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Strong Contender for Most Annoying and Vacuous Column of the Week
I know, the field is crowded. But this is it, I think. In Time. Some woman named Sarah Miller has figured out why she doesn’t like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and she wants to share:
At any given time, many people on the planet are enduring war and famine and violence. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I say that in the last few weeks the news been especially awful. Around 2,000 Palestinians and 66 Israelis have died in Gaza since that conflict flared up. In our very own country, a police officer shot an unarmed 18-year-old boy, six times. This morning, Sudanese rebels shot down a U.N. helicopter.
She continues:
And here we are in America dumping ice water on our heads, which, I insist, is more than just harmless fun for a good cause. It is disrespectful to the literally millions of people in the world who are, as I type and you read, in actual physical pain.
Is the assumption here — it must be — that as long as there is someone on the planet, somewhere, who is in actual, physical pain, none of us should ever enjoy anything again? Going to be a long life for you, Sarah.
But that’s not the most annoying part, really. The most annoying part is the implicit view that the rest of the world is all alike, awful and violent and third-world, and no one ever does anything in it but suffer.
Yes, Sarah, that’s all that happens beyond American shores: suffering and dying like beasts, from dawn to dusk, from Amritsar to Caracas; it’s all a vale of tears where no one wakes up to the sound of birdsong, heaps up a plate with juicy meatballs, sings, dances, juggles, flirts, puts the finishing touch on the crossword puzzle, scores a goal, fills her lungs with the smell of the frangipani blossoms, gets a letter of admission from the university of his choice, takes the first drag of a cigarette after a long run, buys a new pair of shoes, enjoys a cool glass of water after making love.
Yes, Sarah, the whole world (except dimwitted and insensitive America) is a homogeneous, starving, suffering, violent, humorless horde, and obviously no one who isn’t American could ever be amused by the sight of people dumping buckets of cold water on each others’ heads because other people aren’t really human; they don’t have real, complex lives with a full range of emotions, including joy, boredom, curiosity, tenderness, and — say — horror at the thought of being stricken with ALS and hope that Americans (and it will be Americans, if it’s anyone) find a cure. They just (all) suffer mutely, feeling diminished and insulted by the joy of others.
And they can’t take a joke.
Image Credit: Flickr user Anthony Quintano.
Published in General
And what I’m trying to say is that it is a big deal … for the ALS Association.
+1!
Seems what no one is willing to state is that Michael Brown was a thug. Whether or not he deserved to be shot is a different question, but there is no denying that he was a thug.
No one is willing to state it because it is a pointless statement. Thug is a conveniently vague word. If he was a criminal, he deserved his day in court. If he was not a criminal, then… what?
I don’t know. I will always bet on the fit and trained professional with a gun instead of the unarmed overweight dude. But maybe that’s me.
I am in actual physical pain just having read these posts!
That was in The Interpretation of Internet.
I didn’t notice Walter Neta got there first.
“Betting on” the guy with the gun implies that you think he will use the gun if he’s in danger, doesn’t it?
As far as the ice-bucket challenge goes, I am definitely pro-FAIL with people discovering the laws of gravity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQlvW0aFnKo
Since chemotherapy drugs often cause baldness, friends and family of the patient would shave their heads to help the patient feel less like a freak. This evolved into head-shaving charity events in support of cancer research (a logical progression, I think). My wife recently raised several hundred dollars by shaving her head, then donated her long red hair to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients.
As everyone knows, all Truth is absolutely subjective.
It isn’t pointless. When we first heard of this his mother and relatives/neighbors told us he was an innocent young man about to start college who was shot while minding his own business. Finding out he had just robbed a store of cigars (which would be used to smoke weed) and assaulted the owner (while “unarmed”) changed everything.
and there is actual work being done on finding treatment for ALS.
As to the article in question, notice how after she mentions the suffering in the world she immediately jumps to the “palestinian”/Israeli conflict. Not ISIL, beheadings, Foley etc.
At least she is not completely devoid of fun, she tells us she ate food out of take out containers.
Yes but there are many ways to ‘use’ a gun. You can deter an aggressor instead of shooting.
That’s kind of the point of having a gun, isn’t it ?
So, no need for bullets then…
If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a million times, don’t exaggerate!
I hope they were styrofoam.
Hardly pointless. The portrail is of a clean cut kid who was brutally shot for walking down the middle of the street, when in fact he was a gang thug who had just stron-armed a robbery and was walking with ‘tude. Yes, he deserves his day in court, but let’s not grieve the loss of a hero.
I don’t think that is the implication… but that charity is often like energy, neither created nor destroyed, only transferred from one cause to another. if this fad has created additional charity, that is a good outcome, even if temporary.
That “posturing” increased ALS foundation donations by 3,408% compared to the same period last year. Kinda counts as “actually doing something,” IMO.
As for the other “posture,” those girls still aren’t home. Moochelle has moved on. Sounds more like an im-posture compared to the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Sometimes.
Beautiful skewer and roast!
Misthiocracy: #21 “The ALS Association has received more than double the amount of donations in a two month period than it received in all of 2013.
It ain’t for nothing.
Basically, people who complain about the Ice Bucket Challenge are saying that ALS doesn’t “deserve” these donations.”
Since I am one of the people who thought that dumping a bucket of ice over my head is stupid, I’ll take the hit for that. That the ALS Foundation has made a bucket of money is wonderful. How’s that?
I absolve you of your sin, my child.
And if that’s not penance enough, you could join this order.
As I understand the ALS challenge, you donate $100 or dump a bucket of ice water on your head and only donate $10. So all these people with their ice buckets have a severe case of “Hey, look at me!” and they’re cheap.