A somewhat sad conversation last night

[tadawson]

I've only met one GUE diver . . .

And he made me think that "DIR" stood for Douchebag In Residence.

The most conceited, self-absorbed, arrogant bastard I have ever met in diving . . . .

Granted, a sample set of one does not define the organization, but it sure made a strong first impression . . .

- Tim

 

[TSandM]

Well, Tim, that's why I posted this thread. A single experience really shouldn't generalize. Even a set of anecdotes isn't data. And the young man I had dinner with the other night had found that out.

 

[BVickery]

BTW, this exchange between Doomnova and GShockey is MUCH more what I'm used to . . .

I am going to write to one of the Dutch GUE instructors and find out if it is true that all GUE activities there are closed . . . I find it difficult to believe that there is no outreach going on, because I know JP and his wife reasonably well, and I know both of them would welcome people who are curious about the system.

I agree, there seems to be a much better outreach from GUE to get more people learning to dive in a more correct manner (by that, I am talking about skills). Before I had some serious medical issues I had a standing invite to dive the springs with a group of GUE divers out of the Atlanta area that are on this board.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Give me a sec to pick my jaw up off the ground.

Thank you for your offer Guy. i'm not going to ask you to come down to Victoria just for me. But I will email you and when your in the area I would be more than glad to hop in the water with you. I don't plan to be diving much for the next few weeks anyways as those dear thing called Final exams are circling me like I'm a a frozen bait chunk dangling on a line waiting for consumption.

Regards,

Gordon

I encourage you to take Guy up on his offe. I can tell you this much from my one week-end diving in Victoria area with him ... he loves to dive. And like a lot of us who just love to dive, he enjoys taking new divers diving. Many experienced divers do ... it renews our enthusiasm for things we might otherwise start taking for granted.

Good luck with those finals ... one nice thing about diving, once you've reached a point where it's not a struggle anymore, is that it becomes a great outlet for relieving the stresses we face in our topside life ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Doc Harry]

TSandM

As you know from our previous discussions, I had a bad impression about GUE folks from the Internet but I was still interested in the GUE concept.

My personal experience with GUE folks during GUE Fundamentals was as negative as it can get. "Assholes."

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the negative publicity that GUE gets is well-deserved.

The good news, as you mentioned, is that the ******* instructor is no longer teaching Fundamentals.

 

[Wookie]

Sigh. When I learned it, we just called it Hogarthian or tech, and had Bill teach us, or had someone taught by Bill teach us. Then it became a cult, and and a bunch of cultists took it as their own, changed the name, and created a religion. Lynne, not ever meeting you or Peter (or Bob), I would consider you "Hogarthian trained" by GUE, but not members of the religion, that is, you seem to be able to think outside the religion. However, like any members of a cult, there will be those Baptists that are just Christians, and then there's the Westboro Baptists, which doesn't resemble any type of other Christianity I've ever seen.

If you can't tell the difference between a Westboro Baptist and the other kind, you will be likely to paint Hogarthian divers with the same broad brush as the cultists within the DIR/GUE/WKPP crowd (our way is the only way to heaven, or in this case, diving nirvana). Remember, the loud ones with the signs aren't necessarily representative of the whole group. In fact, the loud ones with the signs probably aren't representative of the group at all.

 

[Tigerman]

Sigh. When I learned it, we just called it Hogarthian or tech, and had Bill teach us, or had someone taught by Bill teach us. Then it became a cult, and and a bunch of cultists took it as their own, changed the name, and created a religion. Lynne, not ever meeting you or Peter (or Bob), I would consider you "Hogarthian trained" by GUE, but not members of the religion, that is, you seem to be able to think outside the religion. However, like any members of a cult, there will be those Baptists that are just Christians, and then there's the Westboro Baptists, which doesn't resemble any type of other Christianity I've ever seen.
...

Those Westboro Baptists doesnt resemble any sane person I ever met

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Those Westboro Baptists doesnt resemble any sane person I ever met

They are a weird group. Most of us like dive flags and all they can say is "die fags"..

 

[Wookie]

They are a weird group. Most of us like dive flags and all they can say is "die fags"..

Warning: Off topic post

We had a local in Key West who was a member. I haven't seen him in about a year, but he used to stand on a street corner with a sign stating that God hates Fags. I always wanted to get my own sign, and when I saw him, stand next to him with my "God Loves Boobies, show yours now" I never got around to it, and feel badly that I didn't. Unfortunately, his police record showed many arrests for fighting, as well as some for public homosexual sex, so this was one crazy confused individual.

Now, back to another GUE/DIR/Hogarthian thread.

 

[FoxHound]

When I first started diving doubles and working down the tech realm, I had a GUE trained tech 2 diver helping me along. Showed me the ropes, showed my the DIR concept and actually explained it to me and left it up to me to decide which training I would take. He made a very good case for GUE and I had signed up for fundamentals. Being military I ended up getting deployed so I had to withdraw from the class. Shortly after returning I met Steve Lewis, and one thing he said to me sticks out in my mind: "Do What Works" (I believe its in his book as well). So since then, I had started down the sidemount path....and a nice shoulder injury has solidified that choice. Plus after reading a lot of the GUE material, there is some of their policies that just don't make sense to me or I just don't agree with. Thats my personal opinion, YMMV.

Since then I have had a chance to dive with DIR and non-DIR folks, most are very happy just to be in the water diving. There is one guy up here that is just more then happy to dive with anyone and help then out as much as possible even if you aren't a GUE diver. Its a shame that a few bad apples ruin it for people but unfortunately that's how it goes.....stupid actions of a few ruin it for everyone, and that just doesn't happen in diving, it happens everywhere.