How would you handle this?

[chillyinCanada]

"Man of Sin"?? Hmm . . . is that your alias young hunter?

 

[lowviz]

"Man of Sin"?? Hmm . . . is that your alias young hunter?

OK, one more post. I lied, sue me.

If that is you -join us, young hunter. It is possible that you may eventually come to see a better way. Pick your own path, we are many. Many paths, many choices...

 

[Pullmyfinger]

Really??

You join just to make that post?

What in this entire thread lead you to form that opinion?.....it's more likely, that you already had that opinion and signed up on Scubaboard just to add that amazing insight to the thread.

I can hear the "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry" chants right now.

-Mitch

Complete outsider to this and haven't been a diver for very long, but I know after reading this thread and seeing the news articles I wouldn't want Bob to be my dive partner, nor some of the other posters.

 

[lionfish-eater]

If he didn't get caught, I bet his next FB video would have been of him wearing it as a Halloween costume and his buddies doing shots of everclear using the suckers as shot glasses.


Go USA!

 

[chillyinCanada]

Ah lowviz, stick around. Nice invite, by the way. If you don't mind, I'll put my own spin on it too.

"Man of Sin", no matter who you are, stick around . . . you'll get quite the education and realize that it's a big old world with lots of differing positions taken within it. But, you can also learn alot about scuba diving here too!

 

[Soakedlontra]

I just returned from a meeting to plan our presentation to WDFW for an emergency closure of Seacrest Park to octopus hunting. We started that meeting with an agreement among participants that there are two sides to the issue, and we have to respect the rights of hunters just as much as we want them to respect ours. As a consequence, our approach is going to be very specific, very targeted, and will include consideration and input from hunters.

Toward this end, we also decided to invite Dylan to be one of the presenters on Thursday in Olympia. One of the dive shop owners present has volunteered to ask him tomorrow, as they know each other.

We are not trying to give hunters a black eye ... we're trying to preserve something that's valuable to a lot of people, not just one ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

The best of luck in Olympia!

 

[DaleC]

And here is the great thing everyone is choosing to ignore - if you apply for a real job these days, the first thing any employer does is to google your name. Nice job searing a scarlet letter on this guy just because he didn't like the 'tude he received and responded like any other 20 year old (and many 30 or 40 year olds) would. And don't give me all of that about his facebook page - people grow up, clean it up, take it down, whatever. Now he can't. Hope you are proud.

I really don't get your rationale here - Bob didn't sear anything on anyone. They did that to themselves. An employer doing a pre-employment search (deeper than google btw) ordinarily would have found some reference to an octopus hunting dispute. Odd but not a showstopper in itself. Explainable by saying it was a case of youthful misunderstanding. Instead, in this case, they find self promoted examples of animal cruelty, racism and firearms mismanagement... and the first place an employer would look is FB so they would have found all that out with or without the octo incident. You do realize that right? Just like how I looked at your profile and followed that to your linkedin account and read all about your professional life. Should we blame Bob because with out this controversial thread I would never have done all that?

Frankly, the more I think about this the more I am inclined to pick up the phone and call one of my friends in Seattle and ask them to intervene legally as the only way the kid is going to clear his name now is by ending this with a court order saying he is the victim here (which he appears to be). I don't like this guy, but I've spent my entire adult life working to uphold the law and stand up against bullys - be it in the Marines, in law enforcement, or in the corporate world - and boy, do I hate bullying.

So, tell me where you all are right and I am wrong.

You're mad at the wrong bully. Ask the chicken and the porcupine how they felt.

...but we get it: racism and animal cruelty we can turn a blind eye to. Bullying however is horrible - better threaten to sic a lawyer on someone. Ever try to contact others to try to make things go the way you think they should? Sound familiar?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I just returned from a meeting to plan our presentation to WDFW for an emergency closure of Seacrest Park to octopus hunting. We started that meeting with an agreement among participants that there are two sides to the issue, and we have to respect the rights of hunters just as much as we want them to respect ours. As a consequence, our approach is going to be very specific, very targeted, and will include consideration and input from hunters.

Toward this end, we also decided to invite Dylan to be one of the presenters on Thursday in Olympia. One of the dive shop owners present has volunteered to ask him tomorrow, as they know each other.

We are not trying to give hunters a black eye ... we're trying to preserve something that's valuable to a lot of people, not just one ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

One of the dive shops who has banned him for life is going to approach him and ask the teenager to talk at the gathering?

Have you contacted any other consumptive users, who might have been involved in the sport for a longer time and may have a more well rounded perspective on the issues?

