Post by ScubaStefan on Dec 23, 2004 13:29:10 GMT -5
DEMA Spins Out of Control
The business of promoting diving can be almost as dangerous as diving with sloppy dive boat operators who can't count. DEMA spin doctors who lie and deliberately misinform the public may sign up another contributor or two, but lose touch with reality and irreparably damage their credibility.
You remember DEMA, the California-based Dive Equipment and Marketing Association that squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars in member contributions destroying the dive industry's eco-friendly image by attacking the Humane Society and other renowned eco groups, and arguing that harassing marine wildlife is acceptable because people are 30 times more likely to die from lightning than shark attacks.
So just when you thought the dive industry marketing kingpins had lowered their credibility bar to ground zero (think Howdy Doody in a dive mask kissing a moray eel, or Jean-Michel Cousteau riding a shark like some kind of underwater rodeo cowboy), DEMA is back with idiotic press releases defending the dive industry against imagined threats to the bottom line posed by the movie Open Water, Hollywood's summer season blockbuster about shark feeding of the un-DEMA kind.
Celluloid sharks chomping on attractive young actors in neoprene??? Not to worry. Always eager to justify annual corporate membership fees of up to $2,500, DEMA pounced on the opportunity to attack Open Water's "cinematic fiction" with a crudely written and incoherent press release "DEMAnizing" the entertainment industry: "In reality, diving is a safe and enjoyable sport..." because (NO NO NO--NOT AGAIN) "...the annual risk of death from lightning is 30 times greater than from shark attack (sic)."
DEMA big cheese, Tom Ingram, who took over after Regina Franklin choked on shark feeding, steals Franklin's lightning and thunders on with more inane stats about bumblebees, wasps, snakes and (groan) automobile accidents.
AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS#!%#! Tom, Tom, Tom - PLEASE - get a grip (and some new material for crying out loud). We know it's tough for the new guy to settle into the interactive executive leatherette, but arguing that diving is safe because 42,815 people died on American highways last year makes Franklin's spin on shark feeding as the solution to shark finning seem, well, less hysterical if not downright pedestrian.
"Hey, don't worry Billy. Jumping off extremely tall buildings is safe, in fact, it's safer than scuba diving because fewer people die annually jumping off tall buildings than scuba diving."
But wait! There's more.
Tom goes on (and on and on) to argue that Open Water ignores reality because:
1) dive boat operators clean up immediately after dive trips so unaccounted for divers would be noticed;
2) divers are social so unaccounted for divers would be noticed and;
3) dive boat crews are competent so unaccounted for divers would be noticed.
Huh? Last time we checked, Open Water writer/director Chris Kentis stated that the movie was based on the deaths of Tom and Eileen Lonergan who died because:
1) the Outer Edge dive boat did not clean up for two days and failed to notice that two divers had been left at sea;
2) at least 20 other divers aboard Outer Edge failed to notice that two divers in the group had been left at sea and;
3) the dive boat crew - every one of them - failed to notice that two divers had been left at sea.
No matter how you beat on your business-as-usual tom-toms, two people died because a sloppy dive operator left them at sea. That's reality Tom.
But of course, reality has never been DEMA's strong suit. What they and other dive industry marketing elements do best is cover up reality and collude with their members to prevent long overdue environmental and safety regulations that aim to protect coastal ecosystems, marine wildlife and human lives.
Consider Sipadan, the pristine unihabited ecological gem of marine biodiversity in the Sulu Sea. But that was before the dive industry juggernaut overran the tiny island with all of its scuba marketing gimmicks - the 5-stars, the gold palms, the top 10 magazine ratings, the photo contests, the phony eco awards to Clement Lee and other dive shop owners who racked up huge profits and mostly ignored the many clear warning signs that "paradise" was on the verge of environmental ruin.
Now many of Sipadan's reefs are rubble, the island's groundwater is polluted with sewage, garbage is everywhere and the government of Malaysia has finally issued an eviction order to rid the island of dive operators, who, following DEMA's lead, are crying foul and fighting the eviction order. Surprise, surprise.
And what about the Queensland dive industry spreading ugly damage-control rumors echoed in DEMA's press release - "the couple simply disappeared - their actual fate has never been determined" - that Tom and Eileen Lonergan faked their own deaths. How do false statements designed to shift attention away from dive operator negligence and the reality that two divers died after they were left at sea help to make scuba diving safer?
Despite DEMA's end of press release, feel-good pronouncement that scuba diving is a "fun and safe sport", in reality it is not. Certainly not for the millions of divers who drop out after less than satisfying entry-level courses. Not for divers who lack adequate training and are uncomfortable with even the most basic diving skills (example: the PADI Scuba Diver course). Not for divers who ignore accepted dive safety procedures. Not for divers who take unnecessary risks. Not for divers who harass marine wildlife. Not for divers like Tom and Eileen Lonergan who happen to end up diving with a sloppy dive boat operator who cannot count. And as Sipadan demonstrates, scuba diving can also be eco-unfriendly in the extreme.
Let's be honest. Scuba diving is a recreational activity with a growing impact on coastal ecosystems that involves inherent risks (such as drowning, decompression illness and lung embolisms), which can be minimized with proper training, experience and accepted dive safety procedures.
