I challenge you to pour a bucket of ice over your head

[UrbanMasque]

Which Harlem Shake?

This one (the original)......................................................................... or ........................................................................ That one (the knock off)

 

[WickedLiquid]

What I want to know is. Without googling it how many people actually know what ALS stands for? You would figure with the all this awareness people would be able to name it without any trouble at all.

Page 2, no answer. I rest my case.

 

[Master_Craig]

I've seen this "ice bucket challenge" thing everywhere on Facebook as well as YouTube. To be honest, it was kinda funny and even entertaining to see certain celebrities throw ice cold water all over themselves, but in saying that it does feel like a bit of a fad.

I'm a bit embarrassed to say but honestly I'm pretty ignorant about this. I had no idea what "ALS" was, so I went to Wikipedia to find out. If anyone's interested, here's a link to the ALS Association on Wikipedia and here's a link to what they represent, research and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. I'm happy to know a little more about it.

I really enjoyed the Foo Fighter's video on it, it was entertaining, well made and they actually provided information at the end of it of what it's for and where/how to donate. I've seen some celebrities just shout they're doing the ice bucket challenge and then they do it. Lady Gaga for example did a horrible version, where she said nothing, poured ice water on herself and that was it. No information, no nothing.

Some celebrities (such as the Foo Fighters) I personally think are "doing it right" so to speak, while some celebrities (such as Lady Gaga) are just being wankers about it, doing it purely for publicity. I hope they're at least donating to the charity and not just making a video of it.

Steve-O from Jackass out of all people made a pretty good point about this, saying that a lot of celebrities are doing this ice bucket challenge for publicity and that they not only have little knowledge about ALS, the charity or the purpose of the ice bucket challenge, but they don't provide much or any information at all about the whole thing, again what the challenge is for, what ALS is, how/where to donate etc. Steve-O makes sense, because if celebrities actually explained the cause and such, then I for one wouldn't have had to go to Wikipedia to find out what this whole thing is... or is that what they're trying to get people to do, actively look into it? Somehow I don't think so, but I could be wrong.

I read in the news the other day that people are calling this kind of behaviour "Slacktivism", which basically is a thing developed through social media. Slacktivisim is basically the act of sharing stuff on social media, whether it's images or videos, and thinking that whatever it is you're sharing is actually helping to the cause, when in reality it's not really doing anything at all.

For example (and a little off topic) I donate regularly to the Australian Cancer Council. I'd like to think I'm helping and I am to a degree but really it's not that much, I just give them what I realistically can. Meanwhile, I see people I know on Facebook posting pictures all "Are you brave enough to post this? Share this image if you know a cancer survivor" or whatever. Their intentions are good yes, but really it's not doing anything. I just hope that they're donating and not spamming pictures thinking it's helping.

These celebrities doing the ice bucket challenge need to talk about it a bit more. They need to explain why they're doing the challenge, what it's for, how they're helping (e.g. how much they plan to donate) and how viewers and fans can help and donate too.

I'm just glad the challenge is making some money.

 

[Green_Lantern]

What I want to know is. Without googling it how many people actually know what ALS stands for? You would figure with the all this awareness people would be able to name it without any trouble at all.

Page 2, no answer. I rest my case.

I didn't read your comment earlier, but amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

 

[intoTheRain]

The whole "ice bucket OR donate" thing is a little overblown by the haters. ALSA has received over $12m in donations by 200k new donors in the past few months. Should that number be 50 times larger based on the high-profile celebrities and businesspeople that have done the videos? Absolutely. It seems like lots of people have done it purely for their ego. Whenever a video gets posted without a link to the charity or a personal donation, it's disappointing.

But it's still better than nothing.

This.

It has raised a ton if money. And honestly the blame should not be placed on the people. Just the way it is promoted. Most people probably don't even realize the point of it. It's raised a ton of money already, if more emphasis were placed on the actual goal I'm sure that would be quadrupled or more. But ultimately it has raised a lot of money that wouldn't have been raised without it. And for that reason no fucks are given and it's a good thing in my books. And aside from the money it's created a lot of laughs between friends, and people viewing the videos. Which is also a good thing.

So the ice bucket challenge gets my two thumbs up. Bitching about it is productive in absolutely no way.

Ok now back to reality. The ice bucket challenge is a narcissistic publicity stunt performed mostly by people who are donating because they have been forced to. It has less to do with ALS and more to do with this stupid challenge, as the dollars donated have proven.

The donation was explained perfectly when it began but because a few celebrities don't know how to read it has become a game of broken telephone and is now just a big annoyance that has caused a bunch of bandwagon jumpers.

Nothing bad came out of the ice bucket challenge. Only good. You are negative about absolutely everything, I don't think I've seen a post where you aren't being a jerk toward someone or something. So that would explain your negative opinion on the Ice Bucket Challenge.

As for what ALS stands for, no, I didn't know. I could have Google'd it and pretended I did. But what I do know is that ALS is Lou Gehrig's disease, which no doubt is what the majority of the population knows it by. I also know how detrimental it is, and what the symptoms are.

What I want to know is. Without googling it how many people actually know what ALS stands for? You would figure with the all this awareness people would be able to name it without any trouble at all.

Page 2, no answer. I rest my case.

