Posted by MHK on August 22, 2001 at 15:08:04:
In Reply to: Re: DIR help?????? posted by Jacob on August 22, 2001 at 12:18:52:
Jacob,
Part of the problem with discussions via this particular BBS is that there is a animosity respecting DIR that precludes generic discussion. For the most part you have a few vocal adversaries that leave common sense out of every discussion that we are involved in, they challenge every syllable, and are rarely, if ever, corrcect. Howver they do a masterful job at misdirecting issues so they don't need to confront reality.
The reality is that we have had 19 fatalities in 17 months in SoCal alone, that challenges the fatality rate for the entire country, on a state by state basis, but rather than confront that reality most will obfuscate..
The intangible that is often difficult to address via the diver.net/bbs is that you have a hostile environment of renegade, old time diver's that believe that they have achieved the pinnacle of diving, and that they are big fishes in very small ponds. Anything new or revolutionary, in their view, is automatically discredited because it challenges their self-inflicted view of superiority.. Nitrox, for example, is referred to by a 20 year instructor and dive shop owner as voodoo gas, despite the fact that he has NEVER tried it, despite the fact that he has NEVER taken a class, nor has he ever blended a tank... He has gone so far as to invent a supposed legal theory that no one with a brain believes, but yet advances it as being endorsed by PADI... You have other's that think becuase they were dumb enough to push the envelope and dive to 185', on air, solo without a BC that they are some how *macho* and deserving of respect..
In my view they are all idiots that recklessly push limits because they are too ignorant or arrogant to understand that there are safer and more efficient ways to accomplish the same task...
Ignorance is bliss, but when the sh*t hits the fan and they wind up dead, look at who the Coast Guard call to do the body recoveries...
If you want to learn to dive go with GUE, if you want to buy a C-card call Sport Chalet....
Later