Slate Writer Gets Schooled on ALS "Ice Bucket" Challenge

[caraher]

3. Turns out there are other gripes about the ice bucket challenge

Thanks to a RW Catholic FB friend, I've learned there are folks objecting to donations to the ALS Association because they fund stem cell research! She posted a video of a priest telling why he wouldn't donate to them before challenging a bunch of other clerics, calling for donations to some Catholic group that does ALS work (apparently without supporting stem cell research), and dumping water on himself. The idiot suggests that somehow the research leads to abortions, which is just plain stupid - what woman is having an abortion for the purpose of providing fetal tissue for medical research?

I also read a piece by a philosopher that was more of a general argument against campaigns that focus on any one cause (the gist was that a big effect is not to increase by much total charitable giving but to redirect what individuals offer, so that if ALS raises an extra $3 million it likely costs other charities $1.5 million in donations they otherwise may have received). I don't find this terribly compelling, even though in general I'm sympathetic to the argument that "feel-good" giving doesn't match resources to causes in a way that logically leads to the greatest social benefit.