Ice Bucket Challenge Rant

[drainbamage]

Basically, the picture sums it up.

I realize most people that are doing the right thing and donating to charity aren't drawing attention to themselves...but why would so many want to publicize their avoidance of donating by posting a video about it?

 

[Grannyknot]

Couldn't agree more.

How about, instead of dumping the bucket of ice water, they buy a case of bottled water & ship it somewhere its needed. Then they can challenge all their celebrity friends to do the same.

 

[Lgaddy44]

I think maybe I'll keep a cup of ice water on hand for the panhandlers standing on the local off ramps.

Do I have some change to give you? No, but I'll make it better by dumping this cup of ice water over my head, before I speed off.

 

[stratslinger]

I think the results speak for themselves. The idea may seem silly, but just this weekend SWMBO read on USA Today (I think it was USA Today) that the ALS Foundation is reporting that it's seen $10 million in donations just since the 29th of July - compared to about $32,000 in the same timeframe last year.

Yes, the concept seems silly, and doesn't necessarily compute as a logical fund raising effort. Yet it IS having an impact.

The real question, however, is are there other charities that may suffer because people donated their money to the ALS Foundation instead of whatever they would have donated to otherwise? I'm sure there are an awful lot of folks who got caught up in the whole thing who simply are brand new to the idea of charitable giving - but how many have though "OK, now I've given my [x amount of] dollars to the ALS Foundation, so I'm tapped out on what I was going to give to the Jimmy Fund, or the local soup kitchen, or whatever"?

EDIT: Whoops - here's an update, with a link, as to the impact - apparently, as of yesterday, it's up to more than $15 million, compared with almost $2 million over the same timeframe last year.

 

[FourSeasonAngler]

I donated an amount of my choice (rather than the $100) and dumped an ice bucket on myself. I thought that was the point and my challenge was presented to me in that way.

I think the folks that are dumping an ice bucket INSTEAD of donating are doing it wrong.

 

[mmb]

I'm one that hates the stupid, viral social media BS, but this one is doing some measurable good.

Ice Bucket Challenge Donations Reach $22.9 Million to The ALS Association

Washington, D.C. (August 19, 2014) — As of Tuesday, August 19, The ALS Association has received $22.9 million in donations compared to $1.9 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 19). These donations have come from existing donors and 453,210 new donors to The Association.

“Our top priority right now is acknowledging all the gifts made by donors to The ALS Association,” said Barbara Newhouse, President and CEO of The ALS Association. “We want to be the best stewards of this incredible influx of support. To do that, we need to be strategic in our decision making as to how the funds will be spent so that when people look back on this event in ten and twenty years, the Ice Bucket Challenge will be seen as a real game-changer for ALS,” she continued.

The ALS Association is committed to communicating with donors and the public about future plans to spend the unprecedented amount of money it has received over the past few weeks.

The ALS Association’s mission includes providing care services to assist people with ALS and their families through a network of chapters working in communities across the nation and a global research program focused on the discovery of treatments and eventually a cure for the disease. In addition, The Association’s public policy efforts empower people to advance public policies in our nation’s Capital that respond to the needs of people with ALS.

As for the skeptical third world kid meme images all over and the chest pounding about drought and water shortages around the globe, if you hadn't planned to send to water overseas, STFU and quit raining* on something that's actually doing some good.

*Yes, intended pun.

 

[Grannyknot]

I don't disagree that this has been crazy effective, & has raised a ton of money for ALS. That is awesome.
I just can't help but feel that there is a better way to do it than wasting water.

For example, how about a kick a celeb in the nuts challenge?
Those videos would certainly be entertaining.

 

[drainbamage]

I think the results speak for themselves. The idea may seem silly, but just this weekend SWMBO read on USA Today (I think it was USA Today) that the ALS Foundation is reporting that it's seen $10 million in donations just since the 29th of July - compared to about $32,000 in the same timeframe last year.

I had heard something along those lines too, which in itself is great.

The real question, however, is are there other charities that may suffer because people donated their money to the ALS Foundation instead of whatever they would have donated to otherwise? I'm sure there are an awful lot of folks who got caught up in the whole thing who simply are brand new to the idea of charitable giving - but how many have though "OK, now I've given my [x amount of] dollars to the ALS Foundation, so I'm tapped out on what I was going to give to the Jimmy Fund, or the local soup kitchen, or whatever"?

