Ice bucket challenge: Why ‘charity narcissism’ is good

Source: http://goo.gl/0Qu9oa

• “If you’re narcissistic it’s good for starting relationships, it’s good for getting hired, it’s good for getting elected to public office, it’s good for being a reality TV star or for risk taking,”

• “It has these positive short-term qualities. But it also has more negative qualities which are that you’re often more willing to manipulate people or take advantage of others. Your ethics suffer, so it’s very much a mixed bag.”

• ice bucket challenge videos don’t just reaffirm our idea of ourselves as special people who deserve attention. They reaffirm our belief in our society as collaborative, valiant, geared to doing “the right thing”.

• it brings people close to the stars they like because they can do exactly what they’re doing,” she explains. “They’re nominating their friends on Facebook and the stars are nominating their own high-profile friends.

• One journal article even found that song lyrics between 1980 and 2007 have mirrored this trend. “Use of words related to self-focus and anti-social behaviour increased, whereas words related to other-focus, social interactions, and positive emotion decreased,”

Background

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord

• Explicit definition: http://instagram.com/p/r5Bll8wqyj/?modal=true

• It is August 2014 and a new viral craze is sweeping the internet. Thousands of people, from your next door neighbour to A-list celebrities, are standing in their gardens and throwing buckets of ice water over themselves

Background

• There have been in excess of 2.4 million ice bucket-related videos posted on Facebook, and 28 million people have uploaded, commented on or liked ice bucket-related posts.

• From 29 July to 28 August this year ALS received $98.2m - compared with $2.7m donated during the same period last year.

Background

Questions?

• Did you complete the challenge?• Agree or Disagree? Why?