I have long been toying with the idea of starting a blog of my own. But I am one of those people who likes consistency and I lack that, so what was the point in starting something without following up on it.
But the recent trend of the ALS ice bucket challenge really irked me and motivated me to write about it.
there have several spoofs already about the whole bucket challenge and they are really hilarious, but lets not go into the sanity or lack there of in those challenges.
I have read some articles which indicate a spike in the donations received toward the ALS research, which means that the whole propaganda makes sense, also the general awareness has gone up significantly which too is a very positive sign. But this raises more questions than answers some of them will raise and try to put some logic in the madness.
1) Why the ice bucket challenge?
The whole idea of the ice bucket although appealing and fun is in now way close to what the ALS patient goes through I will recommend some action that will give the person taking up the challenge of suffering from ALS at least for a brief time.
I once heard about the experiences of a place in Hamburg where you have the opportunity of feeling like a blind person for 30-45 minutes and this experience indeed opens your mind to the woes of being blind and I think something in that direction will lead to more sympathy towards the patience.
2) Why ALS and not any other disease
The awareness although good for the disease, the choice of the ALS disease is weird as only 1 or 2 in 100000 are likely to suffer from this disease which is quite a low percentage. There are many more diseases that have more likelihood and are even worse. Secondly, ALS can affect all people but the occurrence is seen more in the European Belt, and the North American region, which in itself are sparsely populated and have the resources to deal with the disease on their own. There are diseases like AIDS (lot of research is taking place there) and Tuberculosis has a higher occurrence, greater mortality and has a very specific spread in the African continent and other 3rd world countries so are easier to target. But lets face it, TB, polio and other such diseases are poor man's diseases and as such have no economic viability and who wants to research there, so who will care about them.
3) Why ALS (or for that matter any rich man disease) needs funding?
The pharmaceutical companies have an amazing business model, they are the companies which have the highest mark up on their drugs and have the most number of patents and IPS's in the industry. Also because of the patents there is relatively less competition in the field.Any investment in the R&D of pharma companies has a typical payback period of 3.5 years and has a ten fold return, before any tax considerations, so on top of it because of the clever tactics their profits increase many times. So you have to ask is there any more need for motivation for research?
There are many other competing fields which have a less favorable areas for research where these fields are competing with lobbyists from other cash rich sectors or have a much greater impact on humanity in general. Say, research in the field of renewable energy, ecological studies, studies in ornithology, marine life and so on.
Don't get me wrong I am in no way reveling in other people's pain, and at the same time all my sympathy goes to the people suffering from this disease but honestly people use your heads and then decide if what you are doing is really what you want or you are being manipulated by the capitalist media, and you are just a part of the band wagon.
The lack of clear individual thinking is the plight of the generation of the social media. Logical thinking is a must and we must instill a scientific outlook,question and critique the actions before we join the band wagon. I think this kind of outlook will also allow us to use our resources in a better way. After all water is a limited resource.. :p
But the recent trend of the ALS ice bucket challenge really irked me and motivated me to write about it.
there have several spoofs already about the whole bucket challenge and they are really hilarious, but lets not go into the sanity or lack there of in those challenges.
I have read some articles which indicate a spike in the donations received toward the ALS research, which means that the whole propaganda makes sense, also the general awareness has gone up significantly which too is a very positive sign. But this raises more questions than answers some of them will raise and try to put some logic in the madness.
1) Why the ice bucket challenge?
The whole idea of the ice bucket although appealing and fun is in now way close to what the ALS patient goes through I will recommend some action that will give the person taking up the challenge of suffering from ALS at least for a brief time.
I once heard about the experiences of a place in Hamburg where you have the opportunity of feeling like a blind person for 30-45 minutes and this experience indeed opens your mind to the woes of being blind and I think something in that direction will lead to more sympathy towards the patience.
2) Why ALS and not any other disease
The awareness although good for the disease, the choice of the ALS disease is weird as only 1 or 2 in 100000 are likely to suffer from this disease which is quite a low percentage. There are many more diseases that have more likelihood and are even worse. Secondly, ALS can affect all people but the occurrence is seen more in the European Belt, and the North American region, which in itself are sparsely populated and have the resources to deal with the disease on their own. There are diseases like AIDS (lot of research is taking place there) and Tuberculosis has a higher occurrence, greater mortality and has a very specific spread in the African continent and other 3rd world countries so are easier to target. But lets face it, TB, polio and other such diseases are poor man's diseases and as such have no economic viability and who wants to research there, so who will care about them.
3) Why ALS (or for that matter any rich man disease) needs funding?
The pharmaceutical companies have an amazing business model, they are the companies which have the highest mark up on their drugs and have the most number of patents and IPS's in the industry. Also because of the patents there is relatively less competition in the field.Any investment in the R&D of pharma companies has a typical payback period of 3.5 years and has a ten fold return, before any tax considerations, so on top of it because of the clever tactics their profits increase many times. So you have to ask is there any more need for motivation for research?
There are many other competing fields which have a less favorable areas for research where these fields are competing with lobbyists from other cash rich sectors or have a much greater impact on humanity in general. Say, research in the field of renewable energy, ecological studies, studies in ornithology, marine life and so on.
Don't get me wrong I am in no way reveling in other people's pain, and at the same time all my sympathy goes to the people suffering from this disease but honestly people use your heads and then decide if what you are doing is really what you want or you are being manipulated by the capitalist media, and you are just a part of the band wagon.
The lack of clear individual thinking is the plight of the generation of the social media. Logical thinking is a must and we must instill a scientific outlook,question and critique the actions before we join the band wagon. I think this kind of outlook will also allow us to use our resources in a better way. After all water is a limited resource.. :p
