Not that we needed reinforcement on this front, but the Ice Bucket Challenge has again proved people will find a way to complain about anything, everything and most things in between.

The Ice Bucket Challenge, in case you’ve been living in a cave a Pakistan for the past month and somehow don’t know, is a viral fundraising campaign that’s pushed ALS to the front of America’s (and perhaps the world’s) consciousness. ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal degenerative disease. It’s better-known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, named after the famed New York Yankees slugger who succumbed to the condition in the prime of his life and career.

Here’s the skinny on the challenge: You dump a bucket of ice-water over your head (or have somebody do it for you) while being video recorded. You challenge three other people to do the same, with the stipulation that if they don’t complete the task within 24 hours they have to make a donation to the ALS Association (the usual suggestion is $100). Many people take the challenge and still make a donation. Then you post the video on social media, usually Facebook or YouTube, for the world to see.

This is one of those rare occasions when you can say “everybody’s doing it” and darn near be correct. Everybody from unknown 5-year-olds to ex-presidents have taken the challenge. It’s easy, it’s fun, it’s popular.

ALS is relatively rare and usually only makes headlines when a famous person suffers from it, which honestly isn’t that often. It has never been the disease du jour, never received attention from the media and celebrities other afflictions have. Not that these facts lessen the importantance of trying to find a cure for ALS. If you’ve known anybody who has suffered the effects of ALS, eventually dying from it, you know the sadness, pain and tragedy of the disease.

ALS is ugly. There’s just no other way to phrase it.

Which is what makes the Ice Bucket Challenge so cool. It has raised awareness and a ton of money – more than $70 million when this column was written – for a disease that just didn’t register with most people. Let me repeat that figure: $70 million. That covers a donation period from July 29 to Aug. 24. Less than a month. A year ago, in that same time period, the ALS Association had $2.5 million in donations.

But people, being people, have found ways to criticize the Ice Bucket Challenge. Yes, they’ve found ways to criticize the idea of giving money, the people giving money and the association receiving the money.

Ain’t life grand?

Among the criticisms:

* It’s a fad.

* Many people doing the challenge don’t even know what ALS is.

* People doing the videos are self-aggrandizing.

* ALS is so rare that it doesn’t deserve this much attention or money.

* People doing the Ice Bucket Challenge will burn their charitable dollars on ALS and not give to other causes.

* The ALS Association is hurting itself because it is not building a sustainable donor base.

And the list goes on.

A columnist from the Los Angeles Times, one of America’s largest newspapers, devoted an entire article to asking “impolite” questions about the Ice Bucket Challenge. He ended the piece thusly: “So, sure. You want to contribute to the fight against ALS, great. But if you’re doing it just because you saw or heard about Bill Gates, Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake or Ethel Kennedy dumping ice water on their head, maybe you should give a bit more thought to where you donate your money.”

Think about this. A charitable organization, which has struggled to raise money and awareness for decades, finally hits the fundraising and media jackpot … and there are buffoons writing condescending articles about the ignorant slobs donating their money. Oh sure, he says, it’s nice that you want to donate – but you’re donating to the wrong cause for the wrong reasons.

And I won’t even include the Catholics, who are complaining because finding a cure for ALS might mean using stem cells.

You. Can’t. Make. It. Up.

We beg, plead, cajole and shame people to give money to charity. We want our young people to identify causes for which they have a passion, and to volunteer their money and time for those causes. And then when they do get involved in a fun, viral, thoroughly modern way of giving money, people complain because it’s not the right and proper way to give money. Nor is it the right and proper charity.

Critics of the Ice Bucket Challenge need to go soak their head. And shut their mouths.

And then, preferably, write a check for $100. If not to the ALS Association, then to the charity of their choice. That’d be putting their money where their misguided mouths are.

(Mike McFeely is a talk-show host on 790 KFGO-AM. He can be heard weekdays from 2-5 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMcFeelyKFGO.)