Lethean answered it on the first page, BTW.


Edit:

 

[WickedLiquid]

Edits don't count.

Bam?



The point was if you knew what ALS stands for chances are you didn't learn it from watching an ice bucket challenge. And considering this is meant to spread awareness it should have.

 

[Master_Craig]

The point was if you knew what ALS stands for chances are you didn't learn it from watching an ice bucket challenge. And considering this is meant to spread awareness it should have.

I guess I sort of did. Sort of.

Like I said before, I was embarrassingly ignorant about it and had no idea what "ALS" was. The ice bucket challenge videos told me it was for "ALS" but again, I didn't know what ALS was. I ended up having to look it up on Wikipedia.

If these celebrities are going to participate in the social media ice bucket challenge, they should at least give a bit more information about it. What ALS is, what it stands for and what it represents, where and how to donate if you want to help and maybe try and encourage viewers/fans and others (friends and family) to participate donate to the cause.

 

[WickedLiquid]

I looked up that Steve-O video and what he says is basically the point I'm getting at.
http://www.craveonline.com/lifestyle/te ... -challenge


I apologize for the crave online link, lol.

“TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO GOT MAD AT ME FOR THIS VIDEO: Since the ice bucket challenge began, over 15 million dollars has been raised for ALS research. I think that’s great, but when you consider the countless A-list celebrities who have actively gotten behind this cause by posting videos– the fact that not more than fifteen million dollars has been raised is a tragedy.

“It’s tragic because I don’t think many of those celebrities even bothered to mention how or where to donate money for ALS research. Most of them just poured water over their heads and named three random people, without including any “call to actionâ€

 

[Master_Craig]

I shoulda linked it, sorry. I watched it on my phone this morning while having breakfast.

 

[used44]

“It’s tragic because I don’t think many of those celebrities even bothered to mention how or where to donate money for ALS research."

This is a good point, and basically the point I was making, but I still think the money that has been raised, even if it wasn't the most efficient or effective method, is still more money and awareness than the nothing that would have been raised without this dumb thing.

 

[Master_Craig]

That's the one thing I'm grateful for the most regarding this ice bucket challenge, that money has been raised. It hasn't been all for nothing.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

They need to do an ice bucket challenge where they bring buckets of ice water to California.

DROUGHT!

 

[Wes]

Nothing bad came out of the ice bucket challenge. Only good. You are negative about absolutely everything, I don't think I've seen a post where you aren't being a jerk toward someone or something. So that would explain your negative opinion on the Ice Bucket Challenge.

As for what ALS stands for, no, I didn't know. I could have Google'd it and pretended I did. But what I do know is that ALS is Lou Gehrig's disease, which no doubt is what the majority of the population knows it by. I also know how detrimental it is, and what the symptoms are.

First of all, take this.

I'm only negative against things that are retarded. Calling out three random names and dumping ice over your head is not spreading awareness, all it proves is you have arms and can use them to do something silly.

 

[WickedLiquid]

They need to do an ice bucket challenge where they bring buckets of ice water to California.

DROUGHT!

Come to Canada eh, how aboot a 2 hour shower?

 

[Green_Lantern]

Nothing bad came out of the ice bucket challenge. Only good. You are negative about absolutely everything, I don't think I've seen a post where you aren't being a jerk toward someone or something. So that would explain your negative opinion on the Ice Bucket Challenge.

As for what ALS stands for, no, I didn't know. I could have Google'd it and pretended I did. But what I do know is that ALS is Lou Gehrig's disease, which no doubt is what the majority of the population knows it by. I also know how detrimental it is, and what the symptoms are.

First of all, take this.

I'm only negative against things that are retarded. Calling out three random names and dumping ice over your head is not spreading awareness, all it proves is you have arms and can use them to do something silly.

But this challenge that you are so quick to dismiss has shown actuall tangible/monetary benefits to ALS research, so I'm not really sure why people are so against it.

 

[C_nate]

Because for every person who is doing it raise awareness, you have a bunch who have no idea why they are doing it and are just doing it because it is something they heard about, like the cinnamon challenge.

Like the Seve-O quote (jesus, steve-o is the voice of reason now?) these people should be stating why they are doing what they are doing and where people can go to help the cause.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

Urbz, honestly both have contributed little to the embiggening of the human race. But I was referring to the latter

 

[WickedLiquid]

embiggening

What a perfectly cromulent word.

 

[Green_Lantern]

Man, Longo is breeding quite the group of cynical assholes around here.

 

[Wes]

I think it might have to do with the fact that lifting a bucket and pouring it on your head is really only a challenge if you don't have use of your arms.

It just kinda taps into the dumbing down of society ... people are feeling accomplished because they did something practically everyone can do. And really, it's not even that interesting to watch. Oh look, you were dry, now you're wet and shivering. Woo?

Maybe it does have more to do with my extreme issues with 'awareness campaigns'. Great, people have been FORCED to become aware of an issue that they should have already known about if they weren't too damn full of themselves to learn things that affect other people. It's a false sense of awareness. You become more aware of an issue when it is something you care about.

I guess, though, I should be more happy that people are being forced to become aware of their surroundings and the plights that others have to deal with in life.

The donations are good, don't get me wrong ... but the concept and execution by idiot celebrities is what bothers me.