At the end of every episode of Jackass, there was a message requesting viewers not "send us videos of you being jackasses." It was clearly a retroactive request, since the show prompted America's youth to find other clever ways to hurt and humiliate themselves on camera and somehow thought Johnny Knoxville wanted to see them. Jackass wanted none of the responsibility for the injuries and deaths that would ensue, so the disclaimer went up.
I think about this phenomenon of physical abuse going viral because that is what has made the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge so successful. Facebook is the perfect platform for sharing jackassery. A bucket of ice has nothing to do with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. But it doesn't matter. If you tell someone to film themselves being a jackass, then dare their friends to match them, you have yourself a viral campaign.
When Murphy's Law is updated to the twenty-first century, it will include the maxim: when anything on the internet becomes too popular, too fast, it will receive harsh backlash. We've already seen the Huffington Post criticize those who participate without donating and even a satirical column about California fining residents for wasting water. Not to mention deaths linked to the challenge.
The fact that the connection between ice and ALS was almost non existent doesn't matter. The campaign worked. Not only with money but with awareness. Everyone with a Facebook account has at least heard of ALS. And it never seemed to get old watching a different friend dump freezing water on themselves so it never got too repetitive hearing about it.
The challenge is the ultimate humblebrag. It's both ostentatious (Look at me! I'm filming myself and helping a charity!) and self-deprecating (I'm humiliating myself by dumping ice-cold water all over me). But mostly it worked because it tapped into our frat boy/hazing nature and gave us a reason to act like jackasses.
