So I admit it. I did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I enjoyed watching the videos but to be honest when I was nominated I really wasn’t super excited about doing it. Then, I figured….why not? It’s a brilliant marketing strategy that demonstrates the power a message can happen when it goes viral. It also kind of remind me how germs and disease are spread so easily from one person to the next. That isn’t a slam on the challenge it’s just what came up in my head when thinking about it.
So I did the challenge and decided to do it while holding a cat. Yes…a cat.
Now, in the recent days I have heard people slamming the ice bucket challenge because:
1. They say it wastes water and is a shame when there are droughts.
Do I believe it wastes water and there are droughts? YES! Do I believe the people who are complaining about this (for the most part) are conserving water? NO!
When I was in Afghanistan (deployed as member of u.s. military) we were instructed when shower to:
1. turn on water and wet hair/body
2. turn OFF water and lather up
3. turn on water and rinse off
4. get out
It was a short and quick shower and saved water. The first thing I did when I got back was take a 10 minute hot shower! If the people who are complaining that the ice bucket challenge wastes water and they are not showering in the described method then shut your trap. You are wasting more water in a single shower than I waste with the ice bucket challenge. So what I wasted today in the ice bucket challenge you will repeat 365 days a year. Please spare me your righteous indignation.
Next, I like to urinate off my back patio. This is true and I’ve done it for 20 years. I don’t do it to save water from a toilet flush and only did I realize it did save water while thinking about this ice bucket challenge. No, I don’t do it for water saving reasons. I do it because I am part cave man. I think I am 1/10 Irish, 1/10 native american and 8/10 cave man.
If you are not urinating off your back patio but instead flushing water down the toilet (literally) then spare me your righteous indignation. Between showering and toilet you are wasting more water every day (x 365 days a year) than I will with one ice bucket challenge.
2. They say it takes money from other charities
I actually read a blog where I guy was whining that it takes money from other charities. He stated that in his research 50% of the people who donated money to his charity would have donated to a charity anyway. So his claim was there was a set amount that would be donated each year and by one charity taking in more money it took money from others. That’s the thing about statistics you can spin them however you like. What his research also showed is that 50% of the folks who donated to his charity would NOT have given to charity if not for his marketing message.
So what is the point of this argument anyway that charities should be good at raising money but not TOO GOOD or they will take money from another charity? GIVE ME A BREAK.
3. That people who dump the bucket on their head aren’t donating but just having fun
$80 million dollars has been raised. What was your point again?
Look, take up whatever moral high ground righteous self stroking intellectual cause you want. That’s your perogative. But I’m gonna dump water on my head (less water than you waste in your shower today) and enjoy it.
WATCH RON ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL AT LINK BELOW. He beats a computer with his memory!
History Channel 2 Stan Lee’s Superhumans
