It appears that I might just be unworthy of the website, Upworthy.com. Having never heard of it before, my interest was piqued when I read this description on a friend’s Facebook post:
So I clicked the link to go to Upworthy’s Facebook page, and from there I followed a link to upworthy.com. Upon reaching the website, however, and I discovered that I was required to answer a poll question before I could continue on to the site’s content. Here’s a screen shot of what I saw:
Hmmm. What’s this all about? I didn’t visit the site in order to make any sort of statement,. Is Upworthy wanting to make some sort of statement by how people answer this poll? Is this a condition of membership that I click “I agree”? And what do I do with the fact that I think that “race” is a myth, and that “gender” is a linguistic term regarding languages that attach a sex to certain nouns that have nothing to do with sex at all? Oops, apparently, there’s something wrong with the word sex, so we have to say “gender” instead.
No, wait, the next thing I’m polled about is “sexual orientation”, so apparently, there’s nothing wrong with the word sex. It must simply be the current fashion to misuse the word “gender”.
But I digress.
What do they mean by “equality”? And what do they mean by “treated equally”? For example, when unattached gay men go out in hopes of finding a significant other, do they “treat equally” all men they find, regardless of “sexual orientation”? Or do they discriminate in some fashion?
Or when Sumo promoters have tryouts for new wrestlers, do I suppose they should interview 90-pound women as well as the 300-plus-pound men? Would that give proper honor to “equality”?
Or when a film producer is looking for a star to play the role of Martin Luther King, Jr, should he be expected to invite Asian women to audition under some “equality” paradigm?
So it seems to me that all these issues are just a little bit more complicated that a one-liner poll question. Yet my available answers are “I agree” and “I disagree”.
I expected Upworthy.com to be as advertised: “Awesome, fun, interesting videos and graphics about stuff that matters. ” It appears, however, that there’s more going on here than advertised. Is the site’s message and mission one of “race, gender, and sexual orientation”? If so, then could I please hear the message before I’m asked to sign off on it? Indeed, when I go to Bible sites, none of them ask me to sign off that I like the Bible before they allow me to read. And when I go to political sites, none of them require me to “like” their candidates before I’m allowed to enter the site.
So what gives with Upworthy.com?
I opted not to answer the question either way because I didn’t like the situation the poll puts me in. Am I being petty? Overly cautious? Nitpicky?
Perhaps, but it’s honest.
And what triggered it is an atypical greeting at the front door to a website. So Upworthy has botched their chance to make a good impression on me.
