In the last few weeks social media has been bursting at the seams with videos of the ALS ice bucket challenge. People post a video of themselves dumping a bucket of ice and water on themselves and then challenge someone else to do the same in some amount of time. Do the challenge and donate 10 bucks to ALS research, or don't do it and donate 100. I had problems with it from the beginning, before that actually. I don't look down on the people who participate. I get it, it's something fun to do, and there is a positive outcome.
Today I was issued the challenge by someone I know, and I am going to be a party pooper. There aren't going to be any videos, and it am not going to tell how much money I did or did not give, either the 10, the 100, or anything else. Here's why.
1. For starters, starting with reasons more outside outside of my personal philosophy and beliefs, I don't really like it because there is kind of a blackmail feel to it. Do this and you get it easy. Don't and you have to pay ten times.
2. Also there is a public shaming angle. Do this or you will be tragically uncool. Thank you, but I graduated from high school twenty years ago. I don't need to do anything to fit in. I'm not going to lose my job for participation, or non-participation. I can see there is kind of an obligation to participate in this kind of thing if you are a celebrity, but I'm not on TMZ, and I intend to never be on TMZ. For the rest of this, the ice bucket challenge feels to me like a popularity contest. All the cool kids are doing it. I'm fine being an outsider.
3. I live in a desert. Drinking water is an important resource. It might not be as critically necessary as it might be in other parts of the world, but it isn't going to last forever if some trends continue. With that in mind, this challenge is at least a little irresponsible and/or wasteful. I thought it would be amusing to get a few fake rocks and some sand and say it was the ice bucket challenge, Arizona style. Even ignoring all the other reasons I have for not doing this, I just don't want to wash that out of my hair. That would kind of negate any water savings.
4. What if I want to donate to some other charity. Sure there aren't any hard and fast rules to this thing, and I would be able to donate wherever I want, but this implies you must donate here. I'm contrarian enough to not like this on principle. Sure it is raising "awareness" for ALS, and that could be a good thing. I am the one who decides where my contribution goes. If I decide my money would be better used going to the Autism Science Foundation because it will benefit ore people, then that is where I'm donating, with to without a social media campaign. Someone else might choose the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation because they think it is more realistic to find a cure. It could be for all kinds of reasons. I think peer pressure is a poor reason, but that is reason 2 above. I still want to contribute to the charity of my choice on my own schedule.
5. When I donate, I subscribe to the idea "let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth". Some of that might be my own brand of social awkwardness. I'm not that comfortable when people thank me for what I do. I would much rather do it so no one knows what I do. Mow the old lady's lawn when she isn't there so she is surprised by it when she comes home. That sort of thing. I imagine a lot of it is my upbringing. That religious imperative to do your alms in secret is something I take seriously. It kind of rubs me the wrong way when "charity" becomes a spectator sport. During the most recent presidential elections there was a point when the candidates for President and Vice President released their tax returns, and some groups compared the amounts of charitable contributions. The only thing I remember specifically was that Joe Biden was had the smallest contribution. Some people assigned value to the candidates based on that figure. I'm not a Biden fan, but that rubbed me the wrong way. Those contributions offer a tax incentive to report, but there is no imperative to report apart from wanting the tax benefit. If Biden shares my philosophy, it is possible he donated more than the others, and there wouldn't be any way of knowing.
So for these reasons, I am not participating in the ALS ice bucket challenge. If you choose to participate, go for it. An entertaining video would be a plus.
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