Worried about this...

OK. I've sort of collected my thoughts, and these are some of the reasons that this whole Ice Bucket Challenge gets on my nerves:

The first thing is the peer pressure aspect where people show themselves pouring a bucket of ice water on their heads, then call people out in a semi-public venue and say "you have 24 hours." Isn't the whole point of charity to give of one's free will?

Bill Burr has a podcast, where in part he talks about the ice bucket challenge and how the actual disease takes a backseat to people posting pictures dumping water on themselves to get attention. He talked about how three different people nominated him for the challenge. He said, look, there's a serious water shortage on the West Coast (people are actually being fined $500 for wasting water), and he said that he would just donate the money. Someone actually called him a pr*ck for doing so. Erm, what? Isn't that the whole point, donating money to the cause? As an aside, Pamela Anderson refused the Ice Bucket Challenge because of the animal testing done for research, and there are others that oppose stem cell research. Agree or disagree, they have the right to follow their convictions.

He did also bring up the pink ribbon campaign for breast cancer and that the founder makes almost three-quarters of a million dollars a year. How many of us know how our donations are spent? I had a talk with my mother last night, and she told me about this huge Red Cross drive, where the donations bought them a new phone system. Now, I realize that there are costs to operating a charity, but isn't it a good idea for us to research where our money goes and then make an informed decision? This is also the time of year where we (at least our workplace) is getting inundated with backpack drives, and soon it will be the United Way, and then Thanksgiving food for the homeless, and toys for Christmas. A lot of us are just trying to keep our own lives together, and I don't know about you, but all of these requests, on top of my own obligations, are just overwhelming.

And - this bugs me - and I hope I can say this without the torches and pitchforks brigade coming after me - but I think one of the things that holds appeal to the Ice Bucket Challenge is that the nature of the disease is so phyical and so patently physically obvious in the later stages. It's what most people envision when they hear that someone has a "serious disease". I'm not denying that hasving ALS is a horrible way to live, and I mean no disrespect to anyone who has it, or who has watched someone die from it. But there are 350 MILLION people worldwide that suffer from some sort of mental illness, and the stigma that surrounds it sucks as bad as having the illness(es) themselves. I'm not trying to get into a spitting contest WRT which diseases are worse than others, but I am so tired of people thinking that mental and emotional illnesses are made up, or due to a lack of character, or laziness, or whatever ignorant comments people like to throw at us. Damn it. I have a friend that is 100% disabled due to anxiety, depression, PTSD, and agoraphobia, and he took down his posts on FB because apparently some people didn't think he was sick enough.

What an awesome post. I couldn't agree more.