Day: February 6, 2015

The ice bucket challenge has taken social media by storm. Everywhere you look there will be a video of someone pouring water containing ice cubes over themselves, then nominating their friends to do the same thing, all of this is to supposedly raise awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or as it is more commonly known ALS. The idea is that once you have done the challenge you donate a small figure to support the ALS fund. But is it really making a difference? The article ‘Who’s Pouring Cold Water On the Idea?’ by Steve Rose highlights key areas that show that the ice bucket challenge has totally lost its original and intended meaning. I mean whenever I want to raise awareness for a illness such as ALS I always pour a bucket of water over my head… I mean who doesn’t?

Many famous people such as Bill Gates, Eminem and various others have taken part in raising awareness. Bill Gates designed a contraption that made the ice bucket challenge much more technical. I highly doubt he created the plans himself, he probably hired a team to do it for him. Then he had to get people to film and assemble the design. All of this would have cost probably thousands. Instead of putting on this public show could he not have just donated all the money to the cause?  Rose tells us that in India a more practical approach was taken by a Hyderabad journalist who created the ‘Rice bucket Challenge’, which asked participants simply to ‘give a bucket of rice to someone who needs it’.

This is a better alternative to the ice bucket challenge as you can see where your donation is going, when you donate to the ALS fund you don’t see where the money goes. I mean It could go into the pocket of some fat Mafia boss who is currently living in a mansion just off the coast of Sicily using the money to invest in illegal drug trafficking schemes.

My favourite of all the videos that I have seen was that of the whacky Steve-o, who has starred in the Jackass movies and TV show, in his video  he completes the challenge and then faces the camera and says ‘I’m all about good causes but did this raise any awareness at all?’ this makes me believe that the ice bucket challenge has now become more of a social trend and has lost its original meaning. I do agree with Steve Rose when he says the ice bucket challenge has quite clearly lost the meaning and goal that it originally intended.

Rose calls out celebrities as using this as a way to get media attention, in the article it is described as a ‘wasteful PR exercises’ which makes them look like they care about the cause even though some of them probably cant even spell ALS. Katie Hopkins is one of the most hated celebrities around, however she has had a publicity boost because she has conducted the challenge. I definitely doubt that a woman that calls fat people ‘lazy’ and ‘benefit sponges’ would care about such a cause. I do agree with him when he says this because many unpopular celebrities have gained public favour because they have come across as caring for the cause.

When the ice bucket challenge first appeared many people did not know what ALS was and were eager to donate and have some fun at the same time, which is great and all but when it takes pouring a bucket of water over your head to raise awareness about such a disease which effects millions and has also been around longer than the challenge has it makes you wonder if the challenge had not existed then all this support and money donated would simply not even exist, I just find it sad how in order for people to hear about such a terrible disease it needs to be through a internet fad.

Another point is that many people who do the Ice bucket challenge do not even bother to donate after they have done it! The whole point of the challenge is to raise awareness and then donate a small sum of money to show your support to the ALS foundation, however many people seem to just do the challenge and not donate at all, this is completely missing the point of the whole challenge. The ice bucket challenge is now more of a social event rather than a charity event that will help fund ALS research, from when the idea first hit the internet to now it has lost its meaning and the original premise which was to raise money for the ALS fund.

In the article it states that California is currently experiencing a water drought ‘California is currently experiencing one of the worst droughts on record. Taps have dried up, lakes and reservoirs are emptying, water wastage is being fined’. As California is experiencing this it comes across as being very naive under the current circumstances, even if pouring water over your head is meant to bring awareness towards a horrible disease it does seem very in sensitive considering the shortage California is going through. Why waste water when there are people suffering from water shortages?

Rose also expresses that celebrities such as Pamela Anderson and Grimes have not taken part because of the ‘ALS’ association with animal testing’. By conducting the challenge you are indirectly supporting medicines that may be harmful to be tested on innocent animals. I’m pretty sure that most people would not want chemicals injected in them or their offspring so why is it okay for an innocent animal to be tested on?

Can you imagine your son or daughter is on there last deployment to a war zone, they leave and promise you they will return. However they do not return. They went missing along with 4999 other men. What would you feel like? You would want the truth right? So does it alarm you that this event did actually occur in the year 108AD. This was the case with the Roman Ninth Legion.

The Roman 9th Legion was Rome’s best fighting force, think of the 9th legion as today’s Marines, they were always the first in and always the last to go. They survived many campaigns in Gaul and Spain and Africa. They were famous for winning many battles and were the spearhead of any Roman that was going to take place.

In 43 AD the ninth took part in the invasion of Britain led by Emperor Claudius and General Aulus Plautius. Around 50 AD, the legion constructed a fort, Lindum Colonia at Lincoln. Under the Command of Caesius Nasica they put down the first revolt of Venutius between 52 and 57 AD. The Legion did however suffer a major defeat under the command of Quintus Petillius Cerialis during the rebellion of Boudicca, the ninth was later reinforced by legionaries from the Germanic Provinces. Around 71 AD they constructed a new fortress at todays York (Eboracum).

The last testified location of the Legion in Britain was the rebuilding of the fort in York in 108 AD. Its movements after that are unknown and have sparked many theories as to how 500 men simply disappeared. The last recorded action the ninth took part in was to push north further into Scotland and quell the rebellious Picts and various other tribes in the North of England. The Legion were last seen matching north towards Scotland. This gives many people the impression that the ninth was attacked and killed in an attack from the tribes in the north, but how does the most elite fighting unit in the world get attacked and killed by a bunch of paint covered rebels?.

However, names of several high ranking officers that served with the  legion during the Britain campaign are also known to have served with the legion after its alleged disappearance in 108 AD, suggesting that the legion continued to exist after 108 AD. It has been suggested that the legion was completely wiped out during the Bar Kochba revolt in the Ludaea province but there is no firm evidence to confirm this.

Further evidence of a major war in Britain under the rule of emperor Hadrian can be supported by a tombstone in Northumberland. Here the man commemorated, Titus Annius, a centurion to the Roman Ninth Legion has been killed in war. Further a field in Italy a tombstone commemorating a soldier who had also served in the  Legion has also been found. This supports the theory that the  Legion was decimated in Britain and was then transferred to another province where it fought in various rebellions and was later disbanded.

Two passages in particular from ancient literature seem to shed some light on the Ninth Legions tragic fate. Evidence found in these show that the Roman army took substantial troop losses in Britain is supplied by the Roman historian Marcus Cornelius Fronto, writing in 160 AD he addressed emperor Marcus Aurelius by reminding him of past disasters: “Indeed, when your grandfather Hadrian held imperial power, what great numbers of soldiers were killed by the Jews, what great numbers by the Britons’. Marcus’s warning loosely suggests that Roman lives were lost in Britain. Does this point towards the destruction of the Legion?

There is a strong possibility that the Legion did suffer incredibly losses at the hands of the tribes in the north but was later recalled to Rome and were then killed in the heat of battle by the Parthian’s. It is also possible that after the major defeat the in Britain led to the legion being disbanded and the records of the defeat removed from Roman history, this way the legion would never have existed and Rome’s dignity would still be intact. The signature crest of the ninth was the golden eagle that they used to take into battle with them, it was a sign of Rome and the power that Rome had, when the ninth disappeared the eagle went with them and to Rome, this was a great insult to Rome’s pride and dignity.