Philadelphia 76ers: The Bryan Colangelo crisis and toxicity of celebrity social media
By Bret Stuter
Recent allegations of social media use by persons close to Philadelphia 76ers Bryan Colangelo (or himself) spotlight the toxicity of social media to celebrities at large.
Reports are flooding Twitter now about general manager Bryan Colangelo’s link to reportedly five Twitter burner accounts. As a matter of fact, those accounts trolled players, coaches, and sports writers who cover the Philadelphia 76ers.
While that creates huge mistrust, there is more. Those accounts knew sensitive details about players and coaches. It all comes down to uncovering the truth, but what is the truth? Well, truth is not the same as facts. And right now, truth is the pivotal axis upon which the future employment of Sixers team president Bryan Colangelo now balances.
The Ringer‘s Ben Detrick broke the allegations in an article published on May 29. In his story, he links five social media accounts to the 76ers’ Colangelo. All oddly have similar patterns of staunchly defending Colangelo, and ridicule contributions of former executive Sam Hinkie.
Detrick states facts and describes timelines in a compelling narrative. As a result, he leads the reader to the conclusion: Five Twitter accounts connect Bryan Colangelo to embarrassing and privy information released on social media. The truth of the matter is nobody knows for certain yet. Not enough facts are available.
Truth vs. fact
On one hand, facts do not change. Facts are measurements, events, undeniable outcomes and rest upon overwhelming supportive evidence. On the other hand, what is the truth? Truth can be personalized. It is events filtered by experience. While it can be fact, even the perception of fact qualifies as truth.
We all see things differently, and how we see things, our perspective, impacts our truth. If you have recollections of arguments, you quickly discover just how diverse “truth” can be. Keep in mind that swearing in to testify includes the following statement: “I solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” So truth can be truth, but be lacking as well.