Our society today is so superficial & self-absorbed that people now invent reasons to call attention to themselves to make them feel way more important than they really are, which of course assumes they have any importance at all in this world, and 99.99% of them don’t beyond their own family or circle of friends.  They need this because their self-esteem isn’t necessarily low (though it usually is); it’s mainly because it’s not at the level they want it to be because they simply feel they should be looked upon as being important at all times, regardless of their true worth or contributions to society as a whole.

The latest stupid stunt to call attention yourself, and do so in a manner that makes it appear that you are actually NOT engaging in shameless self-promotion is (usually) called the Ice Bucket Challenge, which just goes to show you how stupid America is, as it always involves ice WATER, not just ice.  It should be called something that includes the words “water” and either “ice” or “cold”.  Simply pouring ice on you isn’t nearly as bad as pouring ice cold water over your head along with the ice.

One of the very few benefits at all that this activity brings to society is that most people, being ignorant of what goes on around them, will ask what ALS is.  Not that they can do much about it.  They will (hopefully) be contributing to the support groups that provide services for those so afflicted, but the funds to pay for research into finding a cure either aren’t enough (my research shows that at least over $100 million a year is going into this every year & there still is no cure — how much money does it really take to do research & what are these labs & groups & doctors who are getting the money charging for their services?), or the research is going slow-to-nowhere, as we are still no closer to finding a cure than we were 75 years ago when Lou Gehrig told us he had his own disease – read on), so dumping ice water on your head won’t help anybody find a cure, but it will temporarily help support groups to earn more donations than normal.

The next problem is that people are challenged to either 1) Donate to ALS (or some other charity — it’s not clear where the leap from the generic charity of your choice became definitely for ALS only), or 2) Dump ice water on yourself, video it & post it online.  So therefore, all these idiots out there dumping ice water on themselves are presumably those who DIDN’T DONATE TO THE CAUSE or DIDN’T DONATE THE SAME AMOUNT AS EVERYONE ELSE WHO DIDN’T DUMP ICE WATER ON THEMSELVES!!  THEY are the ones you’re supposed to be shaming rather than laughing it up with them when they do this in order to get attention to themselves, and if they want attention, it shouldn’t be positive attention and definitely not because they failed to donate or were trying to donate less than others.

I found out what ALS is as a young kid simply because I knew who Lou Gehrig was and why he died — it used to be called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”.  There was also a 70’s Love Boat episode where a passenger was diagnosed with it by Doc even though all he seemingly had onboard were some cold compresses, sedatives and aspirin, and golf fans may be aware that Tom Watson’s longtime caddy, Bruce Edwards, had ALS & died from it at age 49, and baseball fans may know that Catfish Hunter also died from ALS.  How any adult in this age (even non-sports fans) can say they haven’t heard of ALS is not beyond my comprehension — it simply shows how ignorant & self-absorbed our society truly has become.  For you non-sports fans & those of you over the age of 15 who are surely expected to remember this, until 4 years ago, actor/comedian Jerry Lewis ran an annual Labor Day telethon for the MDA for 1966 to 2010, and as part of their public outreach, they also assisted and provided funds for people with one of the other 30+ neurodegenerative & motor-neuron diseases such as ALS.  Here’s a national telecast that focused at least a small part of their show every year to ALS for some 30+ years and there are people who STILL haven’t heard of ALS.  Ignorance in action.

Seeing this farce go onward in social circles is exactly why I don’t participate in the popular social media circles like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and anything else that’s social in nature.  It’s nothing more than a complete waste of time to invent reasons to draw attention to yourself, or whine about how somebody you know has died or is sick, or detail every little minutiae of your pathetic existence to the world, and anybody who would care about another person’s minutiae even if they’re family is beyond me.  Go back to work & also find something constructive to do in your spare time — like charity work.  I mean real charity work, not just dumping ice water on your head and calling it charity work.  Or start a blog complaining about society and why it’s so screwed up.