping gas alone." Along with the post, the X user added that they refuse to believe "pretty privilege" is real, and said "sometimes you really wish you were mid because of the safety boost it provides."



The repercussion: As people made abundantly clear in the comments, pretty privilege is very much a real thing; on the whole, women who are attractive tend to get treated better and with more kindness than those who aren't.

But the main point here, really, is that all women are subjected to harassment, abuse and other unwanted behavior — and claiming that pretty girls have a harder time than less attractive ones does not help us tackle the issue we should all, collectively, be fighting.



Darcy Jimenez



Friday

Eric Adams

The character: New York City Mayor Eric Adams

The plot: New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the NYPD is introducing a Knightscope K5 unit to subway stations across the city. What is a K5, you ask? It's an outdoor security robot on wheels, there to help surveil people in Times Square, take reports and assist human officers in conducting police work (whatever that might actually be — most of the time cops just stand around doing nothing). This comes off of the heels of Adams reintroducing robot patrol dogs and drones to monitor citizens in New York. To put it lightly: the moves have been quite controversial.



The repercussion: The news of a robot cop without arms or a face did not go over well with anybody really, as it seems like a tremendous waste of time and money and resources, and is an idea only for crazy people who don't have any good ideas to share. Politicians, am I right?

The reaction to this was nothing short of vitriolic. There were some jokes and memes, sure, but the real New Yorkers who have been here during his tenure are beyond fed up with his antics and stupidity (myself included). These are people's lives he's playing with, making inane decisions and showy demonstrations while he cuts the budgets of real programs people rely on. He's the worst mayor we've had in quite some time, and that's saying something — because the only people who want to be the Mayor of New York are already out of their minds looking for power and a platform.



Jared Russo



Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, featuring a painfully bad take on a horror classic, people who think the world should stop for content creators and an NYT writer embarrassing himself online.

Comments

  1. IamIstiaqueAhmed 7 months ago

    It's disheartening to see valuable resources being diverted towards impractical and dystopian solutions like robocops in the heart of New York City. Instead of investing in meaningful programs that could uplift communities and ensure safety through human-centered approaches, we're witnessing a display of misplaced priorities. Our city needs policies that reflect a genuine commitment to education, healthcare, infrastructure, and equitable opportunities, not hollow gestures and technological gimmicks. Let's advocate for a future where the well-being of the people takes precedence over superficial displays of power. 🌆💭

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