DIR wars...Is it the name?

[PhotoTJ]

By calling the method 'Doing it Right', (Assuming right as an absolute, if you are not DIR, you are not doing it right, ergo, you're doing it wrong.), the implication is that everyone else is doing it wrong.

No one likes to be told they are doing something wrong.

Not too hard to figure out where the venom comes from.

 

[Allison Finch]

Fly It Right (FIR) Forum

Q: When I am landing my airplane, how soon after the wheels touch the ground should I cut the throttle?

FIR: You should not cut the throttle, you should go to full throttle immediately and let you tailhook catch the wire. Then you can fly away safely if you miss the wire. You can cut the throttle after you buddy has signaled that you have caught the wire.

Q: My airplane doesn't have a tailhook. I just want to land at the general aviation airport. I don't have a flying buddy.

FIR: You really should get a tailhook. Hook-Rite is the best one. You will need it when you want to land on an aircraft carrier. Have you taken the FIR-F course? Everyone that takes is amazed by what a lousy flyer they really are. If you take the course, you will learn how to use the tailhook. You should always fly with a buddy who has a 7' aerial refueling hose, what if you ran out of fuel?

Q: I just have Cessna that I like to fly for fun. I already have pilot's license. I just watch the fuel gauge on the instrument panel and land when I need more.

FIR: Oh, an instrument panel? They're not really a good idea. You should get a separate fuel gauge that you clip to your right shoulder D ring.

Q: OK, but I still don't think I need a tailhook. I don't really think I will ever want to land on an aircraft carrier.

FIR: After you get more experience, you will. You should get the right airplane from the start. The agency that issued your pilot's license has very low standards. They just want to get as many people flying as possible to make more money. .

Q: <enters catatonic state>help me.....

There, did I cover most of it?

OMG!!! TOO FUNNY! Unfortunately, almost too true to be funny......

 

[Spectre]

No one likes to be told they are doing something wrong.

Even when they are!

 

[WaterDawg]

No one likes to be told they are doing something wrong.

That is a true statement. It all comes down to the concept of DIR hurting peoples feelings. Its kinda like having no winners at a little leage game and both teams get trophys so as not to hurt the losesrs feelings. Or a daycare provider not being able to say the word "NO" when a kid does something bad in fear that the kids selfesteem could be hurt. I hate all this new age crap, not sure the the folks in Cali do it!

Well I havent dove w/ many people on this board but I KNOW that not everyone has the good skills, and is diving as safely as they say they are when DIR is brought up

If every one is already doing it the right way why do I see so many crap divers in the water? As for me, hey I'll admit it before I did some studid crap!!! Not very safe at all, but I am trying to help that. ANd its going well if you ask me.

So please if your feelings get hurt and thats why you took up diving cause its a non competiotion sport and you feel threatend if someone says there is indeed a better way than what you are currently doing, open your ears, and stop whining.

If you indeed have some other beef w/ DIR (like it dosent work for PSD or whatever) then thats fine but if the name alone turns you off, Ihope your no older than 15.

 

[Rick Murchison]

So please if your feelings get hurt and thats why you took up diving cause its a non competiotion sport and you feel threatend if someone says there is indeed a better way than what you are currently doing, open your ears, and stop whining.

Feelings?
F E E L I N G S ????
We don' need no steeeeenking feelings here.
As for listening and whining, I have told you that my objection to the use of the term "Doing it Right" is because it is both arrogant and inaccurate. That hurts the DIR bubbas feelings, and the defensive whines, rhetoric and rationalizations begin.
Now before you get your knickers in a wad, listen up.
Absent the title, "DIR" is a mature, excellent way to dive in most settings, and acceptable in many others. So long as your diving fits within the envelope where DIR works well, have at it. You'll never hear any objection from me - indeed, when the term was coined it described many of the techniques, equipment configurations and ideas my diving buddies and I had already adopted, (we were already studying Bill Main's contributions and finding them excellent and widely applicable). Indeed, for most caving the "DIR" configuration and the "DIR" "holistic system" is what we use.
But we would never be so arrogant as to call any system "Right" - for our attitude goes beyond that, and is probably best expressed something like this: "The day I return from a dive and think I 'did it right' is the day I need to quit diving, for I'm missing something important and am getting dangerous."
Furthermore, "DIR" is decidedly not the end-all and be-all for all dives; its claims of "accommodates all contingencies and addidtions" and such are just so much poppycock; its rationalizations to apply itself to every type dive at least amusing, sometimes downright laughable - and sometimes (in my opinion) even dangerous, and therefore no only not "Right" but demonstrably "Wrong."
Bottom line - it isn't the "holistic system" that's under attack... nothing wrong with that in and of itself - but the answer to the original question that this thread's all about, "I wonder if DIR would more peacefully received by a wider audence if it were named something less provoking..."
is... yes.
The unfortunate thing is that "DIR" adherents are so enamored of the term and the idea that they've got it "Right" that they'll never even do something as simple as change the spelling from "right" to "rite," much less abandon it. Too bad - they're denying themselves a lot of fun diving with a lot of fun people, and alienating many prospective converts.
Rick (standing by for attacks)

 

[PhotoTJ]

OK, I tried to respond in an adult manner as to the original thrust of the thread.

