Well at least you've cleared up the age old question "what is an idiot"
Now back to rebreathers....
Wow. I am being called an idiot by an Exit Guide.....Somehow I find this amusing
You need a little sense of humour.
I think the "high ground" for you would be to say that any "sport/activity" that takes people off of the couch and TV, and out into the world, will increase their chances of an accident and death.
From the perspective of a tech diver that has done many hundreds of 280-300 foot dives in very challenging conditions, I find there is a great deal of "extra risk" associated with the CCR's, and I see few divers that dive in an environment where Open Circuit could not allow the same dive to be enjoyed with far more safety...Duration tending to be the prime advantage, but typically, once duration exceeds what can be done on open circuit, the charter boat will be refusing the extra time--it will mean too much additional deco, and a total change of the charter boat schedule for the day....From a tech diving perspective, doubling or tripling your in-water deco will mean eliminating your ability to handle a buddy emergency, if someone gets hurt, and you need to get out of the water as soon as possible.
I see rebreather divers visiting Palm Beach on a fairly regular basis....they get no real benefit that I can see, but enormous costs, and huge increases in their chance of a hypoxic event, from what they would have on OC ( chance = none on OC
)
The OP asked for information on what a rebreather is....he got plenty of reasons for them, but he also should get all the reasons against them, if he is really going to be able to make an intelligent choice as to whether the "Risk to Reward" benefit is worth moving to a rebreather for the style of diving he does, and the dive sites and diver operators he will be using.