Now, call me a cynic, but does anybody else feel as annoyed at this 'challenge' (because having cold water thrown on you is so challenging... I have honestly never been so challenged in my life... challenged not to remove half of Facebook and destroy the internet) as I do? It just seems to be making a game of charity, as though a ￡3 'donation' (I'll explain the apostrophe later) is simply the cost of participating in self-congratulatory attention-seeking, as well as the opportunity to 'nominate' somebody for this frivolous task. 'Nominate'. What a ludicrous phrase. You're not nominating anybody for anything. You are pointing at someone and telling them that they must give money to charity, the amount they give being dependant on whether they are willing to stick a video of themselves being just as narcissistic as you. That is neither nominating nor donating. You are threatening social stigma and, when you give, you are paying, not donating, to avoid that stigma yourself.

And let's not forget about the amount you must pay. So you are told to give ￡10, but only ￡3 if you throw water on yourself (fantastic in places like California, where there is an on-going drought). What everybody who is posting videos of themselves getting iced up is basically doing, is telling their entire social circle that they would rather be seen in video being smug than give ￡7 to charity. Okay, maybe that's not why they do it. Maybe they just think it is a bit of fun. So... they would rather have a bit of fun than donate ￡7 to charity. You know what? I don't have a problem with that. People can do what they like with their money. Which brings me back to nominating. What makes people think that it is acceptable to coerce somebody into spending their money? Oh but it is for a good cause? Then don't waste water and just donate the full amount!

I am sick of seeing all of these stupid videos on Facebook. My fault for still going on social networking rubbish. I think that this ice bucket challenge has raised awareness of a fundamental fact - Facebook is clearly full of morons, and I need to go on a cull.

Right - that last part was absolutely terrifying, I shall start off by saying.

Secondly, I don't think there's anything wrong with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. ALS is a debilitating disease, does it particularly matter how people are brought do donate, so long as they do. It may be I slugging their narcissism, but at the end of the dat, the motivstions for doing it are irrelevant if the total money raised leads to progress on methods of treating the disease. There are several people on my Facebook feed whose relatives have died from ALS - I'm sure, to them, it doesn't matter their friends reasons so long as they donate the money. There's no narcissism there.

Also, I would point out, opposing the ALS challenge is a fairly typical line, almost as generic as supporting it. Sometimes when there's a craze, evolution has driven us to have a particular group oppose a behaviour to test its rigor. In that framework, you are hardly a revolutionary worthy of "culling" people.

I agree with the OP. It's stupid and all it does is showcase self serving [censored] bags. Honestly, I'm sick of seeing all of these "special interest" groups and charities.

well supposedly the how the whole ice water thing plays into the ALS is that it is meant to simulate the symptoms of the disease for a few moments. issue is that people use water that isn't nearly as cold enough, the point was to get the water cold enough that it puts your body into a brief shock when doused.

but i agree, the act of people posting videos of themselves doing something in the name of a charity in hopes of getting attention is ultra douchery. mainly because dumping kind of cold water over your self doesn't do jack to help do any thing about the disease, and you can't use the "spreading awareness" excuse because the whole reason why every one is doing it is because its reached public awareness to the point where it had become a fad.

secondly, donating to charities seems like a good thing in thought, but increasingly over the years a lot of charities have become very vile. look up that one briast cancer charity, can't remember the name, read some really disgusting crap about how that charity spends very little on research and development, and a large percent on sueing other charitable organizations for using the words "the cure" as part of their slogans or campaign.

if you actually care about helping people, then actually get up and go out and help those people personally. giving money or "spreading awareness" isn't helping anything but your own ego.

It's stupid but it's been affective in raising money for Motor-Neuron Disease, so that's never a bad thing.

It's spreading like wildfire on my Facebook feed so I'm hoping no one nominates me...