The Ice Bucket Challenge is a huge success. TIME magazine has reported that the ALS Association has raised more than $50 million in less than a month since the challenge went viral. http://time.com/3159673/als-ice-bucket-challenge-donations/
More power to social media!
A power that we Indians are exercising best as a mindless imitation of the west with nary a thought to whether the Ice Bucket Challenge even has any meaning for us.icebucket
In a country where thousands of women still trudge tens of kilometres every day for a pot full of drinking water – we are wasting bucketsful of water.
In a country where innumerable villages are still to experience the magic of electricity we are wasting valuable energy in cooling water and churning ice simply to dunk it over our heads for no consequence.
In a country which is still battling the dreaded Tuberculosis (TB); its elite (read celebrities) are championing a “technically orphan disease” of a land far away. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2014/08/18/ok-the-ice-bucket-challenge-worked-now-where-will-the-dollars-go/
The killer TB affects 2 to 3 million Indians. We are dunking ourselves for a disease which affects about 30000 Americans. All in a good cause – yes – but at what cost and to what long-lasting effect?
A week later ALS will revert to ASL (age/sex/location).
We are so adept at aping the west mindlessly.
Nobody – neither we nor our revered celebrities – paused to give a thought to the relevance of the act.
How many of us have signed up to donate our eyes after death? It doesn’t even cost anything. The eyes are so useless to us once we are dead? Can we have a round of social challenge espousing this cause?
We are one of the biggest users of social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter etc. We can very well channelize our creativity, our energy and our celebrity endorsements to a cause closer to home in a manner where maximum benefit can be derived with the least wastage of essential resources.
And of course make it as thrilling as a rollercoaster ride!