Black and white photos took our timelines by storm these past few days. Somehow, this photo challenge is supposed to spread awareness of cancer patients. However these pictures don’t show anything cancer related. They’re just previously taken selfies that have the black and white filter on.

 

People have been divided in two takes on this challenge; accepted or unaccepted?

 

 

Challenge Accepted 

 

Challenge Accepted ✔ #قبلت_التحدي في الحرب ضد مرض #السرطان If you liked my picture, you now have to post a black & white picture of you and write Challenge Accepted. Let’s fill Facebook, instagram and twitter with black & white pictures to show our support for the battle against cancer. #challengeacceptedblackandwhite #challengeaccepted #yara #lebanon ?? #ambassador_of_lebanese_red_cross

A photo posted by Yara (@yara) on Aug 31, 2016 at 4:27am PDT

 

People who have accepted the challenge, and mentioned their friends in the comments to tag along, find that a small gesture like this will make people scrolling up and down their timelines remember the people fighting cancer and pray for them.

 

 

Challenge Unaccepted

 

 

However, people who thought that this gesture was “unacceptable” had a much deeper analysis into it – the shocking part of this counterargument is that it was actually started by actual cancer patients or people who have lost loved ones to cancer.

 

Some thought it was just another narcissistic campaign, showing off some selfies with a black and white filter, that shows nothing to actually support cancer fighters, not even a black ribbon. “Everyone on Facebook is aware of cancer, so you cannot play the awareness card, particularly as this time it’s not even a *type* of cancer,” argued Rebecca Wilkinson, a cancer patient in a post that got almost 18 thousand shares.

 

“The ‘anything that promotes awareness is good’ argument isn’t valid; terrorist acts promote awareness of terrorism, but we don’t encourage them… All this ‘campaign’ does is antagonise many people who have cancer and who need actual help, not a selfie. Someone cunningly decided to start a viral Facebook campaign to achieve precisely nothing, and they USED cancer in their attempt to go viral. That’s SICK and TWISTED.”

 

 

 

“This is a picture of my Mom who died of brain cancer taken after she had her radiation and chemotherapy session. She only lived six months after she was diagnosed. We fought for her til the end. It was one of the most agonizing experience me and my family has ever had so it pains me to see how this sensitive topic is being misconstrued in social media.” Che Bautista shared her late mom’s picture instead, frustrated at how people use such a heart-throbbing, sensitive case into a self-marketing campaign disguised under the cloak of cancer.

 

The campaign unquestionably backfires – if it’s not how this challenge started, and all of that rant is just over-analysing, at least this is how the people who the campaign supposedly started for felt about it.

 

 

How to support cancer patients in the Middle East and North Africa

 

 

1) Donate

 

 

You can donate to one of the cancer institutions in your country. It doesn’t need to be something big, anything you can let go off would be great. Some people even cut their hair in support of fighters undergoing chemotherapy and send their cut-off hair to be made into a wig.

 

 

2) Visits

 

 

Or you can donate your time. Schedule an hour or two every month and spend it with the children fighting cancer in 57357 for example. Dress up like Superman or Wonderwoman and make a show for the kids.

 

 

 

3) Marathons

 

 

The marathon culture in the Middle East has been very well-integrated with causes like fighting cancer. There’s at least a marathon every month if you keep looking closely at Facebook events.

 

 

WE SAID THIS: Praying for the loved ones who died because of cancer, and the ones still battling it right this very second.