The wild success of the Ice Bucket Challenge, one of the past decade's feel-good social-media sensations, obscured its origins as a form of extortion. Its source, though murky, might be traced to Norway, where early nominees were pressured to choose between jumping into a frigid body of water and taking care of the weekend's bar tab. By early 2014, the moral ante had been upped: the penalty for noncompliance became, rather more nobly, a contribution to medical research. This structure which incentivized bravado at the expense of charity-persisted until the spring, when American firefighters helped repackage the experience. Now a high pressure hosing was the reward for a donation to a colleague's cause of choice. That July, a golfer decanted water on his own head in an effort to cheer up his cousin's husband, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., and invited others to donate to the "A.L.S. Foundation." By the end of the month, the idea, now connected to one disease, had taken on a life of its own. Bill Gates engineered an elaborate self-soaking contraption, posted high-definition footage, and challenged Elon Musk. The taunt was at once socially contagious, righteous, and fun. But there were still some disposed to see it as a threat. President Barack Obama, when drafted by Ethel Kennedy, Justin Bieber, and Donald Trump, declined in favor of a hundred-dollar contribution to A.L.S. research.
This story is from the June 26, 2023 edition of The New Yorker.
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This story is from the June 26, 2023 edition of The New Yorker.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
President for Sale - A survey of today's political ads.
On a mid-October Sunday not long ago sun high, wind cool-I was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for a book festival, and I took a stroll. There were few people on the streets-like the population of a lot of capital cities, Harrisburg's swells on weekdays with lawyers and lobbyists and legislative staffers, and dwindles on the weekends. But, on the façades of small businesses and in the doorways of private homes, I could see evidence of political activity. Across from the sparkling Susquehanna River, there was a row of Democratic lawn signs: Malcolm Kenyatta for auditor general, Bob Casey for U.S. Senate, and, most important, in white letters atop a periwinkle not unlike that of the sky, Kamala Harris for President.
LIFE ADVICE WITH ANIMAL ANALOGIES
Go with the flow like a dead fish.
CONNOISSEUR OF CHAOS
The masterly musical as mblages of Charles Ives
BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS
How the Brothers Grimm sought to awaken a nation.
THE ARTIFICIAL STATE
A different kind of machine politics.
THE HONEST ISLAND GREG JACKSON
Craint did not know when he had come to the island or why he had come.
THE SHIPWRECK DETECTIVE
Nigel Pickford has spent a lifetime searching for sunken treasure-without leaving dry land.
THE HOME FRONT
Some Americans are preparing for a second civil war.
SYRIA'S EMPIRE OF SPEED
Bashar al-Assad's regime is now a narco-state reliant on sales of amphetamines.
TUCKER EVERLASTING
Trump's favorite pundit takes his show on the road.