Like most of us, I'm really tired of people dumping ice on themselves to raise money for ALS research. Curing diseases is a good thing. Yes. But when your Facebok feed is full of people dumping ice water on themselves, it just gets a little old after a while. Also, I had been in saying that this trend praying on people's addiction to filming selfies and obsessing over social media. It is kind of genius, actually. But I had made up my mind that if I got "challenged," I would just give the money and not make it all about myself with me on my porch being an idiot with some cold water. Also, I'm really cynical, and I can't help but think that with all the insane amounts of money being raised, someone is going to get greedy and pocket some of it. I have seen too many famous charity events that turned out to be later the victims of someone having sticky fingers. So, I decided I'm out if anyone asks me to do this crap.
Then I got asked by a good friend who I play volleyball with all the time. He is a terrific dude. I remember when ladies would ask if I had any single friends, he was just about the only guy I could say was a friend who is single and a decent human being. That being said, he does have a fatal flaw: he is always late. Having 24 hours to complete the challenge, he waited until the last hour possible. He didn't bother to check the framing of the shot, so his head is cut out of it. Also, It was dark outside, and I guess he didn't have the means to light up his back porch enough, so he dumps the water on himself just outside his screen door, getting water all over the carpet. It cracked me up, and it made me love the guy even more.
I think it would have been easy to say no to a lot of friends, but with him I was put in a bind. However, Mrs. Noisewater's parents were coming in town, and I had to hang out with them through out the whole next day while Mrs. Noisewater was at work. They're great people, and I really couldn't see myself saying, okay, you guys hang tight for a moment while I buy some ice to dump some cold water all over myself because someone dared me to do it. Or even worse, "Why don't you guys help me film myself dumping water on myself while you visit your daughter and her idiot boyfriend in Chicago." Believe it or not, I worked out all the details and found a way to get it all done on my own, under the deadline, but ultimately I just decided to give the money away and skip the ice bucket challenge.
How about you, readers? Answer one or a few of these questions:
Have you been challenged, and have you completed it? Or have you even heard of this thing? Do you think social media fundraising challenges will be a trend, given the success of this movement, and what do you think about that?
5 comments:
I think people of losing sight of the cause and doing it for the sake of posting their selfie videos on instagram and twitter etc. but I suppose as long as money is being donated it's okay.
I think the whole thing is brilliant-- and thanks to social media the movement has gone global and with that comes awareness.
I haven't been asked but if I do I would probably do it.
I thought Dave Grohl's ice bucket challenge was the most creative one. Have you seen it? He re-created the famous scene from the movie "Carrie"
But this by far is my favorite-- check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8kjhmIM9JM
I did see a picture of people emptying buckets of water of their heads, but I assumed it was pure tomfoolery without any purpose.
Of course you are right to donate the money without performing the act. It's what George Washington would have done.
I have not been challenged, and with all the shit I've been through in the last year I don't think I need to dump ice water on my head to know how it feels to be suddenly thrust into a world of pain/shock/fear/uncertainty. (Which I've heard is the reason for the ice- to give you a sense of the helplessness/pain/fear of receiving a diagnosis of ALS)
I'm glad it's raising money, but I'm generally anti-ice-bucket. I'd like to see someone ask a few of the bandwagoners "What is ALS?" and see how much "awareness" was really raised. Of course, I'd probably feel totally different if I had any family or friends who were suffering from that particular disease, but for now on I'll stick with the cancers and the heart foundations if I ever have any spare dollars.
I definitely think that the social media aspect of fundraising will be unavoidable from now on. It's already been a "thing" for a while (ie "make your profile picture xyz to show your support for abc") but the ice bucket challenge has really taken it to the next level.
I have been challenged. Didn't do it and I'm not going to. There are enough people doing it that me doing it would be kind of redundant anyway.
I'm so surprised that people have taken a viral charitable movement and exploited it for the purposes of getting attention. Who'd have thought it?
If you're pouring water on yourself without donating money to the charity/creating awareness of the disease/charity there is no point.
This just in: I did the god forsaken challenge. However, there was a cooler of ice ready to go after a hot ass beach volleyball tournament and a bunch of people were doing challenges. Also, I only challenged fictional people. Two people from "Major League" and one from "Boogie Nights."
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