Opinion Cool factor

Take a bucket of ice, have it poured on you and as you go into shock from the cold, make sure someone’s filming. Then tag your friends to do the same. Everyone’s doing it these days, former presidents, film stars, writers, teenagers, ardent spirits. Douse and donate is all the rage on social media. Originally meant to raise awareness on and funds for ALS, a motor neuron disease, the ice bucket challenge has seen several mutations. Matt Damon poured toilet water on his head to demonstrate the lack of clean water in the developing world. In water-scarce South Asia, it has become the rice bucket challenge, a slightly cringemaking ritual where a “poor person” is identified and handed a bucket of rice.

Suddenly, charity is hip and quirky, not just the virtuous mission of a few do-gooders or the stuff of fundraising dinners. Especially charity for ALS, which is said to affect two out of every 1,00,000 people. But why suddenly ALS, some might argue, why not Huntington’s disease or lupus or multiple sclerosis, all tragically debilitating illnesses? It has raised the suspicion that the valiant ice bucketeers are motivated by reasons other than charity. That they are, in fact, narcissists of the digital age, latching on to the disease du jour. The echo chambers of social media can amplify an issue until it becomes the only talking point in that self-contained world. It also gives the bold and the exhibitionist a chance to parade themselves.

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All true. But why not ALS and why not through a gimmick that has given a little-known disease more visibility and brought solace to those who have to see their loved ones suffer from it? Those looking for charity that springs from pure goodness of heart, untrammelled by ego or vanity, can keep looking. If the world’s burden of distress can be eased by self-absorbed poseurs performing tricks in front of a camera then so be it.