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ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

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RB07OSU

RB07OSU

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Didn't see a thread for this but unless you've lived under a rock, we all know what it is. I am just curious as to everyone's general thoughts on it?

It supports a good cause for a disease that ordinarily does not get much publicity in terms of awareness. And a good amount of $ has been raised so far. But on the other hand, I think it is this years Livestrong bracelet in terms of being a feel-good fad. I've seen a million "ice bucket" videos and hardly a one of a person sitting down to write a check. I have also saw the "you're wasting fresh water to avoid giving money to a charity" arguments. I guess it's good overall but to be completely honest, I just get sick of viral stuff really quick and it is beyond that point.
 
RB07OSU said:
Didn't see a thread for this but unless you've lived under a rock, we all know what it is. I am just curious as to everyone's general thoughts on it?

It supports a good cause for a disease that ordinarily does not get much publicity in terms of awareness. And a good amount of $ has been raised so far. But on the other hand, I think it is this years Livestrong bracelet in terms of being a feel-good fad. I've seen a million "ice bucket" videos and hardly a one of a person sitting down to write a check. I have also saw the "you're wasting fresh water to avoid giving money to a charity" arguments. I guess it's good overall but to be completely honest, I just get sick of viral stuff really quick and it is beyond that point.
Click to expand...

The word you're looking for is "slacktivism".
 
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Seeing anything related to disease charities reminds me of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. A couple years ago they put out a drug called Ivactafor to treat the cause of cystic fibrosis in some small fraction of patients with a specific gene mutation. They charged $300K per year per patient after taking ~$75M from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation during R&D.

I don't know what the ALS Association actually does, but the fact that they've gotten almost $16M in a few weeks out of a bunch of attention whoring jackasses who most likely still know nothing about ALS is impressive to me.
 
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RB07OSU said:
Didn't see a thread for this but unless you've lived under a rock, we all know what it is. I am just curious as to everyone's general thoughts on it?

It supports a good cause for a disease that ordinarily does not get much publicity in terms of awareness. And a good amount of $ has been raised so far. But on the other hand, I think it is this years Livestrong bracelet in terms of being a feel-good fad. I've seen a million "ice bucket" videos and hardly a one of a person sitting down to write a check. I have also saw the "you're wasting fresh water to avoid giving money to a charity" arguments. I guess it's good overall but to be completely honest, I just get sick of viral stuff really quick and it is beyond that point.
Click to expand...

http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082114.html

ALSA donations hit $41.8 million yesterday, compared to $2.1 million over the same period the year before. On Wednesday alone ALSA donations totaled $10M. The thing about ALS is that it typically kills in 2-5 years, so there aren't a lot of telethons and ALS activists campaigning for funds since they all pass away so quickly. This is a grossly underfunded cause with a 100% mortality rate. In the 75 years since Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech, we've developed precisely one drug that extends life by a few months.

This is Ben, graduated from my high school a year behind me, graduated Notre Dame and became a teacher -- diagnosed with ALS in 2007.

2-biking-for-als-art-gi0ssg2j-12-biking-for-als-blv-03-jpg.jpg

Still hanging on today beyond the odds for his wife and two kids.

Has it jumped the shark and become a fad? Yes. But it's for a great, needed cause. Accept the challenge, pass it on to three friends, and donate. So what if your Facebook is cluttered up with 75% ice bucket challenge videos for one month this year? Once it passes you can go back to all those huffpost articles and cat videos your friends are sharing and your life can return to normal.
 
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The only thing that bothers me is the kids dumping ice on their heads without knowing why they are doing it, or for what. I've seen it called the "ASL Ice Bucket Challenge", I've seen it changed to "Cold Water Challenge" (c'mon, REALLY?), and I've seen many, MANY people dump the water without linking the website, or pointing anyone in the proper direction for supporting the cause.

When, and I know it's inevitable, I am nominated, I will not only accept the challenge in good spirit, but I will also be donating to the cause as the initial challenge intended. If I'm not nominated, this cause will still receive my support, even if I don't have much to offer.

This video says a lot.
 
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The responses pretty much define my indecisiveness...if this was actually raising widespread awareness, that would be awesome. But I feel like if we ran a poll of those showing their "ice bucket challenges", less than half could even tell you what the acronym "ALS" even stands for. To their credit, I can now because of the fad because I actually looked it up...so obviously, that is a good thing. I learned quite a bit but I am still bothered by the "let's raise awareness and forget about it once it is not trending on Twitter" mindset that is so prevalent now. I feel there are few that have been substantively changed by this, but most are simply hoping to have a fun video from it that they can share on FB.

To really illustrate my point, fucking Steve-O from Jackass actually made some articulate points about what should actually be done here link. What have we actually learned here except that videos of a fun challenge can go viral if they are linked to a "good cause." I think there are some that will actually be changed by this...but most will simply have a 10 second video of them being uncomfortable in cold water to demonstrate their philanthropic efforts to the world. And I sincerely hope I am wrong.

At the end of the day though, @Dryden's post resonates with me...as much as I hate the ability of our modern culture to join a cause simply to feel like they are a part of something and share their "ice bucket fun day" story with their friends on FB, I say the ends justify the means. If this ACTUALLY stimulates money for research on this awful disease, than I am more than ok with it. I
 
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Titanic+ALS_5eb25a_5264586.jpg
 
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Dryden said:
http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082114.html

ALSA donations hit $41.8 million yesterday, compared to $2.1 million over the same period the year before. On Wednesday alone ALSA donations totaled $10M. The thing about ALS is that it typically kills in 2-5 years, so there aren't a lot of telethons and ALS activists campaigning for funds since they all pass away so quickly. This is a grossly underfunded cause with a 100% mortality rate. In the 75 years since Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech, we've developed precisely one drug that extends life by a few months.

This is Ben, graduated from my high school a year behind me, graduated Notre Dame and became a teacher -- diagnosed with ALS in 2007.

View attachment 9340

Still hanging on today beyond the odds for his wife and two kids.

Has it jumped the shark and become a fad? Yes. But it's for a great, needed cause. Accept the challenge, pass it on to three friends, and donate. So what if your Facebook is cluttered up with 75% ice bucket challenge videos for one month this year? Once it passes you can go back to all those huffpost articles and cat videos your friends are sharing and your life can return to normal.
Click to expand...

Where's all this money coming from? I see nothing but people COMPLETING the challenge so they don't have to donate. //sort of sarcasm, I know they are doing both.

I'm going to donate $100 just cause of your post.
 
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