Good point. This kind of leads into a broader observation I've had that no matter where/how you donate, someone will still think it could have been better utilized:

If you give abroad, they'll say, "why don't you support the people suffering right in your own city?"
If you give locally, they'll say, "but, people in the 3rd world have it so much worse than we do in the US!"
If you give to the SPCA or other animal-related causes, they'll say, "why do you care about animals more than humans?"
If you give to one of the "big" medical causes, they'll say, "they get all the money, you should support [more obscure disease that gets little publicity]."

It's a Catch-22.

 

[mmb]

I don't disagree that this has been crazy effective, & has raised a ton of money for ALS. That is awesome.
I just can't help but feel that there is a better way to do it than wasting water.

For example, how about a kick a celeb in the nuts challenge?
Those videos would certainly be entertaining.

Define "wasted" while factoring for the regional water cycle and the likelihood of ice water challenge water being exported to any areas in need of that water.

While I commiserate with those facing massive hardship around the world that I couldn't even imaging facing myself, I'm still going to use flushing toilets and water my fertilizer free lawn. Why? Because I understand the difference between regional, national, and global implications.

 

[drainbamage]

For example, how about a kick a celeb in the nuts challenge?
Those videos would certainly be entertaining.

I like it.

And, in the interest of still keeping this somewhat light-hearted, I offer the following:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/just-donate-the-money?s=mobile

 

[Grannyknot]

Define "wasted" while factoring for the regional water cycle and the likelihood of ice water challenge water being exported to any areas in need of that water.

While I commiserate with those facing massive hardship around the world that I couldn't even imaging facing myself, I'm still going to use flushing toilets and water my fertilizer free lawn. Why? Because I understand the difference between regional, national, and global implications.

I'm not advocating that someone ship a bucket of ice water anywhere, stop flushing toilets, stop watering lawns, or even stop chilling their wort. I am advocating that we 1.)educate all these celebrities on what the challenge is, and that the point is to donate money, not just dump water on your head and 2.)possibly next year, think of a slightly different way to raise money where you don't inadvertently slap your own community in the face..... http://www.detroitlions.com/news/ar...hallenge/58df3241-7e7e-4072-9ca3-6f06a47f880a & http://www.npr.org/2014/08/01/33714...-detroit-residents-split-over-water-shut-offs

That is all. Just my opinion.
And just to remain transparent, I did not donate any money to ALS, because I can't afford to. There are several local charities that I frequently donate my time & manual labor to. Sorry if you feel that makes me a hypocrite.

 

[mmb]

There was also massive flooding in the Detroit area last week because of torrential rain. Does the dumping of buckets of water on the ground slap those individuals affected by that in the face as well? As for the water shutoffs, if you don't pay a bill, do you imagine you get to keep receiving whatever you didn't pay for?

I never once called anyone a hypocrite. Saying folks lacked knowledge of application of the water cycle, I'll claim that.

 

[Grannyknot]

Agree to disagree I suppose.
I'm fairly educated on how the water cycle works. Thanks.

 

[DrunkleJon]

My only issue with this trend of donating is that it exploits the habit us 'muricans have nowadays with doing everything in our power to draw attention to anything we do that is 'selfless'. Of course by pointing out how selfless we are, we just make a status symbol out of the charity that we do. Whatever happened to doing a good deed just for the sake of doing a good deed? now you have stuff like the RAK's on the Chive (which is great, but stop advertising that you did it), and this kind of thing.

The recipients of charity oftentimes are embarassed or have their pride wounded by the charity. Just as proud as you may be of doing the right thing, having to accept charity can be a serious kick in the ego. I am all for advertising charities, etc, but think they would be stories best presented by the recipients/3rd parties.

But then again it works. Guilt your friends/family into donating, make it a status symbol or whatever.

Of course (and I am not talking about the ALS Association, as I have not looked into them) but when you donate to a charitable organization, pay attention to where the money goes. Some are for profit businesses in their own right and the barest percentage goes to the acutal causes they are promoting.

All in all, be a good person, help out when you can, but be humble. At least that is my opinion, and you know what they say about those.

 

[stratslinger]

Well, to try to bring this thing back on topic: here's where I do see a bit of hypocrisy - right in the very article I linked to earlier!

