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I thoroughly despise Facebook, fads, and cold temperatures. For all intents and purposes, I should be completely against the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and at first, I was. I’ve heard coworkers bitch about how their newsfeed is cluttered with the challenge. I’ve read articles, some on this very site, about the hateful thoughts that go through people’s heads as they watch others participate. I’ve even insulted losers from high school whose only attachment to relevance is being superbly in shape, despite having the IQ of a rodent, and have used this challenge to show off the only reason any other human would speak with them.
But why, after all of this, do I still support the Ice Bucket Challenge? Because it is for fucking charity. Sure, there are a countless number of scumbags who aren’t donating a dime. Yes, the majority of videos on your Facebook are just relishing the opportunity to show off their bodies to the general public, but that doesn’t matter. The ALS Association said Monday that it has received a whopping $15.6 million in donations since the end of July, which is up from $1.8 million at the exact time last year. I may be the absolute king of cynicism, but at some point you need to step back and realize that all of this exposure, as obnoxious as it may be, is actually making a difference.
Prior to this media explosion, I knew little to nothing about ALS except that it was nicknamed after one of the greatest baseball players to ever wear pinstripes. I’ve since learned that it is a completely horrendous disease that basically shuts down voluntary muscle control and that it affects more than 5,600 people per year. If being forced to see middle aged men’s nipples go from six to midnight on a constant basis is the price I must pay to relieve some of the pain that these people are dealing with, then so be it. In fact, with the amount of celebrity endorsement surrounding this I can not believe that only $15 million dollars have been raised, but that is a conversation for another time.
I know that there are a myriad of different diseases that are having a greater negative affect on peoples lives and I know that there are thousands of other charities/foundations/causes that are more deserving of the exposure that the Ice Bucket Challenge has brought to ALS. Once again, that does not matter. Any way that you look at it, this is helping people, bottom line. And if for some odd reason you are still butt hurt about the opportunists who are only using this challenge to look good on camera at least you can sit back and enjoy the countless number of failed attempts that are rolling in daily.
Respond
TheOriginalReaganaut
Working in Chicago's Loop, living on the Northside and doing a piss poor impression of an adult.
I’m sorry, but people can do both the challenge and donate. I understand it has raised awareness but it also shows the willingness of people to make things bigger than themselves about… Well, themselves. Granted, there have been those who have made donations on top of doing the challenge but for the most part it seems like a bunch of people dumping water on their head and then challenging their friends to do so as well…. Imagine if the “challenge” made you take out a donation, even $10, along with the water. It’s a lot more “challenging” to eat at home after making a donation from your Chipotle lunch budget than fill a bucket with water and pour it on yourself…. Not to be such a Debbie Downer on the whole thing, I just imagine how much exponentially larger of a number might be reported than 15 mil if people actually donated…
Got drunk at home on a 12 pack, did the challenge, and then donated the difference between the 12 pack and my average bar tab had I gone out that night per usual. Challenged others to do the same for exactly the reason you raised. Just doing the “challenge” for the 5 seconds of attention without donating is really the only problem I have with the campaign now that EVERYONE has seen 50+ videos and been challenged 5+ times. Really hot girls and people that fail miserably get a pass though, because entertainment.
Initially the challenge WAS to donate $10 if you did the challenge and $100 if you didn’t. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way that detail got lost.
they’re supposed to raising ALS awareness? i had a friend that said “i’m sick of seeing it and i don’t know know what ALS is still”.. people should instead say “ALS is the disease that Stephen Hawking has, also called Lou Gehrigs. donate to alsa.com to help” and be fucking done with this horseshit
Whiskey Warrior – do you know how exponents work? “exponentially larger than 15M” ??
I believe the main focus of this social campaign is to raise awareness. To…raise…awareness. The money donated is just icing on top. When you scroll through facebook and see “everyone” just dumping ice on their heads and nominating more people to do so…in lieu of donating…they are raising awareness. And to use your term correctly…they are actually raising awareness at an exponential rate given the structure of tagged friends in FB’s newsfeed.
I don’t disagree with everything you said. And your comment was not super douchey or aggressive. But I think you’re wrong, man. This is a good thing whether people give money or not.
What good does people being “aware” of the disease do if they’re not doing anything to cure or solve it? The money donated is not “icing on the top”. The money donated is EVERYTHING. That is the reason this whole thing started. The fact that I know what cancer is does nothing to help cure it, and dumping ice on my head and challenging my friends to do the same does nothing to help solve the problems of people who have ALS if none of us donate to an organization that is trying to find a cure.
If you were trying to link “awareness” about an issue to more people donating then we’re in agreement, but your comment didn’t really do a very good job of making that argument. Also, $10 is nothing. I would venture to say that very few people can’t afford to donate $10 to a good cause like this, and THAT would cause exponential growth in the funds donated to ALS.
I’m on the same thought. I’ll admit I was cynical at first and even commented abouted on this site. But seeing all the good it has done and seeing how little we’ve progressed with research and funds needed for ALS has changed my perspective of the challenge. I suport the cause now and support and commend those who have participated and passed the challenge along.
I never knew how underfunded ALS research was until this happened. It’s a good thing.
I was annoyed at first with this whole challenge business. A vast majority of these fad charity things designed to “raise awareness” really do nothing to actually help solve the issue at hand. I thought to myself “How in the hell does dumping ice water on myself help people with ALS and how sad is it that I’d rather do that than donate to a charity funding research to do some real good.” The whole thing seemed pointless and ineffective.
Then I learned that you’re supposed to donate SOMETHING ($10 if you do the challenge, $100 if you don’t) whether or not you do the challenge, a detail that has sadly gotten lost in translation since the whole thing started. As long as something like this actually translates into donations and forward progress, I support it. I don’t care how stupid or irrelevant the “challenge” linked to it is.