On November 16, Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski published what most everyone considered an even-handed look at the stand-off between rookie Royce White, who suffered from anxiety disorder, and the Houston Rockets. Woj's central thesis was that while White's mission to bring awareness to anxiety disorder, and to be the voice for the many, many who suffer from mental illness, his method was going to end his basketball career. Without a basketball career, White isn't likely to have a massive platform. Ergo, White needs to take some of the pressure off of himself to be the nation's leading anxiety advocate so that he can function as a (very promising) NBA player. In the long term, that would help the cause (and White's own journey) more.
Royce White lashes out at Adrian Wojnarowski
Rockets rookie Royce White lashed out at Yahoo! columnist Adrian Wojnarowski, who last week wrote a remarkably even-handed piece on how White’s anxiety disorder could cost him his NBA career.
Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE
White apparently disagrees.
@wojyahoonba You can run from a conversation if you want, but being able to print something doesn't make it true...
— Royce White (@Highway_30) November 24, 2012
@wojyahoonba And When the truth comes I'll be posting your article EVERYWHERE, then we'll see who's career need SAVING!
— Royce White (@Highway_30) November 24, 2012
Sorry Tweeps, I'm up early WORKING on these #StigmaPushers like @wojyahoonba < This guy needs his #journalism card snatched.
— Royce White (@Highway_30) November 24, 2012
@wojyahoonba I bet my twitter "rant" does bother you, takes the filter out... Now lets talk platform!
— Royce White (@Highway_30) November 24, 2012
@wojyahoonba My platform is built on GENUINENESS and HONESTY, your is built on... Say whatever you need to say at the time...
— Royce White (@Highway_30) November 24, 2012
It goes on and on like that. Twenty-seven tweets at Woj in one hour, and he’s still going as we publish this. He’s taken exception to a few specific lines from the Yahoo! piece, but is primarily railing on the writer. But it’s all a sideshow, because this isn’t driving real talk about the issue at hand, which is what accommodations should employers make for employees with mental illness. Yelling at someone who peeks into the situation as a part of their job doesn’t help further that important conversation.
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