Can dumping a bucket full of iced water on heads raise awareness about ALS?

Can dumping a bucket full of iced water on heads raise awareness about the ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)?

Introduction

The recently popularized activity of pouring the bucket filled with ice cold water as a challenge against donating towards the ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) has taken the world into a new vision of charity and donations. The ice-bucket challenge had originated in United States with the social media spreading its virtues like a virus round the world. This challenge has certain conditions as to either accept the challenge for pouring the bucket filled with ice and water or donate to the ALS association. Now, this type of an activity though has gained popularity, yet it is being equally criticized by many. Can dumping a bucket full of iced water on heads raise awareness about the ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)?

Yes

- The disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was hardly recognised and understood by any. But today a lot of people have got into the research of this disease.

- The number of donations to this trust is itself an example of the awareness of this medical condition.

- As termed by the Wikipedia “ During the challenge, hits to Wikipedia's article on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis grew from an average of 8,000 hits a day to a peak of over 430,000 views on a single day (August 21st).

- The social media has done its job very well in spreading the awareness of this disease.

- As quoted in the newsletter “The New York Times”, people have used the facebook and twitter media a lot between June and August in propagating the Ice-bucket challenge and thus the ALS. It is calculated to be more than 1.2 million videos on Facebook and more than 2.2 million blogs mentioning this activity on twitter.

No

- The activity is more of a fun and a show-off, rather than the generous cause of charity for the foundation of ALS patients.

- The challenge is mainly revolving around the public figures viz. politicians, celebrities, athletes etc. who have made the challenge a medium to portray their power and re-establish their glory with the masses.

- Any genuine person concerned towards the ALS patients could generously donate just by hearing to the condition of the patients, instead of making this a big buzz and business.

- The social media has made this ice-bucket challenge a way to increase their programme rating and developing their own business, rather than spreading awareness regarding the disease.

- The challenge is going viral worldwide, and we are more concerned towards saving water. Is it of any worth wasting buckets of ice and water for no concrete utility? Instead this could have been done by way of simple awareness campaigns regarding the disease.

Conclusion

The Ice-Bucket Challenge is definitely a new way of generating charity, but is not all that practical. Though many people try to know regarding this disease, still very few among them get ahead and go towards the noble cause of donating. It is good for the social media to develop their channels and website’s popularity, simultaneously creating awareness. Though we cannot expect funds from every other person trying to know the disease condition, but yes, this programme has definitely spread awareness regarding ALS amongst the masses.