No one likes to be told they are doing something wrong.

Even when they are!

oh, and...

That is a true statement. It all comes down to the concept of DIR hurting peoples feelings. Its kinda like having no winners at a little leage game and both teams get trophys so as not to hurt the losesrs feelings. Or a daycare provider not being able to say the word "NO" when a kid does something bad in fear that the kids selfesteem could be hurt. I hate all this new age crap, not sure the the folks in Cali do it!

Well I havent dove w/ many people on this board but I KNOW that not everyone has the good skills, and is diving as safely as they say they are when DIR is brought up

If every one is already doing it the right way why do I see so many crap divers in the water? As for me, hey I'll admit it before I did some studid crap!!! Not very safe at all, but I am trying to help that. ANd its going well if you ask me.

So please if your feelings get hurt and thats why you took up diving cause its a non competiotion sport and you feel threatend if someone says there is indeed a better way than what you are currently doing, open your ears, and stop whining.

If you indeed have some other beef w/ DIR (like it dosent work for PSD or whatever) then thats fine but if the name alone turns you off, Ihope your no older than 15.

The fact is, the name, (and these lovely attitudes!), is and are insulting to any diver who isn't diving your little system. (Assuming, of course, that you are in fact DIR divers and not just masters of the internet undersea world. Simple and elegant trolling, but I'll bite.)

Thank you, you just confirmed that you are, in fact, arrogant and elitist, and while you may or may not have excellent dive skills, you are unlikely to convince anyone of your position, because you would be a lousy salesman/teacher. Go practice your backwards kicks.

Something else just occurred to me; since DIR doesn’t exist as an entity, anyone who chooses to, and feels comfortable enough with their skills, can say they are DIR, and in fact, be DIR, and no one can tell them they are not. I should have pursued this tact earlier, as I, nor any of my dive buddies have never been hurt on a dive, and have been successful in executing each dive plan, we are all, henceforth, DIR. In fact, anyone who survives a dive, and does no harm, is DIR!

Perfect!

 

[Spectre]

Something else just occurred to me; since DIR doesn’t exist as an entity, anyone who chooses to, and feels comfortable enough with their skills, can say they are DIR, and in fact, be DIR, and no one can tell them they are not. I should have pursued this tact earlier, as I, nor any of my dive buddies have never been hurt on a dive, and have been successful in executing each dive plan, we are all, henceforth, DIR.

Funny... you're just now getting that idea? Take a look at some of the 'DIR' answers in the DIR forum; you definately don't have yourself an original idea.

 

[android]

Furthermore, "DIR" is decidedly not the end-all and be-all for all dives; its claims of "accommodates all contingencies and additions" and such are just so much poppycock; its rationalizations to apply itself to every type dive at least amusing, sometimes downright laughable - and sometimes (in my opinion) even dangerous, and therefore no only not "Right" but demonstrably "Wrong."

Rich is right on and this was the thrust of my tailhook parable. (I'm glad some of you found it funny )

The FIR procedures are 100% appropriate for landing a jet aircraft on an aircraft carrier (well, maybe not the separate fuel guage on the D ring) but totally inappropriate to land a Cessna at an airport.

You cannot define "right" until you have defined a set of conditions. I'm a software engineer and there is often discussion of the "right" programming language or even the dreaded "Mac vs. PC" debate. I am a far more pragmatic person and the "right" tool is the one that solves the problem at hand efficiently and with mimimal calculated risk.

Almost every human endeavor is the same and those who insist there is only one "right" way to polish shoes, break a horse or scube dive are narrow minded.

DIR is certainly "right" for deep, black, overhead situations (except for maybe the obsessive dislike of split fins, but I digress...), but trying to mold every possible form of diving into the DIR mold is what I find as one of the most annoying pastimes of the online representation.

The leadership could choose to minimalize the hostility and reduce the alienation by changing the name to refect the problem set the DIR method attempts to solve and choosing a name to market and promote that philosophy rather than claiming the be the only "right" way to dive.

 

[opiniongirl]

Oh no....

I only finished laughing about your post right now - otw I would've written sooner...

BANG ON..

 

[diverbrian]

If somebody wants to dive DIR and talk about it, I have no problem with that. I have dove with some good people this season who are DIR divers. We have a few philosophical differences, but in the main we dive much the same way. In fact more than one of them have been my dive buddies and we have been very safe.

Others that I have run into have been quite imperious about it. I don't dive with them and they wouldn't have me as a dive buddy anyways.

There is a way to be cool about it, without sounding like a know-it-all. Most of the GUE/DIR trained divers are good at that. Other pockets are the elitist types that we complain about. Many of them are people that went to DIRf and found out that their skills were not up to GUE standards and became instant converts.

That is cool, but I don't want to be converted. The more experienced divers know that the best way to convince someone how nicely a system works is to dive with them and let them see it without a bunch of commentary. The others... well, let's just say that they push things the other direction for stubborn types like me.

Like Rick Murchinson, I went through the Navy. At least in boot, they were honest when they pounded into you that the Navy way may be separate from the right way, LOL. Good analogy, Rick!