Disturbing internet article on dir and attitude to non dir

[StreetDoctor]

bla bla bla *yawn* stop using the internet to learn how to dive better and get out and actually dive. Seems to be the same post every couple months or so about how evil DIR is from something they read on the internet that was written 10 years ago.

 

[Cave Diver]

Here is a some of the content


Controversy and "strokes"
The core of the controversy surrounding DIR is the phrase itself. If a group is DIR, then all who are not doing things the DIR way are 'Doing it Wrong', DIW. The use of the term 'stroke' to describe non-DIR divers as idiots has exacerbated tensions.[11]

“ [P]ossibly the most important piece of wisdom in the diving world, and is something we should all apply to all of our diving. It is, simply, 'Don't dive with strokes.'
The term 'stroke' refers to someone who, knowing there is a better system, chooses to dive in a less than optimal way. It applies to those instructors who encourage students (who know no better) to exercise Personal Preference, in order to sell more equipment; it applies to those who don't plan their dives; those who dive beyond their abilities; who dive deep on air; who take unnecessary risks; who do big dives using unfamiliar gear; whose only reason for diving is depth.

Diving with strokes moves us into an area where our safety is no longer in our own hands. Strokes are sometimes highly 'qualified'. Often they seem very confident - usually because they have no concept of the danger they are getting themselves, and you, into.[12]
”
Strokery: the condition of being a non-DIR diver; statements supporting non-DIR points of view
Strokeslamming: severe criticism of non-DIR divers or their opinions


Some one please tell me that I am seeing this the wrong way.

The basic principle here is not to dive with unsafe divers. Divers who have been trained through the GUE/UTD system are going to have very similar skills and training experiences for the level they are diving at. It is very easy for two divers who have never met to get together, plan a dive and execute it safely.

Take two divers from other courses and you may find a much wider disparity among them.

Does this really matter for a 100' dive in the warm clear waters of the Caribbean? Probably not. But start getting into cold dark waters doing wreck dives, dives with high current and low viz, cave dives, or other types of challenges and it starts to become pretty important that your teammate has similar training and mindset in regard to planning and safety. These are the type of environments that DIR was developed for and it's been adapted and become more widespread in recreational diving.

What you're seeing is a product of that.

 

[ianr33]

There are two of us in this area that I know of and I'm not always the best poster child.

Says the man with the CCR

 

[Cave Diver]

Stroke!

Hey! I saw that UTD is starting to use a variant of the Meg, so I'm not a total stroke! :scorned:

 

[NAM001]

Hi KWS,

I don't know if there's an active DIR community in SE Texas, but my strong suggestion is to seek out some local DIR divers (or chat with the many of the DIR divers who are here on SB), get to know them, and make your judgments that way, rather than rely on a questionable Wikipedia article.

As far as I know, many of those snippets you've posted from Wikipedia are simply wrong or outdated, and it looks as if the article was written by someone who has a serious beef with DIR (and thus violating Wikipedia's NPOV policy).

i HAVE TALKED TO SEVERAL AND NEVER GOT THE oops attitude i saw in the wicopedia. that by the way was not the source article ... the source had it as a link and i lost the orig.

I occasionally talk to cave diver and have several times and have never senced any arrogance from him. there are those on SB that are so hardheaded on some issues that i have to wonder if it is personal opinion or the DIR credo talking. surely all have had this happen when we here the regurgitation of the PADI position or any other agency through its DM's or instructors ( that are bound to spew aid policy) instead of getting an honest answer to a question. If I want ORGANIZATION POLICY I can get it from the site. Here i look for individules opinion with out the lawyer talk.

I was actually hooping womeone would tell me that that is the european attitude. Beacause that tone is not common place or i am just blind and fail to read between the lines.

 

[Sas]

I was actually hooping womeone would tell me that that is the european attitude.

 

[Cave Diver]

I was actually hooping womeone would tell me that that is the european attitude. Beacause that tone is not common place or i am just blind and fail to read between the lines.

The attitude was more prevalent when George was in charge of the WKPP. It also tends to be more prevalent in "newly minted" DIR divers, but it seems to have toned down considerably in the last several years.

 

[NAM001]

The basic principle here is not to dive with unsafe divers. Divers who have been trained through the GUE/UTD system are going to have very similar skills and training experiences for the level they are diving at. It is very easy for two divers who have never met to get together, plan a dive and execute it safely.

Take two divers from other courses and you may find a much wider disparity among them.

Does this really matter for a 100' dive in the warm clear waters of the Caribbean? Probably not. But start getting into cold dark waters doing wreck dives, dives with high current and low viz, cave dives, or other types of challenges and it starts to become pretty important that your teammate has similar training and mindset in regard to planning and safety. These are the type of environments that DIR was developed for and it's been adapted and become more widespread in recreational diving.

What you're seeing is a product of that.

Howdy,

I thought you might chime in. I agree with you. From what i have seen from the cave diving videos. the very environment demands the high diciplines of GUE and such. Certainly those ( including myself) can not have a full appreciation of the necessity of the skills because we dont know the threats of the enviroment. The demeaning nature of the link really goes out of the way to discredit anyone with less skills. Had the mention of "In the caving world" been included as a prereq to the statement , I would not have taken it so personally. I , like most i think, am not superskilled but i am not fish crap on the botton either.

Hows life across the waters? Are you back in town??

regards

 

[lamont]

Try trolling this forum when I don't feel like I'm coming down with a cold and I'm more patient.