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So not clicking a video on your facebook is tiring and like dodging people on the road ????
Trying to weed through all the videos to get to the information I'm actually looking for is quite tiring. I don't get one or two a day. I've seen as many as 8 (possibly more) posted in one hour. So when I'm scrolling through a day's worth of posts, yeah, it's a pain in the a**.
Many people had never heard of ALS until the past week or two, so I wouldn't call this crazy challenge a bad thing.
And many of them still don't know what it is. They just dumped a bucket of water on their head. As I mentioned early in the thread, I asked someone who did the challenge (and subsequently did not donate) if they knew what ALS is, and she said that it's the disease that makes you shake like Michael J. Fox.
I know it seems cranky to complain about something that is raising money and awareness for a terrible disease, BUT it seems a lot of people are just enjoying an excuse to post video of themselves on Facebook and missing the entire point. Are the people doing the challenge even donating money? Have they actually done any research into understanding the disease? It seems a lot of people are only into helping others for the "glory" they get of later posting about how much they helped. Hey, cash is cash I suppose, but I think a true good deed is spending time with someone with this disease or volunteering at a hospital or even just taking a few minutes to do some research on it. Lots of people donate money to charity and they don't tell anyone else the details. ALS is a truly hideous disease - I don't really understand how dumping ice water over your head is supposed to relate to ALS - a few seconds of discomfort is no comparison. Kind of like the fad of posting make up free selfies in support of cancer. Like that is AT ALL the same.
All that being said, I reserve the right to be cranky about the way this is moving across the country, for many of the contrarian reasons others have listed.
- It's similar to those foreboding emails you get that tell you if you don't forward this, some child will die, or you will have bad luck, or you won't get good luck.
- It's false pride -- people believe if they participate THEY are altruistic and anyone who says no is automatically NOT altruistic. Bull. As others have said, you don't know my situation, my finances, my charity work, my health concerns or my absolute dread at the thought of ice cold water on my head. Migraines anyone? Other injuries that I've had would be exacerbated; not to mention if someone did that to me it would be the end of a friendship.
- It's bullying: If you don't do this, we will shame you and film you turning it down and post that on YouTube; and then we will extort $100 from you in front of other people so you will feel you have to donate. Again, glad ALS got that money. I already donated this year. Not interested in being goaded into it again.
- While I'm happy about the money raised, it marginalizes and diminishes the seriousness of this horrible disease. "Oh ALS? You mean the ice bucket disease? Oh yeah. Bummer. I'd hate to feel like I had ice thrown at me all the time."
- This is just a fad. I hope ALS is smart enough to not spend all $31 million this year. They may not make more than their average $2 million in annual donations ever again.
its charity and awareness, and I think it fits perfect in todays technical age of seeing your friends do something silly , yet meaningful
I never knew what als was before all the ice bucket challenges, now I do and I have contributed because of it..
my god,,, if you don't want to participate then don't, but its for a good cause and awareness..
when other charities see how successful this is, they will come up with their own gimmick....
no one is being bullied.... I think we are just too cynical, because of the participation and success of this thing
ive seen many old friends and classmates do this,,,and it is comical
What he said. To which I would add, if you don't want to be involved in this just bow out gracefully by saying a simple, "I'm not interested in participating. I have my own charitable causes." That's it. I think some of the people who are getting all hot and bothered about this tend to be a little too wrapped in their Facebook status.
I've seen some videos of famous people doing this that were quite amusing and I know some of them (or perhaps the companies they work for) wrote pretty big checks to ASL. Among them Bill Gates, nominated by Mark Zuckerberg, and the Foo Fighters, who recreated the prom scene from the movie Carrie to carry out their dunking. Someone must have been sending money. NBC reported that as of August 18, the ALS Association said via a written statement they have received donations in the amount of $15.6 million. Compare that to their donations from July 29 through August 18, 2013, when $1.8 million was raised. What they were most happy about was that while many donations came from their existing donor population, 307,598 donations were from people who had never given to that organization previously.
Charity Navigator, the well respected charity evaluator, had mixed feelings about the gimmick as a fund-raising tactic. You can read them in the link below. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge : Charity Navigator
One thing they do not dispute is that the ALS Association is a worthy, honest charity. In fact, it receives four stars, CN's highest rating. That's mainly because it earned close to perfect marks for accountability and transparency and spends 72.4% of the funds it takes in on programs and services delivered, a high percentage for a national charity. Charity Navigator Rating - The ALS Association
So, lighten up, people. This thing may be silly, but it's raised some significant money that may bring some assistance to the people who suffer from this terrible disease.
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