The author starts off with exactly the information I was looking to share - since the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral, the ALS Foundation has seen a near 8 fold increase in donations over the same time frame last year. And since we're talking in the millions of dollars here, that's really not insignificant.

But then, the author spends the remainder of the article poo-pooing the challenge as slactivism, basically positing that most or even all of the people performing the challenge are dumping the ice on themselves, then not donating anything at all, and moving on with their lives, feeling they've done their parts. While I'm sure there's some people who have done exactly this, there's that sum of $13 million + that's been raised in a roughly 20 day timeframe (if my math is correct) that certainly suggests that it's not all of them, and not even most.

I just don't get how the author of that article expects his readers to connect the dots here - hooray, the challenge has raised a ton of money! Boo, the challengers are slackers and not donating! What??? Does not compute.

 

[Schecter]

The challenge as an activity could be considered "stupid", but I think most people do miss the point. The act of dumping cold water isn't difficult, and in the end, does nothing to help cure ALS...

...but it spread awareness and became a trend faster than ANYTHING I have ever seen.

This challenge isn't restricted by age; toddlers to grandparents can participate.

It is social media friendly and you're able to "call out" your closest friends, adding a "fun" aspect.

If you haven't, please check the funds raised so far through this challenge. I believe it is currently around $10M.

My uncle passed away this February from ALS and it is a very scary, crippling disease. I think of him every single day.

 

[Schecter]

And here he is...my Uncle Kevin and my Aunt Tina.
http://www.wggb.com/2012/03/05/sox-fan-fighting-a-l-s-proposes-to-girlfriend-at-sox-game/

 

[solbes]

Yeah, I know someone very young who found out 6 months ago he has the disease. It already has some very obvious effects. Very nasty disease indeed.

I see no negatives at all with the campaign they are doing. In fact, I bet just about every charity out there has thought about the impact this thing has had, and how something different yet similar might work for them. I'm sure we'll see different iterations of these "challenges" in the not so distant future.

As to the wasting water thing, I have to look at myself with watering my lawn and using an immersion chiller during brewing. Both use quite a bit of water. This challenge is fairly unlrelated to lack of potable fresh water in 3rd world countries. Important and yet different subject all together IMHO.

 

[mmb]

If you haven't, please check the funds raised so far through this challenge. I believe it is currently around $10M.

$22M as of this morning compared to $1.9 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 19).

 

[Homercidal]

I'm still trying to figure out how promoting a charity is a bad thing...

So what if it seems people are dumping buckets of ice water on themselves and not paying. Obviously a lot of people ARE giving, and most likely many more are giving, just through the exposure of the gimmick, than are actually dumping water on themselves! Some people don't want to get cold water on them, but still want to give some money. They are invisible, but very likely a major portion of the millions of dollars raised.

The nice thing about charity, as opposed to taxes, is that you have direct choice in who gets your money. If the Ice Bucket Challenge is offensive in any way, anyone can opt to send their money to any other charity, or even volunteer to help somewhere in their community. It's so much more effective than bitching about other people's charity habits.

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

Someone always manages to find negative in a truly positive endeavor.

The ALS has reached 33+ million dollars, and as of last week it was at 11 million. It had reached 30 million last year entirely. Those statistics are mind blowing.

If celebrities do it, and donate nothing (which you're naive if you believe to be the case), their promotion is still generating far reaching ripple effects of getting regular every day people to donate. Which impact is more important? The cheap celeb that gets their 100 biggest fans to donate a $100 and spread the challenge or Charlie Sheen that donates $10,000 on his own? The right answer is neither.

I haven't done the challenge, and don't plan to, but I'm not out finding fault with anyone that's interested in moving it forward.

A side note about ALS, which I admit fully I am completely ignorant about, is in the same state of treatment and care that it was 100 years ago. That is truly sad after understanding that it takes a perfectly normal healthy human and turns them into a vegetable over 2-5 years leading to their death.

Of course (and I am not talking about the ALS Association, as I have not looked into them) but when you donate to a charitable organization, pay attention to where the money goes. Some are for profit businesses in their own right and the barest percentage goes to the acutal causes they are promoting.

Valid point.

