So unless you live under a rock with no wifi, you’ve heard about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. At the time I’m writing this blog, it’s raised over 100 million dollars in donations for the ALS Association. It’s also brought a TON of haters out of the woodwork.

Look, I get it…haters gonna hate. But all the haters I see are hating for stupid reasons. So here are the High 5 Lame Reasons to Hate on the Ice Bucket Challenge.

5) The Money is Not Going To Research
This is the one that pisses me off the most. An article went viral not long ago claiming that “ALS foundation admits that 73% of donations are not used for research.” They show a pie chart with the breakdown, in percentages, of where donations to the ALSA were spent. The slice of the pie for “research” is only 27%.

Too bad that article is deceptive horse s***. The ALSA didn’t “admit” anything (in fact, they debunked the whole article). Those are the freely published expenses for last year…you know last year? When this Ice Bucket thing hadn’t happened yet and they only had a little over 20 million in donations for the year. In the last month, they’re gotten over 100 million in donations. Do you really think all those pie slices are going to scale up equally? Plus, there’s a little check box on the donation form that says, “I want 100% if my donation to go towards research.”

Basically, articles about fertilizer are less full of crap than this.

4) It’s a Waste of Water
I’ll admit, I had this worry as well. I live in California and we are currently in the middle of a severe drought. The thought of wasting water. does not appeal to me. That’s why I figured out a way to do my challenge while not wasting water. As did many others.

But I live right next to a car wash…and let me tell you, that place has been busy every day this summer. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure washing your car wastes way more water than a single bucket. Also, a clean car is absolutely ZERO help to anyone suffering from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Which leads to today’s seemless TANstore product placement:

Ice Bucket Challenge Wastes Water? by TANcast

3) ALS Researchers are Testing on Animals

I saw a post from Pamela Anderson (whom I consult before making any major decision) saying that she would not be joining in on the Ice Bucket Challenge because the ALS Researchers do tests on animals to try and find treatments or a cure. I had several friends who felt the same way and posted to that effect on social media. I’m not going to name names, but some of these same fools posted pictures of their dinner…and it had meat in it. So they can die for you to get a full belly but not to save thousands of lives? Seems legit.

And for another perspective, I shall now turn the rest of this animal testing entry over to comedian Vicki Wagner

For all of you who said you wouldn’t do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge or donate to it “because of animal testing” I say this- F*** you.
I have Diabetes. If it weren’t for animal testing, I would be dead by now. I was diagnosed with Diabetes 9 years ago…and no there is NO “cure” for diabetes…yes, you can alleviate symptoms by diet…but it is NOT reversible. Once you have it, you have it. If you go back to eating any carbs or sugar, it surges.
If it wasn’t for animal testing 1/2 of the world would probably be wiped out because of bacteria and flu…remember the Spanish Flu – the 1918 influenza epidemic- where 20-100 million people were killed from it?
Or how about smallpox or yellow fever or polio or Asian flu or whooping cough or AIDS?
Guess what? If it wasn’t for vaccines like Penicillin- which were developed by testing on animals- you probably wouldn’t be here right now. Many immunizations and vaccines would not be available.
My girlfriend has asthma- the inhalers were tested on guinea pigs.
A brief list of diseases that test on animals for research?
Alzheimers
Breast Cancer
Lung Cancer.
High Blood Pressure
Heart Disease
Leukaemia
Migraine headaches
Parkinson’s Disease
Cystic Fibrosis and MANY MANY more……
So, before you open your big mouth, look around you at all the people you know and ask yourself if you would miss them in your life or if you would have ever had a chance to know them…..Because without animal testing 1/2 of them wouldn’t be here right now……
Just a thought…..
Do I condone abusing animals? No. But I am not going to stop taking my medication that keeps me alive just because it was created using animal testing research.

2) There Are More Important Diseases Out There
Several people have pointed out that ALS is a fairly rare condition that effects a very low percentage of the population. They then imply…or sometimes flat out state…that we should be spending our money elsewhere.

I hate this argument. It’s used all the time in all different scenarios. If you complain about your food service, people will tell you to shut up because, “There are people who don’t get any food.” No, hypothetical turd blossom, YOU shut up. It is possible to be concerned about more than one thing at a time.

So I can send some money in to try and fight ALS, and also donate some money to cancer research. Seeing as this is the first really big donation surge that this disease has ever had, I don’t think they’re hogging all the charity money. Plus, do you want to be the one to tell someone suffering with ALS that they’ll just have to go on suffering because you’ve got more important things to do?

1) It’s Not Really Raising Awareness
Here’s a gem of a comment…

I think the whole thing is silly. It’s much more about the stunt than it is about ALS at this point.

This thing has been “raising awareness” for the better part of a week, right?

…I still don’t know what ALS is or where I can go to give money to fight it.

#NotHelping

You know what idiot said that? Me.

I have to be honest, a week or so into the Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon, I hadn’t really seen anything except people dumping buckets on their head. The videos didn’t really give any instructions on where to donate and the word was that if you did the bucket thing, then that means you didn’t donate. Plus, there was no real talk of what the disease was. So it seemed like a lose/lose. It wasn’t raising any real awareness or money.

Then I saw this video:

Jump ahead to 2:04 in that video (unless you really want to watch the part where he screws around) and you’ll see what turned me around on this whole thing. Apparently there were videos that were truly raising awareness. I just hadn’t clicked on one yet.

Wow…this blog ended up being a lot less funny and a lot more preachy than I hoped. Well, the bottom line is that even though the Ice Bucket Challenge is a goofy, self-indulgent thing…it’s not a waste…because there are people who could really use some help, and this could really help them.

So good for this thing that has already happened. Aren’t you glad I take a stand on these things weeks after its relevant? You’re welcome!