The ice bucket challenge is weak.

[alkemyst]

The name Lou Gehrig's disease is not right, since I'm sure there was at least one person before him that had the disease.

At the time they didn't have a name for it. Now it is ALS, which has been mentioned ad nausem in the thread.

ALS is the disease in case you didn't have a clue, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

 

[alkemyst]

I'm not saying it's bad, I'm glad it's raising awareness for a disease that we cannot cure yet. But the people I've seen do it (about 10 on FB) either didn't mention ALS and/or they didn't donate (I asked two this morning). So it seems like it's something a lot of people are doing to "be cool". Get a hobby.

 

[shortylickens]

Charlie Sheen just dumped a bucket of cash on himself, and donated it straight to the cause.

Cuz he isnt as annoying as some other celebs.

 

[alkemyst]

Charlie Sheen just dumped a bucket of cash on himself, and donated it straight to the cause.

Cuz he isnt as annoying as some other celebs.

Charlie Sheen is epic!

 

[BoberFett]

Ignoring the fact that, Gates at least specifically, donate amazing amounts of money to charity, there are also about 400 diseases on the list that also could use funding.

That's one thing I don't understand. Why do certain diseases get "rockstar status"?

There are many types of cancer, but only breast cancer has an entire industry built around it.

This ALS fund raiser is getting a lot of press right now, is this just fashionable charity?

 

[alkemyst]

That's one thing I don't understand. Why do certain diseases get "rockstar status"?

There are many types of cancer, but only breast cancer has an entire industry built around it.

This ALS fund raiser is getting a lot of press right now, is this just fashionable charity?

Most people simply don't care unless they are affected. For years, ALS hasn't been getting much money and now they are getting record donations.

Fashionable or not, who cares if it's for a good cause?

My mother just was diagnosed with LMS (LeioMyoSarcoma) and sadly it's one of the rarest cancers with not a ton of research out there. Fortunately, one of the few specialists in the country is based out of S. Florida (they just recently moved from Texas).

It would be very hard to build a campaign for donations for that disease as so few people would even understand what it is.

 

[BoberFett]

My niece has Joubert Syndrome, a disease that has an incidence rate of roughly 1 in 100K. ALS is 2 in 100K.

One of them is fashionable, the other is not. It all seems to be about marketing. That's my only point.

 

[alkemyst]

My niece has Joubert Syndrome, a disease that has an incidence rate of roughly 1 in 100K. ALS is 2 in 100K.

One of them is fashionable, the other is not. It all seems to be about marketing. That's my only point.

Well until recently ALS wasn't fashionable.

 

[Red Storm]

My niece has Joubert Syndrome, a disease that has an incidence rate of roughly 1 in 100K. ALS is 2 in 100K.

One of them is fashionable, the other is not. It all seems to be about marketing. That's my only point.

It seems to be about making an effort to promote awareness versus... not doing that. There is nothing wrong with marketing/promoting awareness of a disease.

 

[smackababy]

My niece has Joubert Syndrome, a disease that has an incidence rate of roughly 1 in 100K. ALS is 2 in 100K.

One of them is fashionable, the other is not. It all seems to be about marketing. That's my only point.

Contact sports are seen to be one of the causes, so it hits home to athletes. Also, marketing is a huge part of getting donations. I've read studies that donation organizations that spend money on marketing, while a lesser percent of each donation goes to the actual thing they are advertising (some goes to advertising, obviously), the total they are able to get in donations far eclipses the total for organizations with little to no marketing budget.


Also, (I don't know a lot about it) it looks like Joubert Syndrome is from genetic mutation. ALS is and isn't. Plus, ALS isn't diagnosed in infancy. In fact, exact diagnosis is hard and usually based on symptoms. They pretty much have to test for and rule out every other disease with similar symptoms.

Take into account that and that there are a ton of diseases lacking in funding, and one has to be favored over the other. It could simply be because someone with some marketing power knew someone with it and spread the word on their own accord.

 

[shortylickens]

That's one thing I don't understand. Why do certain diseases get "rockstar status"?

There are many types of cancer, but only breast cancer has an entire industry built around it.

This ALS fund raiser is getting a lot of press right now, is this just fashionable charity?

If I had to guess, somebody famous recently died of ALS, and their name was forgotten in all the hoopla of making it a fad.

 

[Capt Caveman]

My niece has Joubert Syndrome, a disease that has an incidence rate of roughly 1 in 100K. ALS is 2 in 100K.

One of them is fashionable, the other is not. It all seems to be about marketing. That's my only point.

The family of Peter Frates(29 year old that has ALS) wanted to do something to generate ALS awareness and created the Ice Bucket Challenge. Due to social media, fun factor, etc, it has spread and become popular.

 

[ultimatebob]

My niece has Joubert Syndrome, a disease that has an incidence rate of roughly 1 in 100K. ALS is 2 in 100K.

One of them is fashionable, the other is not. It all seems to be about marketing. That's my only point.

I guess that you need to start the next fad. Maybe you can get all of the celebs to put a 9 volt battery to their tongues and film that

The Ultimatebob 9 Volt Challenge for J.S.... I like the sound of that!

 

[Wyndru]

Well, at least this is safer than diving off a building into a pool :-O

 

[alkemyst]

Sad part is some are saying those fire challenge videos were for the NACCP or whatever.

People are screwed up.

This ALS challenge started totally grassroots. I don't know why people are so against it to, esp the whole water waste thing.

Go talk to the people that own mansions up and down the coast that use millions of gallons to irrigate and rinse the salt from their homes if you want to fight that fight.

 

[BoberFett]

I guess that you need to start the next fad. Maybe you can get all of the celebs to put a 9 volt battery to their tongues and film that

The Ultimatebob 9 Volt Challenge for J.S.... I like the sound of that!

I guess I'll have to do that.

9V is weak though.

 

[Kaido]

Charlie Sheen just dumped a bucket of cash on himself, and donated it straight to the cause.

Cuz he isnt as annoying as some other celebs.

Just saw that. Awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qat9gR5nrpM

 

[Kaido]

http://i.imgur.com/tcv0cWT.jpg

 

[Printer Bandit]

 

[norseamd]

Done the Polar Bear Swim.

 

[alkemyst]

Done the Polar Bear Swim.

For ALS?

 

[norseamd]

For ALS?

No.

 

[alkemyst]

No.

for what then? (this would have been the proper response in this thread).

 

[norseamd]

for what then? (this would have been the proper response in this thread).

Sorry about that.

It was for no cause but the Polar Bear Swim.

 

[ultimatebob]

I guess I'll have to do that.

9V is weak though.

So is a bucket of ice... but if it was actually dangerous, you couldn't get sissies like Oprah or Ryan Seacrest to do it