Posted by seahunt on December 02, 2000 at 06:40:50:
In Reply to: Re: Get Serious... posted by Eins on December 01, 2000 at 22:19:05:
You guys sure are up late.
No spanking. You are entitled to your opinion. I may not like it, but I'll fight for your right to it. The same goes for diving practices.
Hey, I admit it. I'm one of those guys that said if I die, so what. I will apologize for inconveniencing you, but I don't feel it's much worse than bending your car or an air compressor failure forcing the boat back to dock. (Now my responsibilities are far different and to more people, family, so I dive as such). I could name a few others that have said it as well, but again, so what. So beyond grossing you out a bit, what's the big deal. I used to have a job that was more dangerous than diving. If I can risk my life to work, (like lots of people) why shouldn't I be able to risk my life to play? ... Gad. Just thinking of some of the industrial accidents I know of....
No, I can't see myself in this guy's flippers. It wasn't the solo dive (that I can see myself doing)that killed him, it was sillinous. His friend tried to talk him out of the dive. Wrong place to be. A health problem (How high was this guy? Antihistimines get me extremely stoned). Things we just don't know...
Oh, it hurts the dive industry... Frankly, todays lax certification policies are more likely to cause that than a few accidents or don't you remember 1976 when certification practices did cause regulation? Do you remember the duck that got certified?
Really though, I am coming (as usual) from a point of view far from what you would be likely to consider. My bias relates to the same reason I write about human morality. I look at broad views. The nature of our society is that we are actually a dangerous people living dangerous lives that calculate a certain death rate into what makes our society operate. We do not have a risk adverse society. Our species operating methods include that we offer many opportunities to remove ones self from the gene pool. It's just how things work. If you want to know why, read chapter 3 of my morality stuff. It started with the Sumerians, then the Semites, then the Indo-Europeans. Removing those opportunities, would make us more like the Sumerians and they were lacking certain things that make our present society work. Railing against the risk nature of our society is like complaining that businesses or governments consider individuals to be expendable. Making restrictions on diving like some peope have suggested, just go against the nature of our society.
Another personal view is that I don't sweat the small stuff. I'm not worried about some diver kicking the bucket. I'm worried about when the 1918 flu is coming back. That's going to be good for more than 100 million deaths.... and that's not the worst likely scenerio.
Enjoy the diving, seahunt