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At 09:35 PM 10/5/95 EDT, Stuart Masch wrote:
...
>I made the point several weeks ago that if this list wanted to be taken
>seriously by the "establishment in the industry" that it learn to act
>appropriately and to "do business". Otherwise we're just going to yawn, smile
>and get back to our work. We need not defend ourselves and our policies
against
>just anyone who challenges us. And we certainly aren't required to do so with
>the poorly mannered, self-appointed.
>
>One does not demand standing and respect. One earns it.
...
>Is it possible for NOAA, US NAVY, DCIEM, Australian Navy, HSE, other
>institutions, all the agencies, all the divers, essentially, most of the
>conventional wisdom to be "wrong", and Mr. Irvine to be "right"?
>Of course it is.
>But it's not likely.
>
>And unfortunately he's lost as much credibility in his ability to *communicate*
>as if he were speaking a foreign language.
No matter how sweet or foul the language is, communication is
communication and ultimately conveys data (data is anything that is *USEFUL*
information).
Unfortunately over the times, the very nature of american society (and
to a somewhat lesser extent western society) has been thoroughly shaped by
the need for some people (a minority) to offload merchandise to the rest of
people (the majority).
To do so as much as possible, a very specific form of communication was
evolved, namely to convey product information to the buying public. You
will, no doubt, recognize advertizing (or MASOBB*).
Such form of communication turns out to be in general extremely pleasing
to read/see/hear, is molded to appeal to whatever sense the public is likely
to display towards the particular ware being peddled (to the point of being
quite unethical in many instances), and is generally viewed by people who
generally have more knowledge than the average citizen as most often than
not riddled with misleading, inaccurate information, at times bordering on
(if not being outright) genuine oxdung.
It is unfortunate that many well-established businesses view such
communication as the only way to "do business".
It might not be the case for everyone, but those who value *USEFUL*
information do not necessarly need a sweet pill to swallow. Quite to the
contrary, sweet pill information invariably tends to be suspect of
inaccuracies to some people.
In a forum where life support systems usage in extreme conditions is
being discussed, in a field of activity seemingly always on the verge of
being oppressively regulated ("Those French divers would have been using
trimix if they were *LEGALLY* able to" - or "BSAC just recently wised-up
about nitrox"), potently unsafe protocols should be thoroughly analyzed,
discussed and, if needed, trashed so to ensure that there are many "old and
bold divers".
SO. I restate that those who are offensed by the
non-Madison-avenue-style rethoric simply fire up their killfiles. But of
course, they may end up killing themselves eventually.
(*) Madison Avenue snake-oil brigade bullshit.
P.S. by the way, those French divers diving deep on air, being (most likely)
FFESSM-trained are definitely more qualified to dive deep on air than many
people (note to flamers: I did not say "ALL") turned out by major
north-american recreational diving certification agencies.
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