Twiddles:
Okay since were stuck on hypotheticals here and similarities. Heres one for you to ponder. The guy is out of air (you have no idea why, a GWS snacked on his regulator) seeing you 20' away the guy heads to you, trying to get your attention possibly waving his arms, he gets to you, and signals hes out of air quickly throat slashing gestures his eyes are wide he is partially panicked but he is asking for your alternate, you *evaluate him* hes bigger than you buy almost 50lbs, hes within arms reach of you, hes at least partially panicked, you decide hes a risk and back away shaking your head NO. He doesnt understand dont you see my signal I am out of air!! You FN NEWB!! He follows frantically signaling out of air!!! At this point in time he realizes your not going to give him your alternate, hes chasing you for it but you have determined hes a risk, he *evaluates* his chances of surfacing and decideds he cant make it....
I guarantee you that he will attempt to TAKE your regulator, he will likely attempt to take either one by this point. Thanks to your *evaluation* you have turned a simple trained excersize into a life and death struggle. Evaluate that on your way to the bottom.
This is what you call a "straw man argument". You have set up a hypothetical situation, presented what a hypothetical responding diver would do, and attacked that hypothetical. The logical fallacy is that your hypothetical responding diver is flawed.
If I were diving, and I saw someone swimming at me without a reg and signaling out of air, I would donate air while keeping my legs available to kick him away if he attacks (if he tosses my donated reg and lunges for the reg I'm now breathing, I'll kick hard to get away, as I can't help him if *I* can't breathe). If he accepts the reg, I'll get control of him and proceed to the surface under *my* control (including using pressure points, if that's what it takes).
If he were in full-blown panic, which is defined in my Rescue course as being *irrational* (i.e. apparently not capable of acting on logic), I'll keep distance between myself and him, but not horizontally. Assuming I'm not way into deco, I'll fin away and *up*, even exceeding my normal ascent rate. As a panicked diver is going to be trying to get your air, he will follow you up. If he gets close to the surface, he's likely to bolt. If he doesn't, hopefully he'll make it to the surface, and if not, if he loses consciousness at any time, I'll rush in, get him to the surface, and start respirations, etc.
It's the same as they teach you for a panicked diver on the surface. If he's thrashing around wildly but still swimming, get between him and the boat and swim backward. As you're basically an island to climb onto, he'll come after you, even if he's not thinking. When you get close enough for the boat to reach him, that phase of the rescue is over. Just because a diver is panicked and unable to rationally accept help doesn't mean you just pull out your spear gun and put him out of his misery.
Anyway, you're being somehat a jerk, now. Don't be. Go take Rescue (maybe Advanced Rescue, even) and then come and show me ways I can help someone better. Making things up won't help anyone, but if you can show me ways I can potentially be more help to someone, I for one would thank you.