Totals from the latest 10 years of available federal tax filings
http://www.tampabay.com/americas-worst-charities/

 

[GrogNerd]

think it goes this way: if you are challenged, you donate $100 OR dump the ice water on yourself and donate only $10

or, don't do squat, if you're a cheap bastard who doesn't want to take an ice bath, like me.

the whole thing is slightly annoying, but it's not a bad thing to get a bunch of people involved with something they normally wouldn't have.

(not to go all political, but I'd rather see more stuff like this with voluntary charity, rather than coerced by the government)

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

... is in the same state of treatment and care that it was 100 years ago. That is truly sad after understanding that it takes a perfectly normal healthy human and turns them into a vegetable over 2-5 years leading to their death.

This is what I find infuriating. The 1800's through the mid 1900's saw more advances in vaccine developement for numerouse diseases taht plagued the human race and with little technology or understanding of the biology of viral and bacterial infection. And yet, today, with all the pharmecuetical giants multi-billion dollar laboratories we have yet to find a cure for modern ailments such as HIV, ALS, Alheimers, etc...

What the hell happened?

 

[mcangeli]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_t..._an_ice_bucket_to_donate_to_als_research.html

I'm just going to leave this here...

 

[mcangeli]

This is what I find infuriating. The 1800's through the mid 1900's saw more advances in vaccine developement for numerouse diseases taht plagued the human race and with little technology or understanding of the biology of viral and bacterial infection. And yet, today, with all the pharmecuetical giants multi-billion dollar laboratories we have yet to find a cure for modern ailments such as HIV, ALS, Alheimers, etc...

What the hell happened?

Government regulation and oversight.

 

[duffy5018]

I thinks this is funny considering how many people on here use immersion chillers and most aren't recirculating or collecting it for future use...

Just me $.02

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

Government regulation and oversight?

Not to drag this into politics, but this is not the source. Government is not preventing pharama companies from developing cures and research. Profits are preventing them from developing cures/researches. There's a reason they turn record profits year after year yet haven't turned out any major break through. I will concede that the FDA is a failed organization that doesn't help this process, but look at the pharma lobbyist funds and you can see the sources of the problem.

Look at the Ebola virus drug that has just been waved through the FDA process to get rushed into development for possibly saving the two American's lives in Atlanta. They've had the virus for like 2 weeks and are still alive which the virus has killed people much faster than that once showing symptoms.

Greed has hamstrung development.

 

[Hello]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_t..._an_ice_bucket_to_donate_to_als_research.html

I'm just going to leave this here...

Well of course you don't need to but clearly it somehow helped.

Here's my take on it which has nothing to do with wasting water. I waste gallons of water a week cleaning kegs, carboys, and kettles. I would be a massive hypocrite to ***** about the wastefulness of this "challenge".

First and foremost, it's not a challenge to sit there in the dead of summer and dump ice cold water on your head. The "challenge" itself initially, as I understood it, was either or. You dump water on your head or you donate $100 to ALS. My assumption is that there were more buckets of water and donations than there were just buckets of water, which is awesome. Either way, initially the challenge was "do this to get out of doing that", correct me if I am wrong.

The whole thing was indeed successful. Whether anyone wants to admit it or 100 internet memes about wasting water and little children going without pop up, the challenge is massively benefitting ALS. I applaud anyone who can come up with a way to somehow bring people together for a good cause. How everyone feels the need to post their selflessness on social media has gotten a bit annoying but I think that was part of the "challenge". I can point to a number of people who did it and wrote "ALS Bucket Challenge Accepted and Completed AND money donated." Well good for them! I just don't know why selflessness needs constant advertisement.

 

[drainbamage]

(I tried to post this once but my dumb phone ate it)

Don't take me wrong, I don't want anything to think I'm poo-pooing helping charity. It's great the results that have come from this. Just some observations:

*Videos that barely mention ALS. I've seen a few that basically consist of "hey, I'm doing the Ice Bucket Challenge, and I challenge X, Y, and Z." I was talking to a woman at work yesterday that had watched a bunch of videos, and never caught the ALS aspect until someone else explained it to her.
*I like the alternate rules where even the people that do the bucket still give $10 or something anyway. That way people don't get some Internet attention while passing the buck and letting someone else front the money.
*Hopefully if this sticks around long enough, somehow the focus can be shifted to other equally-worthy causes, so they can also see some time in the spotlight and get some love (before everyone burns out and stops donating).

