ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

[Adira]

So today I was nominated by a friend of mine to do the #ALSicebucketchallenge. I did it and I have to say, I'm wet.. cold.. and proud of myself. I'm going to donate 10 dollars to ALS. I made this thread to get your comments, opinions, and views on the challenge.

So what do you think of the #ALSicebucketchallenge? Have you done it yourself?

 

[Sidhe]

Well, the challenge has brought in over $15 million in donations, so I'd say it's pretty great.

 

[Diana]

I like it! I think it's a fun, and clever way for the Foundation to get free advertisement and awareness for the cause. It was GENIUS marketing. O_O

I dun wanna douse myself in icewater, though. I'd rather just donate and giggle at all the other people doing it. (OH MISHA COLLINS!) One of my friends has though and did a video, it was amusing. <3

 

[Adira]

Wow really? 15 million, that's a ton!

I have to agree Diana it was GENIUS marketing, it has exploded all over social media!

 

[heliacalRebirth]

My manager at work and my honors chemistry teacher have done the challenge XD I love it

 

[Windsong]

The only issue I see with it is many people, celebrities included, are doing this challenge and nominating people without actually bringing much attention to ALS and instead are just going with the fad because that's what people see.

A friend posted about it on Facebook and said for his challenge no one had to do anything silly, just donate some money to a clean water charity since people were so keen on wasting clean and fresh water for another cause. Needless to say he's been ostracized for it because people imagine he's ignoring the marketing. Which is genius. But rather than do the challenge and pay less (which seems selfish to me), why not just donate more?

 

[Adira]

Windsong, I hear that. People seem to forget why they are doing it. But like Fauna said it has raised 15 million dollars and has raised awareness for the cause.

 

[Windsong]

It's true. Another big issue is the company people are donating is the wrong one. I believe it's a treatment center. Only thing is, ALS doesn't have treatments unless you deal with the symptoms.
If I remembered the details my friend sent me last night I would post them for citation, but I'm currently lacking.

 

[Adira]

That's interesting. I wasn't aware of that one! Thank you for sharing!!

 

[Ochalla]

Not one post on explaining what ALS is, this saddens me. And no, I'm not going to google it. I'll wait for the next charity trend.

 

[Adira]

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

 

[Windsong]

Not sure if sarcastic. Or playing ignorant..

 

[Vay]

The radio just called it "slacktivism" I.E. Activism without putting any effort into it and just jumping on a bandwagon.

The word amuses me.

Still, most of the internet celebrities I've seen do it also donated amounts that shouldn't be laughed at.

 

[Adira]

Interesting choice of a word Vay. But yes most people are just doing it with out donating, it still raises awareness and some people do end up donating which is helpful

 

[Vay]

The danger is that if people hear too much about it in the wrong ways they'll start to feel pressured like they're being bullied out of their money.

Thatwhymypersonaldonationthingissmallandmarelynoticable.

 

[Terpsichore]

The only issue I see with it is many people, celebrities included, are doing this challenge and nominating people without actually bringing much attention to ALS and instead are just going with the fad because that's what people see.

A friend posted about it on Facebook and said for his challenge no one had to do anything silly, just donate some money to a clean water charity since people were so keen on wasting clean and fresh water for another cause. Needless to say he's been ostracized for it because people imagine he's ignoring the marketing. Which is genius. But rather than do the challenge and pay less (which seems selfish to me), why not just donate more?

There are probably plenty of people that know it as the "ALS ice bucket challenge" without having a clue what ALS means. If they don't know, then they won't donate to the charity, but at least they've managed to keep ALS in the title, so that some people will go off and look up what ALS means. It has flaws (as anything can just become a fad, without keeping its original charitable intentions) but it's doing a lot of good work, so it goes both ways. Even if only one in every fifty people donates, that's still one in fifty people MORE than they would have had otherwise.

It's had pretty good coverage on the old-fashioned media forms here in the UK, with regular mentions of it on radio and television, where they often do explain it better than some of the people on YouTube.

As for me, weeeell, yes, I've taken part in it already. We did a group one at work with several people in a row getting ice buckets. It's not so bad!

 

[Alan]

If I had both a means to participate (hey, that stuff costs money I can't exactly afford to throw away) and a means to donate (see: money), I would definitely do it.

Since I have neither at this point, my donation will have to wait until I can get back to working again. Or until I win the lottery. Or both, really, because "can't stop, won't stop" :P

 

[Peter Feels]

Found this rather interesting article about the subject.

 

[Lucia the Light]

Anything that raises awareness and money for a good cause is something I will do. My friend's dad has ALS, and it is not a fun disease to live with. In just over a year, he went from running half-marathons to barely being able to walk. It's crushing for him and his family. Things like cancer don't need awareness, things like this do.

I'd like to know, who knew what ALS was before the Ice Bucket Challenge?

 

[Razilin]

i did. profession-wise, i kind of have to.