Clearly others saw this bit of idiocy for what it is.
A cancer fundraiser that sees people shaving their heads in solidarity with people who have undergone chemotherapy has been labelled “offensive” and “facile”.
Macmillan’s Brave the Shave campaign prompted anger from former patients who have lost their hair to the disease, with some claiming it brought back unpleasant memories and failed to address the reality of dealing with the condition.
Well, yeah, that was my immediate response when I saw the adverts. Indeed, given my shoulder-length locks, my reaction was one of; you can fuck right off, I wouldn’t be seen dead with my head shaved and certainly not for some puerile charity stunt.
I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised that there has been an adverse reaction, as these days, stupid stunts for charity seems to be the in thing. Of course, the objectors are correct; shaving one’s head isn’t brave, it’s an overt example of “look at meeeee!”
If you want to give to charity, write them a cheque. Don’t try to guilt trip others and don’t think that they should pay you to indulge in stupid, puerile, facile, patronising, fuckwitted, self-righteous, exhibitionist stunts.
I’ve been shaving my head for years, now I’m going to look as if I’m joining in with this.
Registering to take part in endurance events often involves an invitation to raise money for charity. Sometimes it is just an invitation to add a contribution to the entry fee, if I think that it is a worthwhile charity I sometimes do that. I have never felt comfortable about inviting friends and colleagues to sponsor me to do some challenge that I was going to do anyway.
I don’t subscribe to any religion but I do think the Gospels include some pretty good lifestyle advice; ignoring the subsequent bit about the afterlife, “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them” makes a great deal of sense.
Meanwhile, as Stonyground points out, there’s also the element of sponsors subsidising what is essentially recreational activity: a while back, some colleagues decided to one of those charity tandem parachute jumps where you leap out of a plane tied to an instructor in a somewhat compromising position. Each jump cost £200, but would-be jumpers don’t need to worry about that: “This can be refunded to yourself out of the sponsorship money”.
Oh, and, if ‘offensive’ and ‘facile’ are the order of the day, how about the school which, after raising money to build a modest playground for an African orphanage, rewarded the year-group which raised the most money with a mass outing to Alton Towers paid for out of the kitty;
“Hey, Ugandan kids; we built you a tyre swing and now we’re off to a theme park to celebrate!”
I’m sure we could find someone to get worked up about that…