 

[Homercidal]

A side note about ALS, which I admit fully I am completely ignorant about, is in the same state of treatment and care that it was 100 years ago. That is truly sad after understanding that it takes a perfectly normal healthy human and turns them into a vegetable over 2-5 years leading to their death.

I'm not sure this is entirely true. I have a friend with a form of ALS. he is one of the minority who hasn't seen the disease progress rapidly. He takes several prescriptions (Some of which may be due to related, or unrelated problem or symptoms).

I'm 100% certain that there are modern medicines that didn't exist more than a few years ago.

I'm not saying that ALS gets the attention that MS gets (Thank you, Jerry Lewis!), but there is some advancement in the fields, and a quick search shows many sites claiming an increased understanding of the disease and newer treatments to prolong life and lifestyle.

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

Good. I hope I'm 100% wrong in that area, or even .1% wrong for that matter.

 

[headbanger]

but why would so many want to publicize their avoidance of donating by posting a video about it?

Because they are too stupid to realize that they are stupid.

 

[hunter_le five]

First and foremost, it's not a challenge to sit there in the dead of summer and dump ice cold water on your head. The "challenge" itself initially, as I understood it, was either or. You dump water on your head or you donate $100 to ALS.

For whatever its worth, I made the mistake of opening up my facebook page this morning, and my newsfeed was littered with people I went to high school and college with doing the "challenge". Because of this thread, I decided to actually watch them and see what they were saying.

All but one of them said something to the effect of "I was challenged to either donate to ALS, or dump ice water on my head. Here is a video of me dumping ice on my head. I challenge persons X,Y, & Z to either donate or dump ice on their heads."

Literally only one of the videos I saw (out of about a dozen) mentioned "dump ice water on you head AND donate."

Just donate some f***ing money. If you want to make a big show of it and draw attention to yourself by dumping water on your head and posting it on youtube (or in their terms "raising awareness"), great I guess. It just comes across to me that these people are jumping on a fad, and not really being sincere. If you are sincere, donate SOMETHING, even if it's just a couple bucks.

I don't mind anything that brings attention to a good cause AND results in funds being raised for the cause, which this stunt has clearly done. But the "either/or" aspect that so many are propagating is irksome to me.

 

[boydster]

That's weird. Being proud enough about NOT donating to a worthy cause that you decide to post a video about it seems strange to me. Dumping ice water over your head on a hot summer day in the video doesn't lessen the strangeness.

I'm glad the campaign is working, but concerned that people could be so vain as to take pride in posting a youtube video of themselves getting water dumped on their heads because they refused to make a donation, almost as if it were a good thing that they were doing by not giving.

At least the charity is raising money, and a substantial amount at that. They found a way to appeal to the masses.

 

[drainbamage]

At this point, I think we can safely say the videos have reached full saturation/exposure/whatever, and anyone with access to Internet or TV has a vague understanding of what is going on. If you're already planning on donating, there's no reason to wait for a public call-out on Facebook. Just go ahead and do what you've gotta do.

 

[hunter_le five]

Oh god. One of my employees came in bragging this afternoon about how she and her husband did the IBC last night. Super proud of herself, and made sure that everyone in the office saw the video. I mean, unreasonably proud, considering how little effort it took and how many thousands of identical videos are floating around the intertoobz right now.

Anyway, whilst trying to *not* sound like a dick (which is hard for me to do sometimes), I pretended to be oblivious to the concept and asked how much money she raised by dumping ice on her head.

"Oh no, we didn't donate anything. But we are helping 'raise awareness' for this great cause."
The only thing I've been made aware of is what a tool you are....

 

[BreezyBrew]

I still think Charlie Sheen's video is the greatest I've seen yet.

 

[Grannyknot]

Next year, I hope its a KFC bucket challenge.

 

[GrogNerd]

Next year, I hope its a KFC bucket challenge.

done that one. many times.

Original. All White.

 

[steveoatley]

KFC Bucket Challenge

1. Buy Bucket of Fried Chicken
2. Find Homeless/Hungry street person
3. Dump bucket of chicken on the ground in front of that person
4. Stomp all over the chicken while shouting
"Lets stomp out hunger !"

There you have accomplished the "Bucket Challenge"

You have wasted something in order to make others more aware ......