Is this guy smoking something or is he on to something?

[Jax]

Divers quite opinionated and quite vocal about diving? Who knew?

 

[Jax]

You can't understand the present or predict the future if you don't know the past.

<snipped>

Rather than simply ego or pride, he was heavily motivated by ANGER.

Anger at the idiots who killed themselves and others by doing stupid crap.

<snipped>

I guess my point is that he isn't Jesus, it ain't a religion and the organization seems to have become pretty far removed from this one guy by now anyway.

Knowing the past doesn't mean one has to live in it. The history of slavery is far in the past, but we are still inundated by those who think "we owe something" and push unwelcome programs like affirmative action.

Anger at idiots who kill themselves and others that do stupid crap implies that such actions can be prevented. Somehow, we as a society seem to think we can protect people from themselves, and have piled endless regulations to control what people do so "we" can protect us from ourselves.

It's time to move past the past, accept that people have different opinions and ways of doing things, and stop thinking those differences are a personal affront to oneself. If the organization has become 'pretty far removed' from this one guy (or those like him), then both the nasty defensiveness on the part of the supporters and the attacks by non-supporters should be roundly criticized by each group as part of self-policing action.

That will be the indication that we have truly moved beyond the past.

 

[EastTNDiver]

Knowing the past doesn't mean one has to live in it. The history of slavery is far in the past, but we are still inundated by those who think "we owe something" and push unwelcome programs like affirmative action.

Anger at idiots who kill themselves and others that do stupid crap implies that such actions can be prevented. Somehow, we as a society seem to think we can protect people from themselves, and have piled endless regulations to control what people do so "we" can protect us from ourselves.

It's time to move past the past, accept that people have different opinions and ways of doing things, and stop thinking those differences are a personal affront to oneself. If the organization has become 'pretty far removed' from this one guy (or those like him), then both the nasty defensiveness on the part of the supporters and the attacks by non-supporters should be roundly criticized by each group as part of self-policing action.

That will be the indication that we have truly moved beyond the past.

I call that the "bubble wrap syndrome"...a feeling some seem to have that the entire world can be bubble wrapped and made "safe"...and, it is definitely in high gear these days.

 

[seaducer]

I call that the "bubble wrap syndrome"...a feeling some seem to have that the entire world can be bubble wrapped and made "safe"...and, it is definitely in high gear these days.

Not only can, but must be! At what point will it stop? People are willing, and have already signed off a number of freedoms so that the government will step in and protect us. The truly sad part is we are no safer, from anything, with that mentality. And it costs more money and more freedom this way.

Unfortunately we are in the minority and will always be outvoted. And politicians love one things more than themselves, and that is power.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Knowing the past doesn't mean one has to live in it. The history of slavery is far in the past, but we are still inundated by those who think "we owe something" and push unwelcome programs like affirmative action.

Anger at idiots who kill themselves and others that do stupid crap implies that such actions can be prevented. Somehow, we as a society seem to think we can protect people from themselves, and have piled endless regulations to control what people do so "we" can protect us from ourselves. It's time to move past the past, accept that people have different opinions and ways of doing things, and stop thinking those differences are a personal affront to oneself. If the organization has become 'pretty far removed' from this one guy (or those like him), then both the nasty defensiveness on the part of the supporters and the attacks by non-supporters should be roundly criticized by each group as part of self-policing action.

That will be the indication that we have truly moved beyond the past.

I'm not a DIR diver and have probably been called a DIR hater for some of the stuff I've posted before.

I felt that he made most of those posts because he was angry at needless deaths. He was quite sure that the deaths WERE PREVENTABLE and they were caused not so much by people who were deliberately trying to be reckless, but rather people (students especially) who had not been adequately informed of techniques and configurations that he felt were clearly superior. Also, he was not trying to implement some kid of big brother- governmental mandate.. He was trying to change what people VOLUNTARILY did during their recrteational activities. Not sure how this relates to slavery and Affrmative action?

Think of all the efforts we make to try to keep teenage kids from drinking and driving. Of course we can not stop kids from being killed this year, but there is nothing wrong with people trying to use graphic examples of why this particular activity is unnecessarily dangerous.

He was something like an over-zealous Mother Aganst Drunk Drivers Mom with a bad atttude, a very sharp tongue and a well developed ego.

Question: Have you personally recovered a dead diver? If you did it several times do you think your attitude might get a little ****tty?

As for current DIR divers being nasty.. well I'm sure there are some, but I don't personally interact with them and I don''t see it on the board

 

[Jax]

Divers recovering divers are not an anomaly. People recover people all the time. Ask any EMT or trauma room personnel. Just because people are stupid and accidents are preventable doesn't mean it can be controlled, or even that you would want it to be.

Stupid pilots fly their planes under bridges.

Stupid motorcyclists run their 200+mph out-of-the-crate motorcycles to their top end.

Just because you don't agree with what someone does, does not give you the right to mock, jeer, or denigrate it.

 

[FritzCat66]

Just because you don't agree with what someone does, does not give you the right to mock, jeer, or denigrate it.

True; we should instead handle those who think differently according to the example of Bob Newhart:

I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'. -- Bob Newhart

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Just because you don't agree with what someone does, does not give you the right to mock, jeer, or denigrate it.

I think what's happened, Jax, is that we've moved past the point where behaving badly gave you the right to get your ass kicked. I'm at an age where I can remember the common knowledge that life was a lot safer if you were courteous toward others ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[kanonfodr]

Stupid pilots fly their planes under bridges.

Stupid motorcyclists run their 200+mph out-of-the-crate motorcycles to their top end.

Just because you don't agree with what someone does, does not give you the right to mock, jeer, or denigrate it.

While I have nothing wrong with folks who remove themselves through acts worthy of a Darwin Award, I feel it's pretty selfish to put other people in danger either directly or indirectly: It's cool to fly under bridges in your airplane until that one time you smack the bridge and cause millions of dollars in damage, just like it's fun to ride your sportbike at 200 mph+ until you rear-end a minivan and erase a family of five.

That's when it's important to come together as a community: pilots, riders, or divers, and make the stupid uncool. Just like that guy last year who, with no overhead or decompression training, managed to nark himself behind a no-mount restriction at 170 ft, breathing air at Vortex Springs in Florida. People had to risk their lives scouring that cave for his dumb butt.

And some decisions we can fight about: I personally choose to wear a helmet when I ride my bike, and I do support mandatory helmet laws because lids save lives. But I also can't take it too far and say that everyone has to wear a full-face helmet, even though it does offer the most protection of any helmet. At least not yet.

Same thing DIR vs non-DIR: I don't care where you get your dive training, but get quality training and use quality diving gear. Stay inside your limits, and when you feel like branching out into more involved diving go get quality training for those dives.

Peace,
Greg

 

[Nemrod]

No, no, I am not getting in on this but, I must say, what has come of us, the three people who have hated on me the most (using the H word only in the mildest sense ) are giving me "likes" and ol'Nemrod done gotten DIR gear (only sorta ), what next, sheep lying with wolves, cats and dogs not fighting, dunno. Strange happenings going on abouts. Thanks.

N