What event made you head toward/away from DIR?

[WIdiver_Paul]

Nah, it's a statement enough that the only thing different about the red umbrella is that it isn't black and doesn't have an "H" on it.

/ Ethan should like this, he's always picking on my H's


This thread is about what turns you on or off about DIR: having met many excellent divers falling into the DIR or non-DIR category, I sincerely have to say it's the ones that have the skills, experience, and still able to have fun that are the most pleasurable to dive with. If I dive with someone and they're scowling and stressing out about everything and doing alot of posturing, that tells me they don't have confidence in themselves enough to be able to react positively in a truly dangerous stressful situation. Many divers calling themselves DIR (not all) i've seen as being very unrelaxed and tweaky on the dive platform. Makes me nervous. I think DIR is a great foundation for other things, but nothing could be one-size fits all like they say it is. I've come to learn it's a tool, like everything else. I think some in this thread talking about photography have discovered the outside of the confined envelope of the DIR philosophy: if you read what's been said to define DIR, you would understand that underwater photography, freediving and spearfishing don't fit within it, believe it or not. Some locksteppers would call anyone carrying a camera a "stroke", to be avoided at all costs, because they are encumbered, task loaded, and unprepared to help their buddy in an emergency. So you have to modify what you have to begin with and think about what you want to change in a thoughtful and safety-conscious, streamlined way to make it efficient. And it may or may not be "DIR", depending on who you talk to. Just make it your own. If there's anything that turns me off about DIR it would be closed minds and the "Borg Collective" attitude that some out there feel is neccessary to make themselves feel superior to others. Luckily I haven't seen much, if any, of that around here (knock on wood). Talking to some GUE trained divers I hear that the organization has toned down it's sourness a few notches and had to modify some of it's stances on things. Which is probably good, and predictable. As the "rookie" of the dive agencies it seems like they're learning their lessons as any other rookie would. A rookie comes in all fired up with the knowitall/i-can-change-the-world attitude and pisses everyone off, then after a few years they mellow and realise they can attract more flies with honey than vinegar. I don't want to change the world, I just want to dive.

And for those of you that are still passing around the Kool-Aid, don't lose your sense of humor, it's very unflattering. Now where's that Amen?