I'm going to wager a guess that all of my readers are aware of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge which has raised over 30 million dollars as of the writing of this post. Probably unique among charitable 'fads' I have been aware of, the Ice Bucket Challenge has triggered much criticism even from my otherwise quite charitable friends. Hypocritically, I have found myself defending it despite the fact that I have not participated nor donated to the cause myself. Why has the Ice Bucket Challenge prompted such backlash?
Most of the criticism is based on the amount of water wasted by the challenge and the luxury in the western world that speaks of. But waste and implicit luxury is evident in almost all charity events, eg. Running for the Cure (Cancer) involves westerners driving to a particular location (a luxury unavailable to much of the world) and running a marathon (an effort many of the global poor must do just to obtain clean water) while splashing water on themselves to keep cool (wasting water). And yet those do not attract the same criticism.
Run for the Cure supports medical research/treatment like the Ice Bucket Challenge and raises even more money. The particular disease (breast cancer) is much more treatable (80-90% survive at least 5 years) whereas nearly all ALS sufferers die within 5 years. However, ALS only afflicts 4 in every 100,000 people whereas breast cancer affects 20-100 in every 100,000 women (varies by location because of environmental risk factors). Still this means that in developed countries ALS kills more than breast cancer. So clearly it isn't that ALS is a less worthy cause.
I suspect the reason for the backlash for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a combination of two factors: (1) the challenge is clearly just a gimmick and is easy publicity and (2) ALS is a cause with historically little attention paid to it. Most Ice Bucket videos last only 2-3 minutes and the actual experience of the cold-water lasts only 30 or so seconds, whereas marathons require hours of your time. Thus most of the people participating in the challenge aren't nearly as committed to the cause as people running for the cure but as getting just as much or more publicity (and the associated reputation boost) for less actual effort/commitment. So other committed activists feel cheated, they have put in much more effort and time into their causes but are getting much less attention as a reward. This is compounded by the fact that most highly committed activists are committed to other causes that have most sustained attention & support. The big established charities & causes are those supported by most activists (eg. poverty, hunger, water scarcity, cancer, climate change, water/air pollution, recycling, endangered species). They aren't committed to ALS, so they fear the possibility that the Ice Bucket Challenge will divert charitable donations and attention away from the causes they care about, and they may subconsciously resent other people stealing their thunder by being perceived to be more charitable than themselves despite the years of dedication they have given to their causes just for tolerating 30 seconds of cold water being dumped on their head.
So before you criticize the Ice Bucket Challenge ask yourself one question: Would I be this critical if the Ice Bucket Challenge was supporting the cause I care most about? If the answer is 'No' then perhaps you should think twice before writing/sharing that criticism and you might just save yourself from looking like a jealous grouch.
