Did anyone notice that Yankees players weren’t dumping water on their heads for Lou Gehrig’s disease? I’m sorry, I mean ALS. This is not me attacking the Ice Bucket Challenge. It was actually quite a beautiful thing to see people gathering together to support something. 115 million dollars have been raised with only, ONLY $315,000 going to the president of ALS foundation out of the 1.7 million paid to its members.
Now, I don’t understand how these organizations work well internally but I think if I was running an organization such as this, I’d take, oh, at least $215,000 of what I make and give it to research and funding (more likely I’d work for $50,000 a year). But even this is not the huge bone I have to pick.
Raising money is good but your fad’s suck!
Robin Williams – Good for about a week to discuss Depression and then *blows raspberry*!
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – Short term gain, long term letdown
Joan Rivers – Celebrities are regular people so treat them as such…unless they die, then lose it.
NFL Domestic Abuse – Knocked out
No, your fads do not suck because of what they are, they suck because our society prefers short term over long term constantly. As we’re speeding up as a society we’re absolutely losing any ability to see things completely through. We’re screaming, “I DON’T CARE, I WANT TO GET OFF AND SEND YOU HOME NOW.” Does anyone here actually look into research information when these memes happen or are most of you really so ignorant or star-struck that you bandwagon? Guess what, I didn’t dump ice water on my head, shame on me, right? Wrong. Shame on your for dumping water on your head and feeling good about yourself and never again thinking about ALS and letting these 115 million fall back to it’s 1.9 million. Now take a look at this graph here:
I just want you to look at this graph and think about the money you donated or the water you dumped on your head. Then look at breast cancer research. That’s a ton of money raised so far for breast cancer research. One would think with that amount we could be a hell of a lot closer to finding a cure instead of just treating, right? So what makes you think that at the end of the day this is going to cure ALS? It might, might, get us closer to a cure but if breast cancer is any indication then I seriously doubt that after drug companies and whatnot get their grubby little hands into the process.
Did you know that originally you donated $10 when you dumped water on your head and $100 if you didn’t? Oh, so a majority dumped water on your heads for awareness. Well that’s bloody fantastic! Are you going to do the same thing next year? No. Are all those celebrities, athletes, “normal” folks going to donate the same amount next year? Fuck no. Why? Because we’re looking for short term solutions to long term problems. Also, because if it’s not a fad we’re ignorant or worse, we feign ignorance to make ourselves feel comfortable.
There is nothing wrong with fads. They happen all the time, but I have a problem with fads that are only useful to pat ourselves on the back about and then forget about. Next year, don’t dump water on your head, donate money to ALS or hell, something else! The people that continually donate to whatever cause are the people that we should be applauding, not celebrities and individuals who hit it and quit it, so to speak.
You want to really make a change? Go volunteer, donate more than once in your life, learn about fads before you buy into them and then make a more profound commitment to that. Or better yet, what if everyone found one thing (or a couple) that they could care and be passionate about and take time each year to progress information on it and the other things I’ve said. Can you imagine what could happen?!
For god’s sake, pull your heads out of the asses of celebrities and get some integrity. I see that domestic abuse is already fading into the afterthought of American society. By the way, I didn’t dump water on my head or donate because I feel it would be wrong of me to do such a thing only to flippantly throw it aside. Go find a cause you’re passionate about, not what society or some celebrity tells you to support.
For the Rest of Us... 