This morning as I lay in bed, avoiding rising for the day, I opened my Facebook to see news of the world. My feed was filled with friends and celebrities taking the "ice bucket challenge." For the unaware, the ice bucket challenge is a viral sensation designed to raise awareness (and money) for research into ALS, a.k.a., Lou Gehrig's disease. Friends challenge each other to donate to the cause or else dump a bucket of ice water over their heads and record it. Or maybe it's that they challenge them to donate to the cause and dump a bucket of ice water over their heads. I'm not entirely clear on this point.
I'll admit: I find the thing a little silly. Not the idea of raising money to fund research to prevent what is, undoubtedly, a horrible disease (although I'll get to that in a bit). It's more the bandwagon mentality that bugs me.
And so, I posted this as my Facebook status: "I can't find anyone with Lou Gehrig's disease to dump ice on."
A couple of my Facebook friends took umbrage with this, and I thought I'd address that for a couple of reasons. One has to do with the whole idea of social media moral indignation. The other has to do with the issue at hand.
1. Let me begin by saying that I do not question the motives of any of my friends who have participated in the ice bucket challenge. I think most of you do it from a good place. Even Charlie Sheen, who is something of a role model for me, has joined in, and I would never question his motives. The ALS Association says that donations are up over a 1000%, so it's doing some good. It does raise the question about why no one was donating last year. Many undoubtedly are trying to help. Then again, if you do your good works to be seen by men, I say verily, you have your reward.
2. One friend commented that she hoped I was joking. Um . . . yes? I wasn't actually up at 7:00 in morning looking for ALS sufferers to douse with cold water.
3. The joke was actually about the ice bucket challenge, not ALS. That seems pretty clear to me, but I suppose it's worth noting. In fact, the joke (which I've found only gets funnier the more you have to explain it) is about someone who doesn't understand the point of it all but wants to jump on the trend.
4. I was told the joke was "in poor taste." Perhaps. But you are speaking to someone who told a dick joke at his own father's funeral, so appeals to taste will largely fall on deaf ears.
5. Likewise, should you be one of those social media lurkers who has never liked a photo of my child, never sent well wishes on a birthday, or never engaged me in discussion on the myriad topics about which I obsessively post, I'm probably not gonna give a shit that your moral sensibilities were offended by my mild jest.
6. I don't know anything about the ALS Association. They're probably great -- I haven't looked into it. But controversies surrounding the Komen Foundation and our own local Dirty Girl Mud Run should teach us to use caution before throwing our full support behind any charitable work. Too often the money raised goes disproportionately toward salaries and administrative costs with only a small fraction benefiting the intended recipients.
7. Does anyone besides me have a problem with the whole "celebrity disease" phenomenon? I was listening to a podcast of This American Life last year that featured a mother whose child was struck with a very rare and fatal disease. She noted that her best hope for a cure was that some celebrity might be diagnosed with it. It struck me as amazingly cynical and also spot-on. And let's be honest here: Lou Gehrig's Disease was the very first celebrity disease. I mean, it got full-on Hollywood treatment in Pride of the Yankees in 1942, which still runs regularly on Turner Classic Movies.
8. Which brings be to the issue of funding medical research. "How can you be against fundraising for medical research?" Because I don't think we should be having bake sales for something so essential. (This is identical to my feelings on fundraising in arts education, by the way.) In my opinion, there should be tax-funded medical research that is not determined by the popularity of a disease.
9. Lastly, I'm not sure how adding levity to the issue hurts the cause. Michael J. Fox frequently jokes about his tremors from Parkinson's, but no one imagines that Parkinson's isn't a serious issue. The Onion even had a go at the ice bucket challenge. And it would seem that the ice bucket challenge itself is done to have fun in the name of something that absolutely isn't. I suppose I don't buy into the idea that people are actually offended or hurt by that sort of mild jest. Closer to the point, I think others just enjoy being scolds.
I have no time for that sort of thing.
For that matter, please: don't let me stop you from dumping ice water over yourself on camera. It looks fun. If it helps someone else, all the better. But you don't need permission from me -- or from any celebrity for that matter. Life is too short and we should look for joy wherever we can find it.