 

[ScubaSteve]

Complete outsider to this and haven't been a diver for very long, but I know after reading this thread and seeing the news articles I wouldn't want Bob to be my dive partner, nor some of the other posters.

I am sure that tears them up inside.

One of the dive shops who has banned him for life is going to approach him and ask the teenager to talk at the gathering?

Have you contacted any other consumptive users, who might have been involved in the sport for a longer time and may have a more well rounded perspective on the issues?

No doubt a good idea however from a political standpoint, I think it is a very wise move to try to get the kid up there.....to offer him a true opportunity to speak on behalf of the "sport" that he supposedly loves. It would hopefully prove that what the group is trying for is not a personal vendetta but protection of their area. That would not restrict the hunter from hunting the GPO.....just remove one area from his hunting sites.

Perhaps more than one speaker on behalf of the "hunters"

 

[Rooster In Ohio]

You're mad at the wrong bully.

I don't think so. Restating what I've said before, IMHO this thread is 2% conservationism and 98% vindictiveness. If I remember correctly, the underlying thread on the local board started out with the stated goal of the OP showing this young diver how big of a [negative adjective] he can be. I think Bob saw the light and rebalanced to the conservationism side of the house along the way (and I don't think it was to save his own skin) but others picked up the rope, torch, and pitchfork, and the mob was off and running (and, based on the cavediving post just put up that sadly builds off what I see as a unthoughtful post by someone I know to be a very thoughtful person, the torches are still burning - internet works that way).

If you think I am mad at the wrong bully, then I infer that you support the keyboard warrior approach to people you don't like. Frankly, if I don't like someone, I simply walk away from them. If I learn of someone engaging in activity that inappropriately affects another living thing, odds are that I will utilized the legal system, from police to courts (que "law and order" theme), to address it but odds are zero that I will threaten, harass, or otherwise interfere with that person - I'm not a LEO anymore and no one appointed me judge, jury, and executioner of someone I believe to be a [insert word]-ist or whatever (caveat: if I come accross a human being attacking another human being that does not have the capacity to defend her/himself, I will intervene directy to stop the attack). If I learn that someone keeps facebook posts promoting racism and something that may be animal cruelty (I don't know - I don't facebook and haven't seen his), I don't associate with that person and, if it does appear to be animal cruelty, I would probably pass it on to the SPCA or the county attorney's office (who would then investigate, not initiate an internet smear campaign). BUT IT WOULD NEVER OCCUR TO ME TO HIDE BEHIND A KEYBOARD AND TAKE ACTION PURELY FOR THE THE PURPOSE OF SCREWING WITH SOMEONE'S LIFE, AN ACTIVITY YOU APPARENTLY SUPPORT.

But this isn't about me - it's about a 19YO diver and a number of much older adults that have taken actions for the specific purpose of making this young man's life worse, not better (and by better, I am referring to educating and mentoring him so that he might grow and develop to be a more productive member of society - think back people - do you still do the same stupid things you did when you were 19? [well, judged by some actions reported here, some of you apparently do, just now from a keyboard]) and have rationalized their actions SOME AFTER THE FACT because they have determined after the fact that he engages is unrelated antisocial behavior. (this begs the question - would those who threw electronic torches at him have felt or acted differently if his FB page revealed that he was a vet suffering from severe PTSD and donated his time to animal shelters??)

So, you side with the 30 - 60YOs with greater education and life experience that harass and bully a 19YO diver that the State of Washington investigated and determined legally harvested this animal because of his response to the OP and because the content of his FB page shows him to be an antisocial lowlife. Really? Let's examine this - at what point does it become okay to contact a person's employer, his family, the people he does business with for the purpose of harming those relationships? At what point is it acceptable to advocate violence? Is it when a person who it is later judged by the bullies to be a dirtbag based on unrelated material asserts his right to engage in lawful activity? Please enlighten me. (Actually, don't. I know your type and this is me walking away from you).

For the rest of the popcorn eaters: Do I know this kid or support the attitudes or beliefs apparently reflected on his FB page? Hell no. Do I support everyone's right to be left alone so long as they are not breaking the law? Hell yes. Do the ends (public support to change the law) justify the means (screwing with this kid's life in the name of the OP proving what a big [adjective] he is)? No. Were the ends even necessary (as mentioned before, pubishing pictures focusing on the animal and not the diver's identity would have almost assuredly achieved the same result for the dive area without screwing with this diver)? Probably not. Should we all be thankful for those that donate their time and skill to support those who are made victims, be they animals or young men that have a lot of growing up yet to do? I think so.

My $0.05 (I upped my price).

R/S,

db


P.S. - Dale, added the link to my LI page last night. Good slewthing!