How do you deal with derision?

[Rhone Man]

Why can't folks just behave like these guys ... who are going on a nice, recreational dive together? The only laughter you'll hear outta these fellows is after the dive, when they're telling their buddies how much fun they had diving together ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I certainly don't like to criticise divers I don't know, but I am pretty sure the dude in the middle with the rebreather has his mask on the wrong way around.

 

[Crush]

Then, of course, there was the recent, infamous "Fundies kicked my ass" thread, which surprised me with the anti-DIR vehemence of a certain poster in that thread (until he weirdly went all soft and started talking about food and wine - what was up with THAT? :w-t-f.

Hi Leejnd,

Thanks for opening this thread - your question is of interest to me as well. As the OP of the "Fundies kicked my a$$" thread I was surprised to see how gracious most DIR divers were in addressing anti-DIR sentiment. I have a few random reflections which may not address your post directly, but may nevertheless be of interest. Or not...

1. My initial anti-DIR attitude was inspired by reading constantly on SB that a BP&W was the one answer for all divers. My irritation was mild at first, but grew with each "which BP should I buy?" thread;
2. When I began to think that I was an "OK" diver (which really meant that I thought that I was pretty good but I would not admit that aloud) it seemed to me that DIR divers were gear-oriented. I thought, in principle, that I could do underwater what was required of, say, a pass in Fundies;
3. Then I actually took Fundies and it hurt. I realized that I am really, really far from being a good diver. I have had such crushing realizations in my life at other points which leads me to:
4. Everyone should fail horribly at something, at least once in their lives. It would keep them more humble and lead to a less polarized point of view.

Oh, and the best ambassador of DIR/GUE may well have been my Fundies instructor (and TSandM).

 

[stargost]

I certainly don't like to criticise divers I don't know, but I am pretty sure the dude in the middle with the rebreather has his mask on the wrong way around.

hey good catch! But considering his tanks are also upside down, it's not surprising...

More seriously, if it is great to see every one diving together, personally I wouldn't know how to dive with a rebreather diver (assuming there is any thing special) even for rec. diving.
Might be some good thing to investigate.

 

[jm]

I am not a DIR diver but can respect the ideas embodied (except for the "stroke" concept). The real question is why would a group of divers have such a negative perception of anyone doing something different? If I drive a pickup truck and you drive a Corvette which is wrong???

Perhaps diving really needs some sort of a personality or motivation test to highlight why people get involved in the first place. It seems for some that they like to demonstrate their superiority relative to others instead of enjoying the underwater world.

As to the young lady who started this thread, you should not need to explain why you want a particular item (unless the dive shop owner is really trying to help you) or why you choose to dive DIR. I have no right to judge you and neither has anyone else (except for the dive professionals evaluating you for a course).

Maybe as divers we need to look at what others are doing and LEARN from them whether their choices are right for us instead of automatically judging them. JM

 

[danvolker]

I am not a DIR diver but can respect the ideas embodied (except for the "stroke" concept). The real question is why would a group of divers have such a negative perception of anyone doing something different? If I drive a pickup truck and you drive a Corvette which is wrong???

Maybe as divers we need to look at what others are doing and LEARN from them whether their choices are right for us instead of automatically judging them. JM

The stroke term, while harsh sounding now, did have a justifiable use when it was coined.
this was in a different time..the mid nineties....it was used in the realm of deep cave and deep air ocean dives, and back then, the big training agencies involved with this were doing a terrible job. Divers with terrible ideas on what constittuted good diving practices, would walk around like they thought they were gods because thast had dived deep...and would pontificate to others about the way that they dive.....they were very unsafe people to listen to, as their ideas were so faulty, and diving with them would be worse....They liked "stroking" their own egos far more than any search for what was op[timal in diving. The term Stroke, became a way to differentiate tech or cave divers, in a attempt to avoid hurting your chances of surviving these early tech dives.

 

[lamont]

The stroke term, while harsh sounding now, did have a justifiable use when it was coined.

still has a use.

you can still find ego-driven divers that you shouldn't listen to.

the problem is that as GUE got more popular, you got a few of the initial students who just threw that insult at all the recreational divers on the beach, and the meaning of it was lost, and turned into a simple us-vs-them/dir-vs-diw shouting match on the internet.

 

[yaml]

leejnd
first: in coz i think living u/w (jeremy anschel) is the only personal service, small boat operator to go with: first rate owner/operator. now, my real questions: would you define the abbreviations you use in your post? DIR diver/GUE/SIDE rigs/ fundies/bp/w? no idea what you are talking about. been diving since i was 10 years old (57 now); out of diving for last 25 years - but now back in with a vengance. also, can you suggest where i could go to read about these ?
thanks. enjoy cozumel. got back 5 weeks ago. going back in october. going to grand turk and salt cay in 2 weeks. (did bonaire last october). my wife and i are back on fire for diving.

yaml

 

[Leejnd]

yaml, if you don't know what DIR, or GUE or BP/W means, then I think you're in the wrong forum. I posted this thread in the DIR forum. There are several stickies in this forum that can give you the background you need to understand my abbreviations, and will likely explain all those terms way better than I can.

 

[Belce]

DIR diver >Doing it Right
/GUE >Global Underwater Explorers
/SIDE rigs/ >practice of mounting tanks on the side of your body instead of the back, especially useful in diving overhead envirnoments with space restrictions
fundies >short for GUE's course Fundementals /
bp/w > back plate and wing type of BCD

For more information on these there is here and also Welcome | Global Underwater Explorers

 

[The Chairman]

As GUE's honorary Strokes-Person, I have a suggestion. If you want to learn how people learn to handle constant derision, just ask any PADI instructor here on ScubaBoard! You guys don't get near the derision that they get!