Scuba Extremists

[RJP]

I imagine there is a number of posts (where one complains and bashes DIR) wherein the poster finally gets their DIR chip of their shoulder. I don't know what that number is but there must be one.

That number is N+1... where N = the current post number.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

One of my favourite quotes is from the British philosopher Bertrand Russell:

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."

... in the scuba world that often describes the difference between a diver at 50 dives, and the same diver at 500 dives ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[phoenix31tt]

As John said, there are extremists in every field. Those that think it's their way or the highway and they're always right. Can they look objectively at their own belief? Yes but only when something significant has happened that they can't explain away as an anomaly, and it has to happen to them.

Do they realize when their extremism has gone to far, no I don't think so. Only when they look objectively at their own belief they would realize what they were doing before, other than that they would always think they are doing what is necessary to ensure that others do the "right" thing... which is what they believe.

That's been my experience in every activity i participate in, whether religious, IT, gaming, driving etc.

 

[boulderjohn]

One of my favourite quotes is from the British philosopher Bertrand Russell:

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."

I read a very interesting book on this topic a number of yeras ago: Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership, by Howard Gardner. Gardner examines the ability of leaders to communicate effectively with the people they are supposed to lead, and he finds that in a diverse organization (like society as a whole), the effective leader is able to target specific portions of the target audience in accordance with the different levels of development as identified by Jean Piaget. What he finds is that many highly intelligent leaders fail because they are unable and even unwilling to communicate effectively with a critical part of society: the ones whose world view is frozen at the level of the 5-year old mind.

According to Piaget, the typical 5-year old sees a world of black and white, right and wrong, good guys and bad guys, the forces of right against the evil-doers, etc. More developed thinkers see the complexities and shades of gray in this world. When black and white thinkers hear people describe those complexities, it sounds like lying to them. It sounds wishy-washy and indecisive. In politics, someone is either assigned to the good guy camp or the bad guy camp. A person in the good guy camp is not capable of doing anything good, and vice versa. Gardner shows that too often the people who can see the shades of gray dismiss the black and white thinkers as not worthy of consideration, but in reality they are the ones who usually determine the outcome of an election. That is why most of the imbecilic political ads that dominate the airwaves during election season target that audience. Think of Animal Farm, where no one can have an intelligent discussion because the mindless sheep have been trained to bleat out silly slogans about the goodness or badness of the number of legs so that no one can think straight.

In Scuba, the diver with the 5-year old mind will adhere to a diving phlosophy and keep bleating its tenets like Orwell's sheep, not going beyond the phrase to a level that allows intelligent understanding. I participated in a discussion a few years ago that was frustrating beyond belief. A participant had been taught to plan a dive by predetermining the depth of the entire dive and the time to be spent at that depth. One was supposed to stay at that depth for that time and then ascend. "Plan your dive and dive your plan!" he said. I replied that planning your dive like that is indeed one way to do things, but there were other kinds of dive plans and other kinds of dive profiles that were perfectly acceptable. No sir, he responded--if you don't do it that way, you are not planning your dive and diving your plan. Any other perfectly acceptable dive plan anyone else suggested was not planning, because it did not match the only plan he knew. "You've got to plan your dive and diver your plan," he said over and over and over and over again. I am sure he is saying it still.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I read a very interesting book on this topic a number of years ago: Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership, by Howard Gardner. Gardner examines the ability of leaders to communicate effectively with the people they are supposed to lead, and he finds that in a diverse organization (like society as a whole), the effective leader is able to target specific portions of the target audience in accordance with the different levels of development as identified by Jean Piaget. What he finds is that many highly intelligent leaders fail because they are unable and even unwilling to communicate effectively with a critical part of society: the ones whose world view is frozen at the level of the 5-year old mind.

I'm honestly not sure I'm ready to read a book that confirms something that terrifying as fact, rather than just a horrible suspicion.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

So does this mean I won't die if I don't wear a BPW????

No you won't. You'll only get bent before you ever get in the water. You'll die if you don't have plans to switch to sidemount.
Right now I'm about two months away from completing my next book. It's all about extremism in the diving world. In fact it is extremism in the the diving world. Completely fictional of course.
The problem is there is just so much new material almost daily to adapt to it and satirize and make caricatures out of. It might end up a series

 

[Rhone Man]

According to Piaget, the typical 5-year old sees a world of black and white, right and wrong, good guys and bad guys, the forces of right against the evil-doers, etc. More developed thinkers see the complexities and shades of gray in this world.

To be fair, much of society panders to the 5 year old approach. Most news media reports like to decide (and tell the viewer) "this is good" or "this is bad". I struggle to recall a news report where any development was given a careful contextual analysis looking at the various shades of gray. Politicians and civic and religious leaders often follow suit.

For example, when the nuclear deal was struck with Iran political commentary was compressed into tiny soundbites that were either defiant or hysterical depending upon one's political standing. The number of outlets who took time to examine the different nuances of a truly complex geopolitical issue were minimal.

Careful analysis does not equate to a lack of conviction.

 

[divad]

what he wrote pissed me off so much with its absurdity that it took me a long time to convert to the long hose system for my recreational diving, even after seeing its advantages in my technical training.

Is that reactionary extremism, or extremist reactionarism?

 

[dmaziuk]

Careful analysis does not equate to a lack of conviction.

Well extremism doesn't really equate mental capacity of a 5-yo. Unless you define it that way. How about this instead: extremism as opposed to centrism. Centrism would be the "average" position held by "average" people. Do you know how dumb an average person is? I think I'd rather be an extremist.

 

[Centrals]

........
It's a shame it was presented that way, it didn't have to be like that. There would actually be a very good chance I would have embraced the whole concept, but I didn't like the salesmen, and if you don't like the salesman you're probably not going to buy the product. They should have had a little better control over their wayfarers, unless of course they were all like that back then?
I know it has completely changed since that time but for me it's too late, I don't care about it anymore. I found my own thing and I just love it.

Totally agreed.
Same experience from my first ever exposure to DIR around 1999/2000 in Philippines. But I must admit that I had met some nice DIR divers as well. So it is all down to individual.