Ice Bucket Challenge critics are the ones who are actually all wet
This weekend, I braced myself for the cold and criticism of the ALS "Ice Bucket Challenge."
Like others, my good deed (and video, below) did not go unpunished.
I was criticized (good-naturedly by my wife, then by others) for dousing myself with water on my patio instead of my lawn, which has languished this summer during California's drought.
Sure, I should've done it on the grass, but how much water are we really wasting when the return — more than $15 million in three weeks for the ALS Assocation — is so huge?
Nina's complaint isn't even the biggest criticism.
Other people in our bucket brigade have been blasted for "slacktivism" or "narcissism masked as altruism" for accepting the challenge without donating to the cause to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Some are under fire for helping to overshadow other issues, namely questions about police brutality, which are dominating Twitter timelines the way #IceBucketChallenge is all over Facebook.
Meanwhile, the media and celebrities can't get enough. Headlines are dropping as fast as ice buckets in Massachusetts, Tennessee and California.
The New York Times: ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ Has Raised Millions for ALS Association
NBCNews: Cold Cash: Ice Bucket Challenge Has Now Raised $15.6 Million
Videos are becoming funnier and more elaborate, and some news outlets are competing for superlatives while others pen think pieces.
Time: The Difference Between ALS and Ferguson Is That One Ill Can Be Cured
Mashable: Chris Pratt's Ice Bucket Challenge May Be the Best Yet
TMZ: Charlie Sheen Ice Bucket Challenge With a Big Twist
Huffington Post: Lady Gaga Completes The Most Unusual ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Gaga's video was accompanied by these words: "#IceBucketChallenge #ALS #SharePainShowCompassion I nominate Adele, Michael Rapino, Vincent Herbert, and Arthur Fogel #RichPeople" so the participants are bound to keep getting bigger. As are the buckets.
The legend's grown, too. I was challenged Aug. 7, early on, because I live on social media and used to live in Massachusetts, where the activism to combat ALS has taken off since late July in the name of Pete Frates and in the hands of celebrities and others championing him. The ALS Association has heavily promoted the challenge, too. But the buzz about the ice bucket challenge began building two weeks earlier when golfing legends such as Gary Player and Greg Norman got Today's Matt Lauer to donate to a charities of his choice — Hospice of Palm Beach County — and other athletes followed suit.
It was inevitable there would be a backlash to this. Criticism is all over social media, and last week, Slate published: "Take the 'No Ice Bucket' Challenge." Now, though, there's a backlash to the backlash.
Honestly, how can a successful social media campaign that raises $15.6 million for any group in a span of weeks be anything but awesome? Over the same time last year, the ALS Association raised $1.8 million. Now the organization is on a roll, helped by donations big — Sheen's $10,000 — and small — my $20. Even simple sharing of a video boosts awareness of the disease. And the campaign overshadows nothing. People can talk about it and talk about Ferguson at the same time.
When it comes to charities (and video cameos), I have a saying for you.
