Many people participating in last summer’s ALS ice bucket challenge are guilty of slacktivism.
“A slacktivist is someone who believes it is more important to be seen to help than to actually help,” wrote Scott Gilmore in Maclean’s magazine.
It’s harmful because it allows individuals to skip the process of questioning whether their actions are effective in doing the most good.
Canadians should give to causes that comparatively save the most people. This will translate into our charitable efforts being better spent.
There is often a discrepancy between the number of people who died from disease and the fundraising associated with it.
ALS Canada reported that two or three people die in Canada of the disease each day.
Meanwhile, Ebola has ravaged certain parts of West Africa.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that the 2014 Ebola outbreak has already killed 7,842 people, and has infected 20,081 as of Jan. 5.
It is passed from person to person through bodily fluids, infected medical equipment, and infected bats and primates. Its spread can be interrupted by isolating patients and protective gear.
Where is the ice bucket challenge for Ebola?
The Canadian government has pledged $110 million to combat the disease, so where is the army of social media warriors?
Do we pick causes that are more fashionable than useful? Does social media create a false impression of effective community action? Were we giving to ALS because it was cool to do so?
When social media and activism mix, the result may be in people committing to causes because they’re popular. Slacktivism distracts people from more important causes.
The world is connected in a way that has not been seen before.
The health policy of any Western nation, including Canada can’t afford to ignore other parts of the world, because it affects our own health security.
While Canada has contributed to the Ebola cause why are we not contributing more to malaria, heart disease, or AIDS in the Third World?
Self interest can be damaging if we don’t calculate the costs of failed human health security.
If a disease like Ebola broke out in the Philippines, China, or India, Canada would face a bigger threat. We don’t receive many people from Sierra Leone, Guinea, or Liberia, but it is imperative that we contribute to the international effort.
The costs of the lack of human health security in Africa are adding up, and while the threat seems small now it could become greater.
Canadians truly set on helping the Ebola outbreak will find organizations that donate rubber gloves, chemical spray, and other medical necessities that are in shortage in the West African countries affected by the virus.
While the ALS ice bucket challenge was not a waste of effort, many Canadians are too quick to support a cause because it is trendy.
If the results of that effort did not achieve tangible results, it may have taken away funds that would have gone to other causes.
The ALS ice bucket challenge was a form of slacktivism because it made people contribute to an effort that was popular.
Contributing to a cause because it is popular does not provide a long-term plan to continue the effort, and it distracts people from more important causes.