That's reality.
The business of promoting diving can be almost as dangerous as diving with sloppy dive boat operators who can't count. DEMA spin doctors who lie and deliberately misinform the public may sign up another contributor or two, but lose touch with reality and irreparably damage their credibility.
You remember DEMA, the California-based Dive Equipment and Marketing Association that squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars in member contributions destroying the dive industry's eco-friendly image by attacking the Humane Society and other renowned eco groups, and arguing that harassing marine wildlife is acceptable because people are 30 times more likely to die from lightning than shark attacks.
So just when you thought the dive industry marketing kingpins had lowered their credibility bar to ground zero (think Howdy Doody in a dive mask kissing a moray eel, or Jean-Michel Cousteau riding a shark like some kind of underwater rodeo cowboy), DEMA is back with idiotic press releases defending the dive industry against imagined threats to the bottom line posed by the movie Open Water, Hollywood's summer season blockbuster about shark feeding of the un-DEMA kind.
Celluloid sharks chomping on attractive young actors in neoprene??? Not to worry. Always eager to justify annual corporate membership fees of up to $2,500, DEMA pounced on the opportunity to attack Open Water's "cinematic fiction" with a crudely written and incoherent press release "DEMAnizing" the entertainment industry: "In reality, diving is a safe and enjoyable sport..." because (NO NO NO--NOT AGAIN) "...the annual risk of death from lightning is 30 times greater than from shark attack (sic)."
DEMA big cheese, Tom Ingram, who took over after Regina Franklin choked on shark feeding, steals Franklin's lightning and thunders on with more inane stats about bumblebees, wasps, snakes and (groan) automobile accidents.
AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS#!%#! Tom, Tom, Tom - PLEASE - get a grip (and some new material for crying out loud). We know it's tough for the new guy to settle into the interactive executive leatherette, but arguing that diving is safe because 42,815 people died on American highways last year makes Franklin's spin on shark feeding as the solution to shark finning seem, well, less hysterical if not downright pedestrian.
"Hey, don't worry Billy. Jumping off extremely tall buildings is safe, in fact, it's safer than scuba diving because fewer people die annually jumping off tall buildings than scuba diving."
But wait! There's more.
Tom goes on (and on and on) to argue that Open Water ignores reality because:
1) dive boat operators clean up immediately after dive trips so unaccounted for divers would be noticed;
2) divers are social so unaccounted for divers would be noticed and;
3) dive boat crews are competent so unaccounted for divers would be noticed.
Huh? Last time we checked, Open Water writer/director Chris Kentis stated that the movie was based on the deaths of Tom and Eileen Lonergan who died because:
1) the Outer Edge dive boat did not clean up for two days and failed to notice that two divers had been left at sea;
2) at least 20 other divers aboard Outer Edge failed to notice that two divers in the group had been left at sea and;
3) the dive boat crew - every one of them - failed to notice that two divers had been left at sea.
No matter how you beat on your business-as-usual tom-toms, two people died because a sloppy dive operator left them at sea. That's reality Tom.
But of course, reality has never been DEMA's strong suit. What they and other dive industry marketing elements do best is cover up reality and collude with their members to prevent long overdue environmental and safety regulations that aim to protect coastal ecosystems, marine wildlife and human lives.
Consider Sipadan, the pristine unihabited ecological gem of marine biodiversity in the Sulu Sea. But that was before the dive industry juggernaut overran the tiny island with all of its scuba marketing gimmicks - the 5-stars, the gold palms, the top 10 magazine ratings, the photo contests, the phony eco awards to Clement Lee and other dive shop owners who racked up huge profits and mostly ignored the many clear warning signs that "paradise" was on the verge of environmental ruin.
Now many of Sipadan's reefs are rubble, the island's groundwater is polluted with sewage, garbage is everywhere and the government of Malaysia has finally issued an eviction order to rid the island of dive operators, who, following DEMA's lead, are crying foul and fighting the eviction order. Surprise, surprise.
And what about the Queensland dive industry spreading ugly damage-control rumors echoed in DEMA's press release - "the couple simply disappeared - their actual fate has never been determined" - that Tom and Eileen Lonergan faked their own deaths. How do false statements designed to shift attention away from dive operator negligence and the reality that two divers died after they were left at sea help to make scuba diving safer?
Despite DEMA's end of press release, feel-good pronouncement that scuba diving is a "fun and safe sport", in reality it is not. Certainly not for the millions of divers who drop out after less than satisfying entry-level courses. Not for divers who lack adequate training and are uncomfortable with even the most basic diving skills (example: the PADI Scuba Diver course). Not for divers who ignore accepted dive safety procedures. Not for divers who take unnecessary risks. Not for divers who harass marine wildlife. Not for divers like Tom and Eileen Lonergan who happen to end up diving with a sloppy dive boat operator who cannot count. And as Sipadan demonstrates, scuba diving can also be eco-unfriendly in the extreme.
Let's be honest. Scuba diving is a recreational activity with a growing impact on coastal ecosystems that involves inherent risks (such as drowning, decompression illness and lung embolisms), which can be minimized with proper training, experience and accepted dive safety procedures.
That's reality.