Arrogance and humility among divers

[wildbill9]

Reminds me of a conversation we had coming back from a dive vacation. Person at the bar struck up a conversation i guess since I had on a dive shirt. According to him he was a dive master, had less than 100 dives under his belt and had never heard of Bonaire or little cayman. My wife and I just politely listened to him and rolled our eyes at each other. Reminded me of the old joke " how can you tell if some is a dive master? You don't need to, they will tell you within 2 minutes "

 

[CuzzA]

I've enjoyed almost everything about diving since I started. I liked the classes, the novelty and newness of it all, and find an enduring enjoyment and sense of wonder in the underwater experience. There have been minor setbacks -- mistakes, dives that weren't fun, gear that didn't work out, times I felt I'd been ripped off -- but nothing serious or enduring.

Except the arrogance.

It was worst when I was considering diving and had just started. I ran into it at one of the LDSs, where the employee was not taking seriously my questions about gear since I had not completed my certification. I've run into it on boats and other groups of divers. So many divers want to talk about how deep they've dived, how little air they use, and other things that they perceive as accomplishments. Dealing with people in the dive industry, I've encountered egos so large they are incapable of entertaining the idea that, perhaps, they may have made a mistake at some point. I encounter technical divers, cave divers, and rebreather divers who seem to think that people curious about their specialty should be seen not heard.

I've always aspired to the sort of quiet competence demonstrated by airmen like Chesley Sullenberger, who was initially dismissive of his personal role in the safety of all on board when he was at the controls of the flight that had to ditch in the Hudson River.

What is it about the diving culture that leads to this sort of hubris?

Don't forget your first posts here were met with MOF avatar criticism.

Big egos in this sport that seem rooted deeper than men can dive. I enjoy a team approach with a crew of divers that can raz each other, but have each others backs.

 

[CrumhornDiver]

Don't give up searching for good peers/mentors/proteges. Not all divers you come across will fit the bill, but there will be some who do. Those will make the extra effort worth it.

 

[Marie13]

I love the know-it-alls who say you shouldn't be doing [insert whatever it is].

Makes me even more determined to do whatever it is I've been told I shouldn't do.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

At the same time there are divers with the experience and knowledge who are willing to dole out advice when asked. It's up to the person who asked to listen to the advice.

 

[RayfromTX]

I have found mostly friendly and humble divers so far. If you want arrogant and abrasive, that would be skydivers. I was a jumper for many years but I never got used to it. Skygods we called them. It was so common and recognized that it was a running joke. If a dozen skydivers were standing around waiting for a plane and someone yelled out \, "hey arsehoole!" every single one would turn as a group and respond, "WHAT!?"

This is a very friendly and laidback sport by comparison. I did have some cool friends that jumped but there were too many that were just convinced that they were too good to jump with anybody that wasn't going to improve their sky cred.

 

[vam]

I'm always surprised by the local groups who won't dive with other groups because the others are full of FIGJAM's. I've found that there is lots to be learned from all of those groups, and that they're all very friendly when you take some time to chat with them. Sometimes it feels like high school cliques. I'm happy that I'm not cool enough to be a core member of any of them, but at the same time I don't feel ostracized by any of them either. The worst I've had was from a PADI instructor who was hostile to my DIR configuration - but I've known many more PADI instructors who are cool, so I don't let one bad apple sour the bunch. Respect FTW!

 

[cool_hardware52]

Type "A's" are over represented in "Risk" sports.

Tobin

 

[TMHeimer]

Like many who have posted, it has been rare when I've met an arrogant diver. I assisted a couple of instructors years ago that tipped that way a little, but nothing serious. The charter trips I've taken in the Southern U.S. always seemed to have just regular guys as DMs (interestingly, though I've worked with several here, I've not run into a female charter DM down there yet. There was one diver I met on my one "dive vacation" trip to Panama who beat his chest a lot on one of the boat trips out. Then screwed up the DM-led "line-follow the leader" dive. Not a peep from him going back. Maybe the arrogant ones are mostly in the tropics???

 

[2airishuman]

Thanks for all the replies. There's a lot there to ponder.

@CuzzA I thought on that just as I was posting this thread. In retrospect it seems like a mild form of hazing, not necessarily healthy, but not necessarily a product of arrogance.

To some extent I've cultivated an awareness and sensitivity to this sort of thing and have difficulty turning it off, so I may pick up more than most people.

Thanks again, turned out to be an interesting thread.